Duckling stopped growing and got worse

[BountyCze]

Hello, i have 4 ducklings, one had late hatch with a little assist, for the first 3 days he was like others, running around (well he was falling from time to time, but he got better at it by each day) but after 7 days all others are "giant" agains him, he grown only a little. And suddenly he is struggling to even stand up and walk, he barely peeps. He does eat and drink though. I tried warm baths, others swim and run around but he just.... stand there... Tried giving him boiled smashed egg into little pieces. But no progress. He seems to be getting worse.

What could go wrong ? What can i do ?

 

[nuthatched]

Failure to thrive, I'm sorry

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hello, i have 4 ducklings, one had late hatch with a little assist, for the first 3 days he was like others, running around (well he was falling from time to time, but he got better at it by each day) but after 7 days all others are "giant" agains him, he grown only a little. And suddenly he is struggling to even stand up and walk, he barely peeps. He does eat and drink though. I tried warm baths, others swim and run around but he just.... stand there... Tried giving him boiled smashed egg into little pieces. But no progress. He seems to be getting worse.

What could go wrong ? What can i do ?

Are his feet turned inwards? Are his legs bowed at all?
It could be failure to thrive, but if he's struggling to walk, I'd try treating for a niacin deficiency.
Is he the same breed as your other ducklings?

I'd get some duvert vit B complex, its in liquid form and you can get it from tractor supply if you're in the US, 1ml over a treat daily for the struggling duckling.
Otherwise, you could look for flush effect (NOT flush free) niacin capsules, break the capsules open, and mix the powder into their water, it won't harm the other ducklings. You can find this in some health stores, pharmacies or online.
You can also supplement to their feed as an extra to either of the above treatments, nutritional yeast can be sprinkled over their food, 1 tbsp per cup. This can be found in most supermarkets, or online. Ensure its nutritional yeast and not bread yeast.

Failure to thrive is something that can happen, but really this is a big unexplained label, we say the same thing with human babies, and it's usually when something goes wrong after birth, or something is wrong genetically which doctors can't fully explain.
So regardless of whether this duckling is failing to thrive or has something going on that we can't see, personally I would give him a chance by treating for deficiencies and monitoring closely. It's possible he will live and continue growing, but don't get your hopes up

 

[My15Ducks]

Are his feet turned inwards? Are his legs bowed at all?
It could be failure to thrive, but if he's struggling to walk, I'd try treating for a niacin deficiency.
Is he the same breed as your other ducklings?

I'd get some duvert vit B complex, its in liquid form and you can get it from tractor supply if you're in the US, 1ml over a treat daily for the struggling duckling.
Otherwise, you could look for flush effect (NOT flush free) niacin capsules, break the capsules open, and mix the powder into their water, it won't harm the other ducklings. You can find this in some health stores, pharmacies or online.
You can also supplement to their feed as an extra to either of the above treatments, nutritional yeast can be sprinkled over their food, 1 tbsp per cup. This can be found in most supermarkets, or online. Ensure its nutritional yeast and not bread yeast.

Failure to thrive is something that can happen, but really this is a big unexplained label, we say the same thing with human babies, and it's usually when something goes wrong after birth, or something is wrong genetically which doctors can't fully explain.
So regardless of whether this duckling is failing to thrive or has something going on that we can't see, personally I would give him a chance by treating for deficiencies and monitoring closely. It's possible he will live and continue growing, but don't get your hopes up

This is a great reply - I would do all this and also supplement with vitamin E too.

My duckling, Speck, barely grew until she was 3 weeks old and had all sorts of apparent neurological issues - but she survived! I gave vitamin B, vitamin E, scrambled eggs, nutritional yeast, plus her regular duckling food. Lots of TLC, but it paid off.

 

[ruthhope]

Are his feet turned inwards? Are his legs bowed at all?
It could be failure to thrive, but if he's struggling to walk, I'd try treating for a niacin deficiency.
Is he the same breed as your other ducklings?

I'd get some duvert vit B complex, its in liquid form and you can get it from tractor supply if you're in the US, 1ml over a treat daily for the struggling duckling.
Otherwise, you could look for flush effect (NOT flush free) niacin capsules, break the capsules open, and mix the powder into their water, it won't harm the other ducklings. You can find this in some health stores, pharmacies or online.
You can also supplement to their feed as an extra to either of the above treatments, nutritional yeast can be sprinkled over their food, 1 tbsp per cup. This can be found in most supermarkets, or online. Ensure its nutritional yeast and not bread yeast.

Failure to thrive is something that can happen, but really this is a big unexplained label, we say the same thing with human babies, and it's usually when something goes wrong after birth, or something is wrong genetically which doctors can't fully explain.
So regardless of whether this duckling is failing to thrive or has something going on that we can't see, personally I would give him a chance by treating for deficiencies and monitoring closely. It's possible he will live and continue growing, but don't get your hopes up

I agree 100%. I am caring for 2 rescued ducklings from same clutch. Both are virtually the same color and markings, but at 6 weeks one is more than twice the size of the other. The size discrepancy was evident in the first week. The smaller one is developmentally normal, and it is tightly bound with the larger one.

I use durvet in their drinking water (1oz in one gallon of water that I make up and store in a rinsed out gallon milk container. I add brewers yeast to their feed, give extra protein ( meal worms on their bath water to encourage active swimming around) and scrambled egg.

Initially when the ducklings were first rescued, I made up a gallon of oral rehydration solution --using Liquid IV in the sports section at the pharmacy--and added Durvet to that. The small amount of easily absorbed sugar in the oral rehydration solution gives an energy boost. Once I was certain the little one was eating, I stopped giving the oral rehydration solution, but added Rooster Booster Poultry Cell to the drinking water.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Assisted hatches must always be given vitamins for at least the first week of their life or they will in many cases decline. Sometimes you will have an assisted hatch that does well on its own, but more often than not those hatching issues cause it to be weaker and more prone to vitamin deficiencies. I have hatched out duckling from a rare breed for years that often requires assistance hatching and this has been my observation. I personally use Poultry Cell because of its comprehensive vitamin content and have had great success with it. At the very least a comprehensive B vitamin supplement as suggested above should be used.

 

[BountyCze]

Děkuji všem za rady, dokoupili jsme vitamíny a už po jednom dni co ho krmíme zvlášť to vypadá, že je mnohem aktivnější. Je to zvláštní, protože jsme neviděli, že by ho ostatní nějak šikanovali, ale rozhodně jí, pije a běhá víc, v těch chvílích kdy ho máme osamoceného. Děkuju

 

[Canadian Wind]

translation:

Thank you all for the advice, we bought vitamins and after just one day of feeding him separately, it seems that he is much more active. It's strange because we haven't seen others bully him, but he definitely eats, drinks and runs more when we have him alone. Thank you