I’ve had chickens for many years and I recently adopted this duckling. A friend of mine had bought six ducklings and two of them died immediately. They put the remaining ducks into the pen with the adult ducks and all but this one were killed by the adult male. Anyway, this duckling was living at her home alone but was not doing well at all. My friend called and asked if I would take it. I noticed immediately that its legs were bowed and that it was very congested. It also had scarring on its face and neck from where it had been pecked by the adult ducks. Before adding anything to my flock, I always take them to it to the vet to have a complete check up. Needless to say, the vet believes that a niacin deficiency is what caused the problems with the legs and that it also had an upper respiratory infection. Now, five days later, The ducking has made so many improvements. I am feeding it a niacin-based duck food. Before, my friend was feeding at chick starter. It is getting around a lot better and the antibiotics are working for the upper respiratory infection. Hopefully, we will be able to move the duck to an outside pen in the next week or so. We are doing swim therapy several times a day in the bathtub and that seems to be strengthening the legs even more. My friend did not know the breed, age or the sex of this duckling. I am suspecting that it is a white Pekin but I might be wrong. I have also read about sexing based on the sounds they make and from what I’m hearing it sounds female and was just curious if anybody else had any thoughts. Thank you so much!
Here is a video:
Here is a video:
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Thank you for your kind words. I will keep an eye on those feet, by the way! Thank you for that too!
The mama hen won’t let any of my adults near her babies and Derby. It’s adorable. She does get her pool time everyday.
Such a precious little flock of happy adorable fluffs and a very proud mama hen 
