Duckling does not like water

[kcradfofrd]

I have 4 khaki campbells that are about 11weeks old. my concern is that one of them seems to be the runt. It is about 1 week behind the others in develpment, but it seems to have an adversion to water. While all the other ducks will get into the water and seem to love it but the runt does not willingly enter the water. It only gets wet when he alls in, as a result is fillthy, it's fethers are matted and looks very pitaful. It also behave strangely cooompared to the others it has not figured out how to go up the ramp to get into the house. Should I be concerned, and is there anything i can/should do?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 4 khaki campbells that are about 11weeks old. my concern is that one of them seems to be the runt. It is about 1 week behind the others in develpment, but it seems to have an adversion to water. While all the other ducks will get into the water and seem to love it but the runt does not willingly enter the water. It only gets wet when he alls in, as a result is fillthy, it's fethers are matted and looks very pitaful. It also behave strangely cooompared to the others it has not figured out how to go up the ramp to get into the house. Should I be concerned, and is there anything i can/should do?

Be patient with it, sometimes they don't live long when they fall behind in growth, could be something genetic, but I'd still have hope that it will catch up, but there are things you can do. Get some poultry vitamins and start adding to the water Nutri Drench is a good one. When this lil one gets in the pool do the other bully it at all? sometimes when one is smaller the bigger ones will bully. Also make sure this one can get to the food and water with out any problems. Might try giving it it's own lil swimming pan, I use cat litter pans. it may just need some extra TLC and helping it to figure out the ramp may take time but all the help you give it hopefully will pay off.

 

[kcradfofrd]

it's growth seems fine, if only about a week behind the other 3. I did not hatch them so I am to too concerned by the size difference. The little one never gets in the water on it's own. I have seen no instances of bullying and it gets plenty of food. It just seems to have some odd behavior. I will start adding in some vitamins and see if it help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

it's growth seems fine, if only about a week behind the other 3. I did not hatch them so I am to too concerned by the size difference. The little one never gets in the water on it's own. I have seen no instances of bullying and it gets plenty of food. It just seems to have some odd behavior. I will start adding in some vitamins and see if it help.

Let us know how it does.

 

[kcradfofrd]

Just an update. I added in some vitamins and its growth seems to have improved and is catching up with the others. It still will not get in the water, but seems overall healthy. My concern with this duck now is that it seems to be missing the long feathers from its breast, and just has down in that area. I am not sure if this is a result of over preening or they are just not growing in. The other issue is that this duck seems to find itself separated from the others more often and when that happens it is much more likely to freak out and seem scared. I am not sure if this causing the duck to be over stressed and as a result if it is over preening. Or if it is just "special".

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just an update. I added in some vitamins and its growth seems to have improved and is catching up with the others. It still will not get in the water, but seems overall healthy. My concern with this duck now is that it seems to be missing the long feathers from its breast, and just has down in that area. I am not sure if this is a result of over preening or they are just not growing in. The other issue is that this duck seems to find itself separated from the others more often and when that happens it is much more likely to freak out and seem scared. I am not sure if this causing the duck to be over stressed and as a result if it is over preening. Or if it is just "special".

Sounds like it could be both, stressful because it gets separated and that maybe bringing on the over preening kind of like when we bite our finger nails. Keep on with the vitamins and try to make sure it can keep up with the flock. Maybe think about moving it and a buddy into a smaller area till it is doing better?