Duckling won't stand (Please help!)

[ThatOneChick]

Um, hi. New to this site and I thought this would be a good place to look for advice. So, we just had 13 ducklings (cayugas and indian runners) shipped to us and everything was fine for the past few days. They slept under a heat bulb, had water and food frequently and a large space to run about.

So today, after leaving them alone for a few hours I came back to see one of the female indian runners just...collapsed on the floor. I thought she was dead; she was belly-up, neck bent back, eyes closed and...just looked lifeless. As I picked her up, she seemed to have regained consciousness. Very slowly. So I tried to give her some water, she didn't want to. Well okay...maybe she's not thirsty. But I was still pretty worried. I put her down on the floor and she doesn't even try to stand up. She just sort of sat on her knees(?) You know, where their legs bend. For now, we took the food and water from the others, and we seperated her from the rest.

Can someone please tell me what's wrong? These ducklings are only four days old and the others are completely fine. I'm really worried for her. Oh, forgot to mention that her toes were sort of tucked in instead of spread out and open.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SouthernPride]

I wonder if he got turned over and could not right himself and now he is exhausted. You need to put its bill in the water and it should get a little that way. Also, if u have some electrolytes that would be good. Keep him warm and calm. Make a nest from a towel to keep his feet up under him. Good luck.

 

[Amiga]

Get the food and water back in front of all of them - they need it 24/7.

Sounds like niacin deficiency. Start her right away on 150 mg plain niacin to one gallon drinking water, keep her on that for two months.

 

[ThatOneChick]

Thank you guys for the advice. But my family believes it was water logging. We did give them food without water sometimes because they would drench the whole tub they were in in a matter of minutes. We found the duckling dead in the casket, poor thing.

Don't worry, Amiga. We didn't take the food and water away for too long. We just changed it to an homemade organic mix. Better to be safe than sorry, I guess.