ok, so I lost our Black baby duckling a few days ago. He was not growing and I suspected failure to thrive. Now a few days later his buddy is not doing so good!!! Bob (the duckling now) has been growing fine and getting little feathers coming in, but is not walking much anymore. The first two days were nerve racking, he would cry and cry for his friend, and everyone is out of ducklings at the moment so he will have to be by himself for awhile. What scares me is that he is starting to show the same symptoms Boss (the black duckling) had! except he is growing and gaining weight. It seems his legs re getting weak and his legs are not bulking up though! I am feeding regular chick starter. I checked to see if it was non-medicated but does not say on the bag. I am going to call the feed store in the morning, but they were the ones I bought the ducklings from and said to feed them the same feed as the chicks! When I was younger I remember my family feeding all our ducks chicken scratch! And they grew up fat and healthy. Should I use this instead? Any advice would be appreciated thanks!
Hi Lanissa, I first want to say what a beautiful name, mine is Chareia (pronounced Sha-re-a) I love to see different beautiful names. Anyways. I feed my ducklings medicated chick starter. I have not had any problems so far. Is there anyway you can get him a buddy asap? They really are social bugs. They need a buddy. A chick will do. Can you borrow one till you can get one? I know it sounds silly but, 2 weeks ago I got 4 ducks. I was suppose to get 7. Some were my friends. Well the one set did not come in. I bought her one and myself 2 (they sent me an extra one) I did not want to leave just one duck there. So I left her another one. We both had a duck that did not have a buddy. All they did was cry. It was so sad. Anyways. As far as the duck being sick I have no idea. I wish you the best of luck.
Chick starter doesn't have the niacin ducklings need. While most do well on it, there are some that don't. If you can switch to gamebird starter that is best. Otherwise you can sprinkle brewers yeast on the feed. Check to be sure the bedding is dry and not moldy. I see you are in Texas. If it is warm and/or humid, bedding will get moldy quickly. And usually way underneath where you can't see it. If the duckling is lonely, you can really get it to be hand tame by holding it alot and spending time with it. Even if it is just holding him on your lap while on the computer. Otherwise a mirror and a small stuffed animal will do much to keep him company.
Thanks for the responses! Chareia your name is very lovely! I too like seeing different names. I think I will head to the feed store in the morning and see about the game bird food. My son was heartbroken when his black duck died and now this one is not looking good and I would hate to see my 4 year old heartbroken again. Thanks everyone
You can also get the supplement for the water, your little guy is really gonna need some good stuff in him.