Help!!!

Anyone know what could possibly be wrong?

  • Keep (take to vet)

    Votes: 3 75.0%
  • Take back to park

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .

Mari_soul129

Hatching
May 27, 2018
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2
5
I was walking at a local park which has a pond. I heard a baby duckling crying as it saw me it started following me. When I was younger I've had ducks and by the looks the little fella he was a pet or farm animal but was still quit young to be alone. I don't know if I did the right thing but its in my house and he's not able to walk quit right (kinda stumbles) and the fellas beak looks a bit off (top beak is a bit shorter).
 
A lot of people release ducks in parks thinking they'll be "OK." (Or he could have escaped...) Set up a brooder. "Ducklings and Goslings do not take heat well, so be sure not to overheat them. They like a temperature of 90-92 degrees for the first 3 days, then 85-90 degrees for days 4 to 7. Thereafter, drop the temperature by approximately 5 degrees per week until they are fully feathered." Make sure he can get away from the brooder light. He'll move closer if he's cold.

The beak, there's nothing you can do but make sure he's eating and drinking. Ducks HAVE to have water they can dunk their whole head into so as to clean their nostrils, and also to not choke on the food. Just make sure it's not so deep he can get in it, not be able to get out, and drown. Make sure he ALWAYS has water.

You can feed UNmedicated chick feed. I'd put some electrolytes made for chicks in the water. Check for injury on the legs. Buy some cheap niacin capsules that you can take apart. Sprinkle niacin powder in his water at the rate of 100 mgs. per gallon of water. Make sure it's just plain niacin, NOT low flush. This will most likely fix his leg problems, as niacin deficiency causes leg abnormalities in ducks.

Finally, ducks live in flocks, so consider getting another friend or two for him. Good luck!
 
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Is he the little one in your avatar? I looked for another thread you might have made but it looks like you've only made one post at all on this forum, which was the post you made to start this thread.

If he's the duck in your avatar, it looks like he's a domestic duck, so he definitely shouldn't have been at the pond and was probably dumped there by someone who thought it was fine to do that and he would survive. Domestic ducks can't survive in the wild, so you saved his life.

It looks like he has a beak injury, so I would clean it off and apply some neosporin to it.

The description you're giving of him not being able to walk well makes me suspect a niacin deficiency, especially since he appears to be a pekin, and they tend to need a lot of niacin, and there's no telling what the person who dumped him was feeding him.

Go to a feed store and pick up something called Vitamin B complex, and give him 1 mL a day directly, either via a syringe or over a treat like peas or mealworms. This should help.

Also while you're there pick up some food for him, an all flock like Purina Flock Raiser if you can find it, or Naturewise also makes a feed that will work. It's called Meat Bird and comes in an orange bag, and they make it with ducklings in mind. This is what I use for my ducklings.

If you can't find either of those, go with an unmedicated chick feed but make sure you're religious about supplementing the niacin with the B complex. If you can't find unmedicated, then medicated with amprolium is fine, it won't hurt him.
 
Is he the little one in your avatar? I looked for another thread you might have made but it looks like you've only made one post at all on this forum, which was the post you made to start this thread.

If he's the duck in your avatar, it looks like he's a domestic duck, so he definitely shouldn't have been at the pond and was probably dumped there by someone who thought it was fine to do that and he would survive. Domestic ducks can't survive in the wild, so you saved his life.

It looks like he has a beak injury, so I would clean it off and apply some neosporin to it.

The description you're giving of him not being able to walk well makes me suspect a niacin deficiency, especially since he appears to be a pekin, and they tend to need a lot of niacin, and there's no telling what the person who dumped him was feeding him.

Go to a feed store and pick up something called Vitamin B complex, and give him 1 mL a day directly, either via a syringe or over a treat like peas or mealworms. This should help.

Also while you're there pick up some food for him, an all flock like Purina Flock Raiser if you can find it, or Naturewise also makes a feed that will work. It's called Meat Bird and comes in an orange bag, and they make it with ducklings in mind. This is what I use for my ducklings.

If you can't find either of those, go with an unmedicated chick feed but make sure you're religious about supplementing the niacin with the B complex. If you can't find unmedicated, then medicated with amprolium is fine, it won't hurt him.
x2!:goodpost:
 

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