Duckling off balance and poop problems

[rissachar]

Hi again! I am such a novice, I am bound to be posting on here often, lol! Thanks in advance for always being so helpful!
I have noticed that my 4 or 5 day old duckling is pretty off balance and wobbly when he stands and walks. At first I attributed this to the fact that he was newly hatched when I got him and he was still learning, but now that it's been a few days I'm a little concerned. He doesnt seem to be in pain at all, just a little wobbly when he stands. He also is having problems with pooping.... he poops very often( I know this is common, but he poops 3 times as often as any of my other ducks) but it isnt quite making it out all the way, and it's all collecting around his vent. I have bathed and gently washed there a couple of times, but it is still happening and I dont know what to do. I have seen several things about pasty butt in chicks, but hardly anything about ducks... and nothing about what I should do. My other duckling does not have either of these problems, so I dont think it has anything to do with food or water, or living quarters. Anybody have any advice for me? Or know if these two problems are connected?
He seems to still be in good spirits, but I cant help but be concerned. Thank you in advance!

 

[Stipenvlerk]

Welcome to BYC,

- Is your duckling growing like the others?
- have you seen him eating properly?
- Are they able to swim and clean themselves in a shallow bowl with water?
- what are you feeding them?
- how does the poop look? (Picture?)
- how does his butt look? (Picture?)

 

[rissachar]

Welcome to BYC,

- Is your duckling growing like the others?
- have you seen him eating properly?
- Are they able to swim and clean themselves in a shallow bowl with water?
- what are you feeding them?
- how does the poop look? (Picture?)
- how does his butt look? (Picture?)

Thanks for the quick reply!
He is not growing like the others, and has always been small... but he looks like he might be a different breed that got mixed up with the pekins. He has been eating and drinking lot, and seemed normal in that area, except for today. Today he is very weak, and he has eaten some, but not a lot.
I have a bowl for them to splash and clean themselves, but it's not in their box, so the shavings dont get too wet and gross as fast. I take them out several times a day to play and splash in the water.
I'm attaching a photo of his vent area, and belly button... I just cleaned him off a bit and put some antibiotic cream on his vent and belly button, as part of it looks a bit like an infection...(that's why his butt looks wet in the photo) up until today his poop has been brown and mostly solid, but kind of runny. Now it's looking a bit more white, and I noticed that his abdomen is a little swollen.

I have been giving them some probiotics in their water every day, and I just started adding some electrolytes... is there anything I need to be doing??
I'm getting rather worried about him.
Today he seems very weak, and hardly struggles when I wipe his butt, and he is cheeping a lot quieter than usual.
Thank you again for all your help!

 

[rissachar]

Thanks for the quick reply!
He is not growing like the others, and has always been small... but he looks like he might be a different breed that got mixed up with the pekins. He has been eating and drinking lot, and seemed normal in that area, except for today. Today he is very weak, and he has eaten some, but not a lot.
I have a bowl for them to splash and clean themselves, but it's not in their box, so the shavings dont get too wet and gross as fast. I take them out several times a day to play and splash in the water.
I'm attaching a photo of his vent area, and belly button... I just cleaned him off a bit and put some antibiotic cream on his vent and belly button, as part of it looks a bit like an infection...(that's why his butt looks wet in the photo) up until today his poop has been brown and mostly solid, but kind of runny. Now it's looking a bit more white, and I noticed that his abdomen is a little swollen.

I have been giving them some probiotics in their water every day, and I just started adding some electrolytes... is there anything I need to be doing??
I'm getting rather worried about him.
Today he seems very weak, and hardly struggles when I wipe his butt, and he is cheeping a lot quieter than usual.
Thank you again for all your help!View attachment 2218670

Here is another photo... I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture, but his abdomen is fairly swollen around his belly button.

 

[Stipenvlerk]

Hi @rissachar thank you for all the info. Can you post a picture of the duckling the normal way up too? So we can see what breed it might be?

@Isaac 0 I would appreciate if you take a look at this little fellow

 

[Stipenvlerk]

His bellybutton looks a bit black and big to me. And if it’s swollen it might be an infection. Let’s wait and see what others might say ... keep your ducklings safe , warm and with as less stress as possible in the mean time

 

[rissachar]

Hi @rissachar thank you for all the info. Can you post a picture of the duckling the normal way up too? So we can see what breed it might be?

@Isaac 0 I would appreciate if you take a look at this little fellow

Absolutely! Here are my two ducklings, I got them both on the same day and they were newly hatched, but if you notice, one is significantly larger, and their color and beaks are slightly different. The angle of the picture and that little white spot makes him look like a crested, but he is not.

 

[rissachar]

His bellybutton looks a bit black and big to me. And if it’s swollen it might be an infection. Let’s wait and see what others might say ... keep your ducklings safe , warm and with as less stress as possible in the mean time

Yes, the belly button was worrying me as well. As I was washing off the poop last night, I notice under the belly button had a tiny bit of blood, which was making me think it might be infected. I have put some antibiotic cream on him for now. Thank you very much for the advice... I appreciate it lots!

 

[Isaac 0]

Sorry to hear about your duckling.

The antibiotic cream is fine, but you want to really make sure it only applied to the area that affected, if you slather it all over the cool sensation of the cream may chill the duckling, we want to keep her warm as possible, ok, what's the temperature under the heat lamp you have?

For ducklings like this, they usually benefit from some vitamins/electrolytes, do you have some on hand specifically for poultry? If not, there a quite a few recipes online that you can make. I would give her several drops along the side of her bill a day, just be careful not to aspirate her, ones like this aspirate easily. Scrambled eggs are a great source of protein too, just mash them up finely.

It sounds like she was a premature hatcher, and is having a hard time thriving, hopefully, some supportive care will get her feeling better.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Just checking in to see how your bird is doing. Updates to these type of threads are quite useful for people in the future experiencing the same problem.