Emergency Muscovy help

[Tracie70]

I recently bought four muscovy ducks..... I am trying to type fast so ecuse my spelling. One of them is showing signs of wabbliness and shakiness. I live in TX it is very warm here. He was in his coop in his swiimming pool just fine earlier today. I recently moved him and his 3 other buddies into a bigger pool. All of a sudden he just wasn't swimming normal and when I took him out he was shaky..... Could've the pool water been too cold...... I also was feeding him frozen peas can he have a pea lodged I did rub his neck just in case....... Any help please????

 

[kitkatbahr]

Hi Tracie,

Sorry I don't know much to say to help you. Hopefully someone with more experience will be a long shortly.

How old are the ducks? If young, I guess it is possible he is cold, especially eating frozen peas. Usually, it is best to thaw them a bit (I use warm water and let them sit in it for a few minutes) then feed them the peas. It does two things. They are softer, cause they are no longer frozen, which means easier to eat and less chance of choking, and also they are warmer so they don't get cold eating them. Especially young ducks.

Keep us posted on how he/she is doing.

 

[Tracie70]

kitkatbahr,

Thank you so much for your response. The ducks are about 3 months old I think....I came across these guys in a weird way so I have very little info on them....Needless to say they needed a good home. Well anyways they don't have fully developed wings yet and are a bit small......There in between baby size and full grown size.. I have been outside with her for a while and we were just petting her and letting her no that she is loved and she is acting almost fine now. I am thinking with the frozen pea and the fresh clean water that we just put into there new pool was just to much for her. I think she got cold.....I didn't no that about the frozen peas I will make sure I defrost them first....

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

If they are not totally feathered out, they can chill from the water. Their normal temperature is higher than a humans and the muscovy ducklings do not have as much natural oil like some breeds of ducks so they can get soaked when they are in water. If it is doing better now, then it is probably just the water and the cold peas.

Muscovies are unique and a great duck. Enjoy them.............

 

[kitkatbahr]

Hi Tracie,

If their wings are not fully developed yet, than they are probably younger than three months. I have two sets of hatchlings. One set is now almost 4 months old, the other set is 1 1/2 months old. The 4 month old ones have looked like adults and had all their wing/tail feathers now for over a month. So, at 3 months, they were already fully feathered. The 1 1/2 month old muscovy ducklings are about half grown. They are about half way to having all their wing feathers in. They have tail feathers. When they stretch their wings, they still look "stubby" even though the feathers are growing in on them. If you can post pics of yours, it may help with getting a better estimate of age. Plus, I love seeing other peoples muscovies!

Glad to hear she seems to be better. As for the peas, it only takes a couple minutes for them to defrost in hot water from the sink. Don't microwave them as they will get too hot too fast and start to cook. I just pour mine into a bowl, run hot water over them and let them sit in the hot water for a couple minutes. Then drain them, take them out and feed them to the ducks. Works great! And they love them.

How long have you had the ducklings? Is it possible that they may be sick? It sounds like you "rescued" them when you bought them. Oh, I just thought of something else too. They may have a niacin deficiency. Do a search on niacin and brewers yeast. Lots of threads on that. Apparently it causes weak legs. Any idea what they were being fed before you got them? What are you feeding them now? They should be on non-medicated chick starter like Start and Grow, which you can get at the local feed store.