Ducks beak growing deformed

[hfchristy]

We're on top of the vitamin B here. She had a lot of struggles earlier that we thought were maybe leg issues so we ramped that up, but I think the bill was the real root cause.
She has some balance issues and seems to pull to the right, which makes sense since I think if my nose were as prominent as a bill and off center, that would distort my sense of "straight".
And she was reluctant to stand or walk which might have been leg issues, but could also just have been that she was having a hard time getting the hang of eating and was weak as a result.
In any case, they're all getting a B-fortified mash now.

 

[Viola 2021]

Hi! Yesterday I had this 3 days goose! Help me please. He would eat but Don't can take any from floor! I'm fear he will dead hungry! I'have to feed he by hand?? Can u help me? Thanks!

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[Miss Lydia]

Thats the worst I've ever seen, can it use it's bill at all? have you tried wet soupy feed in a deep enough bowl it can scoop? I'd give it a fighting chance. Such a precious lil one. Use nice warm water to mix feed.

 

[Viola 2021]

THANK'U

 

[Miss Lydia]

You may have to teach this little one to eat. try placing a tiny bit of feed on it's lower bill just tiny bits soupy or wetted, and see how it does. @Viola 2021 can it use it's bill at all?

 

[Kimmyh51]

I have aduck like this, he is now an adult around a year old. He had a slight curve, barely noticeable as a wee duckling, which gradually became worse. My vet said it was because the growth plate on one side was not functioning for some reason (probably an injury in the egg maybe egg was knocked or something) and the reason as the duckling grows it gets worse is because one side of the beak keeps growing and the other side does not grow so it kind starts to bunch up.

My boy is a wild mallard, and he is doing fine, but would not ever be released into the wild as he can only eat by scooping his food out of a bowl. So I imagine he would struggle or simply starve in the wild.

As a duck in my flock though who is fed every day, he has done fine. He can fly and he moulted into his mating plumage in very brihght full colours then back out and into his eclipse plumage. I have read that bright mating plumage is a sign a duck is in good health as it take a lot of food and good food for a drake to moult into bright winter mating plumage (ie in mallards the green head etc. I am in NZ and here mallards do not migrate so he has stayed here happily since he was hatched and never leaves the property.

if there were a way to fix it I would definitely look into getting that done for him but I am not aware of any way to fix an existing beak that is deformed in this way, aside from something pretty full on like amputating the top beak and transplanting another beak (which was done in wellington for a duck whose upper beak was broken off close to the base), and i feel like that is too risky and traumatic to put him through

 

[Kimmyh51]

You may have to teach this little one to eat. try placing a tiny bit of feed on it's lower bill just tiny bits soupy or wetted, and see how it does. @Viola 2021 can it use it's bill at all?

If the duckling was like mine, it would know how to eat, as the problem gets worse and worse as they grow as one side of the beak grows and the other does not. And if it was raised in captivity or as a pet it would presumably be fed food in a bowl. My boy can eat any food as long as it is in a bowl so he can scoop it out. In the wild he would struggle as he cannot grab and pull on plants or easily catch bugs in his beak. But as long as his food is in a bowl he scoops it out much like we scoop out a cereal, dessert or a soup with a soup /dessert spoon. He just sticks his bottom bill down into the food and scoops it out and swallows. When he was younger i wouod check his crop every so often after he was eating and it was always full. He Will usually be first in line if i am putting food out and obviously a duck like this could not eat if the food was just scattered on the ground. And if he ever seems like he needs more, he will approach me and I (I have lots of ducks, in l lots of girls who will race up to any new bowl of food i put down even when full, because they are all FOMO, lol) will out a bowl of food in a run and he will go in there and i close the door, he eats then i let him out when done.

any updates on the duckling in this post?