Help! Ducks lose their balance and are fine in a few minutes!

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds very similar to what another of our members has had with her Runners @DuckyDonna

 

[DuckyDonna]

We have 4 different ducks (9 months old) that will suddenly have trouble standing. First they lean back just a little, then fall forward and catch themselves with outstretched wings. Then they sit down and won't move. In about 4 or 5 minutes they will get up and walk away as if nothing was wrong. If I'm outside with them (we have 17 ducks in total) for an hour, I will usually see one of them have a sitting spell.

The ones experiencing the problem seem to be eating fine, and they look and act healthy -- except for the few minutes when they fall down and stay down.

They are eating Purina layer pellets and are free range grazing during the day. We keep them in a coop with pine shavings at night. We have a kiddie pool (in addition to a chicken waterer), so they can keep their nostrils cleaned out. The pool has gotten pretty nasty lately as the weather has been in the mid to upper 90s during the day. So, even though I was cleaning it out every other day, it did get to looking kinda strange. So, 4 days ago I started setting the pool up with fresh water once a day, emptying it later in the day and letting it dry.

Any ideas???

When I read your thread at first I thought it was one that I wrote! Even down to the 17 ducks and the pine shavings in the pen. 3, sometimes 4, of my ducks did the exact same thing beginning the middle of March and thankfully finally stopped a few weeks ago. I tried everything that people on here are suggesting and nothing would work.

My ducks get Purina duck pellets, and with every refill of the feed, they get 2 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast and have since they were hatched. They have oyster shells always available. Fresh water in their 5 buckets every night. They have 2 pools, one a kiddie pool and the other a big 4' x 8' pool which is changed out every 3 days in the summer.

When all this started happening I tried everything! The first thing I did was get the 4 girls away from the boys and in a separate pen and run. I thought they might have been over-mated because I've got 4 drakes in the flock. That was a lot of work to make runs, 3 pens, 3 pools, food, and water buckets but I had to do something so I did. Luckily I have a big run that can easily be divided. I tried giving them calcium gluconate, B-complex, changed the food to Purina layer, even tried 5 days of Baytril on one of them. Nothing changed until the middle of July I think it was and it just happened suddenly that the "spells" tapered off. Now we aren't having them anymore.

@Miss Lydia found a post on obturator nerve paralysis which sounded very much like what I was seeing. I took videos and sent them to breeders and "experts" and got no answer except that "maybe they are hot". Well, they weren't hot in March that is for sure! https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/obturator-paralysis.1438777/

If it is the obturator paralysis there is nothing you can do for that but let it run its course. All my girls are blue. 1 older one and 3 that I hatched last year. I suspect that the older one is the momma and the other 3 are her kids. They are my only blue ones and all have black bills not like that probably matters, but still. Coincidence? IDK. The other 13 ducks have been perfectly fine, same pen, same run, same food etc.

After writing all this I just noticed it's from 2011 but hopefully someone may find my post useful.

 

[shiranians rock]

I agree, after looking at the video, that looks like weakness, not neurological after all.

If you haven't already, go to the feed store and try a different brand or type of feed. Every feed company makes mistakes from time to time, so even if it's a top brand and fresh it could be from a bad batch. Nutritional deficiencies of many sorts will first appear as leg weakness in ducks, so it could be any of a number of deficiencies in the feed. If your feed store doesn't carry anything else, try another store.

Other possibilities:

* Are they ingesting toxins? Have your neighbors treated their lawn with chemicals recently? Do you spray your plants or have your yard sprayed for pests?
* Staphylococcosis can cause weakness of the legs, and can be treated with antibiotics. Don't know the likelihood, but it's something to consider.
* Worms, as already mentioned, and you'd probably also see weight loss accompanying the other symptoms.
* Calcium: phosphorus imbalance. This would be especially likely if they are immature and eating laying rations.

Most of that is pulled from Holderread's book. I hope something works for you, and soon.

i have a question i just noticed my 12 week old duck is wobbling side to side when she walks and walks and swims backwards and i wondering if maybe she hurt wing i'm not sure what would cause the problem suddenly

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you tell us about your duck, what breed? where are they kept? what food are you feeding? is this duck crested? Did you supplement with niacin from the time you got your duckling or ducklings? How long has this been going on?