Duckling with beak deformity

[Sarasway]

Hello, I hatched some call ducks. One of them has a beak deformity. It is drinking fine, but it doesn’t seem to be eating. I’ve tried crushing up the feed into very small pieces, pieces of hard boiled egg yolk, raw egg yolk in water. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[addctd2plnts]

It looks similar to a toenail/fingernail when it is injured near the cuticle where it grows from. I'll guess this was just a developmental tiny deformity, unless you can see something on the inside of the mouth. What brand starter food are you feeding, and are you giving probiotics? I've rehabilitated starved and very sick dogs for 20 years. I swear by probiotics, even if the food has some in it. I know if you are feeding duckling food, it will have vitamin B, but Vitamin B also stimulates hunger. Maybe if you added a little extra Vitamin B complex? or gave a shot of B complex? I have it for my horses and insulin syringes. Two of my older horses get regular shots of it and works miracles. I can tell when it's time for it because they'll not finish their food. Then I give them a shot and in 24 hours they are eating again.

 

[Sarasway]

It looks similar to a toenail/fingernail when it is injured near the cuticle where it grows from. I'll guess this was just a developmental tiny deformity, unless you can see something on the inside of the mouth. What brand starter food are you feeding, and are you giving probiotics? I've rehabilitated starved and very sick dogs for 20 years. I swear by probiotics, even if the food has some in it. I know if you are feeding duckling food, it will have vitamin B, but Vitamin B also stimulates hunger. Maybe if you added a little extra Vitamin B complex? or gave a shot of B complex? I have it for my horses and insulin syringes. Two of my older horses get regular shots of it and works miracles. I can tell when it's time for it because they'll not finish their food. Then I give them a shot and in 24 hours they are eating again.

Thank you for your input! I have them on organic nature smart crumble, I add Chick Boost probiotics to their water as well as a vitamin supplement (The vitamin supplement is made by the same company that makes save a chick probiotics) I believe it has B complex in there. I just picked up some brewers yeast to add to their feed.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@WVduckchick @BirdsBeesTrees @Isaac 0 @shawluvsbirds
All have had a lot of Calls and may be able to offer some help. I believe this happens more often in artificial incubation (I may be wrong here) . Have you tried to offer a mash of wet food, the consistency of oatmeal. I feed an all flock crumble feed with nutritional yeast mixed in. My Call ducklings prefer it a bit runny but oh my gosh, they LOVE it

 

[Sarasway]

Thank you for your input! I have them on organic nature smart crumble, I add Chick Boost probiotics to their water as well as a vitamin supplement (The vitamin supplement is made by the same company that makes save a chick probiotics) I believe it has B complex in there. I just picked up some brewers yeast to add to their feed.

Qq

@WVduckchick @BirdsBeesTrees @Isaac 0 @shawluvsbirds
All have had a lot of Calls and may be able to offer some help. I believe this happens more often in artificial incubation (I may be wrong here) . Have you tried to offer a mash of wet food, the consistency of oatmeal. I feed an all flock crunble feed with nutritional yeast mixed in. My Call ducklings prefer it a bit runny but oh my gosh, they LOVE it

trying this now! Thank you

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Qq

trying this now! Thank you

Hopefully it helps. Some ducklings like it at a different consistency, so if yours doesn't like it runny, try it a little less runny each time. The longer it sits out, the more thick it becomes, so you can always leave it for the duckling. I pinched some of the mash up onto my finger and offered it to them from my fingertips to introduce it and they quickly discovered how much they love it. Wishing you and your adorable duckling the best

 

[WVduckchick]

I read this earlier and didn’t have much to add. I’ve only had one call duckling hatch with a bill like that, and it didn’t make it. I have very few (if any) of the ducks that I had at that time, so I thought maybe it was genetic. But surprisingly, I’m in the middle of an assist with one now, and it’s bill is not quite normal either. It had kind of an hourglass shape. Wider out toward the tip, and back by the face, smaller/pinched in the middle. It’s still not fully hatched, so I don’t know how it will do. It came from eggs that one of my hens was sitting on for a couple weeks, but when she abandoned the nest, I put them in the incubator. They had gotten a little chilled. Where did your eggs come from? Any issues with the incubation? The other thing is that it’s wing was fully over its head. It pipped on its own, but it wasn’t in the proper position to fully hatch on its own. So there are several possibilities of what went wrong.

 

[addctd2plnts]

@WVduckchick @BirdsBeesTrees @Isaac 0 @shawluvsbirds
All have had a lot of Calls and may be able to offer some help. I believe this happens more often in artificial incubation (I may be wrong here) . Have you tried to offer a mash of wet food, the consistency of oatmeal. I feed an all flock crunble feed with nutritional yeast mixed in. My Call ducklings prefer it a bit runny but oh my gosh, they LOVE it

Does it ever resolve, or is it permanent? If it's due to artificial incubation, that implies one of the factors (heat, humidity, or turning?) must be the cause.

 

[Sarasway]

Hopefully it helps. Some ducklings like it at a different consistency, so if yours doesn't like it runny, try it a little less runny each time. The longer it sits out, the more thick it becomes, so you can always leave it for the duckling. I pinched some of the mash up onto my finger and offered it to them from my fingertips to introduce it and they quickly discovered how much they love it. Wishing you and your adorable duckling the best

I read this earlier and didn’t have much to add. I’ve only had one call duckling hatch with a bill like that, and it didn’t make it. I have very few (if any) of the ducks that I had at that time, so I thought maybe it was genetic. But surprisingly, I’m in the middle of an assist with one now, and it’s bill is not quite normal either. It had kind of an hourglass shape. Wider out toward the tip, and back by the face, smaller/pinched in the middle. It’s still not fully hatched, so I don’t know how it will do. It came from eggs that one of my hens was sitting on for a couple weeks, but when she abandoned the nest, I put them in the incubator. They had gotten a little chilled. Where did your eggs come from? Any issues with the incubation? The other thing is that it’s wing was fully over its head. It pipped on its own, but it wasn’t in the proper position to fully hatch on its own. So there are several possibilities of what went wrong.

It’s interesting that you said your duckling had its wing over at head. My duckling also had its wing over its head. It was in the air cell like that (only wing and head). I could see it’s wing in the air cell when I candled it. I lost another one that was upside down in the egg. (I only incubated 4) The other two that made it out of the egg are doing great. Unfortunately the baby with the deformed bill passed away this afternoon

 

[WVduckchick]

So sorry you lost yours. I actually don’t expect mine to make it either, it’s still in the shell, half assisted, but I think I see a large yolk.
I now wonder if the wing bone may have impeded the growth of the bill? Maybe it was folded over it weird. The good thing is that we’ve seen some horrible bill injuries that seem to heal easily, so I was hopeful, but after my last progress check, things aren’t looking great.