I was taking my ducks out of the tub tonight and I noticed a couple of them have little soars on the bottom of their feet. They are on straw for bedding. I was reading that a may be a dietary deficiency. What should I give them different and how much. Right now they are eating a duck and goose maintenance plus I give them peas and spinach. It looks like the picture in "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" on page 252. It says a diet deficient in biotin, pantothenic acid, and or riboflavin... how do I know which... and what do I give them? How much? Poor little feet. Tia
It could also be from the rough ends of the straw. I would put them on something softer like shavings and see if that helps.
they can get infections from open sores on the feet, so keep them clean! Straw can hold poop and bacteria and cause these infections, they super super hard to treat... so maybe changing the bedding more frequently until they heal... usually they get scratched from walking around, rocks, concrete, anyting really... they land hard after attempting flight, or in my case, they nhurt their feet running down their ramp in their pen. I found that Wood pellets, the kind they use for horses, works the best... They can scratched their feet on straw and shavings... however, if you use pellets and you give them a spray with a water bottle, they will open up to saw dust, which is super soft on their feet. this might be a good idea whiole they have those boo boos. I am currently working on duck shoes to help prevent (and cushion during healing) these feet sores... I'll have them for sale soon.
They are having a discussion about this on another thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=264364
Do they look like this? Wifezilla and nettie said niacin deficiency. Got some brewer's yeast tablets gonna crush them up and put them in their food...neosporin and baby socks for healing...
Thanks... I just found the other thread... I will go get some brewer's yeast... just one tablet in their food... for how long... Do I do it again tomorrow... and then keep it up??? I will change their bedding... I can't imagine them wearing socks... any thing else work besides that??? They perch on the side of their black rubber water dish... I'm not sure how they perch with those big webbed feed, but they manage to do that... Sometimes they step in their water dish too... so I guess I will find a different water dish.. maybe back to a plastic jug for a while... Thanks for the help everyone. tia
Quote:Have you considered providing them with a regular Roosting Bar? Muscovies are perching ducks rather than dabbleing ducks like the rest of the domestic ducks. Mine used to roost on the edge of a verticle plywood panel that I had in the duck house to give some privacy to the nest area. Their feet used to suffer for it, first with sores like the picture, regular where they gripped the panel edge. They kept knocking it down with their jumping on and off, so I ran a 2x4 along the top to hold it in place. BOTH problems went away. Their feet were better because they didn't have to curl them so much to hold on and they couldn't tip over the panel anymore. Then I went too far and put in a higher bar The toughest bird gets to use the high bar and they fight for it! Also they will use a high bar to launch attacks on their keeper - ME! Belt level is as high as I will go....
I went downtown and could only find "yeast flakes" They have other stuff in them too. Ingredients say" Primary grown Nutritional Yeast, Niacin, Pyridoxine, HCI, Roboflavin, Thiamine HCI, Folic Acid and Vitamin B-12 Will these yeast flakes work? How much do I use? If not, I will have to order Brewer's Yeast tablets by mail.. I live in a small Alaskan town and it is hard to get some things here. We have one grocery, one pharmacy, and one health food store, and none of them had the tablets. There is no pet store or feed store here.
