so i am fairly new to ducks(march of this year) and i received my Holderread's order in june. they are 4.5 weeks old now and doing great except one silver appleyard that suddenly out of nowhere could hardly get up, it's legs were wide apart and wobbly and was just off. i couldn't figure it out. they are on flock raiser like holderread suggested, on pine shavings, have a large enclosure, fresh swimming water daily as well as drinking water, plenty of shade.....what happened? i called them today, they put dave on the phone! told him the situation, i have 15 ducklings and only one is acting this way. what have i done different this week? on monday i threw in some fresh alfalfa for bedding(i am allergic to straw and bermuda), by wednesday morning this duckling was like this. he said ducks cannot have more than 5% of alfalfa in their diets and the flock raiser already has it in it. who knows how much this duckling ate and why it was so affected, they are all different. he said to pull out all the bedding and give a molasses flush and see. hope for the best. but that flock raiser had plenty of niacin, so not a deficiency. so i hope this appleyard recovers.
i really just posted this as an fyi to those who might be new like me and not know. i have been giving my chickens alfalfa for years, but never thought ducks could not have it.
i really just posted this as an fyi to those who might be new like me and not know. i have been giving my chickens alfalfa for years, but never thought ducks could not have it.
