i can’t figure out what’s wrong with my drake, or what to do for him

[anonymous99]

I posted a question like this already, but i can’t seem to get any clear answers. it started yesterday when my pekin drake was having trouble walking or standing. i don’t know what’s wrong with him. he was doing fine the other day. he can’t stand or walk without falling onto his side or his back. he seems like he wants to walk or stand, but he can’t without my support. he will scoot over sometimes if he wants to move. he can’t seem to get comfortable when he’s sitting either. I looked at his feet and legs and can’t find anything. he’s eating and drinking normally. he’s preening normally too. he can’t swim without flipping over. i gave him a warm bath yesterday to see if it would help, but i don’t know. none of the other ducks are experiencing this. i don’t know what to do to help him. before you say “take him to the vet”, i can’t bc i don’t have the money for that. i don’t think he’s suffering from niacin deficiency. i don’t know what it is. aside from the leg problem, he seems to be acting normal. i don’t know if he ate anything bad or what. i didn’t think that he’d live to see today. i’m worried if he’ll live to see tomorrow or not. please help me. what do i do? i can’t seem to get any answers from anyone
Edit: my ducks are 12 weeks old.

 

[fatty and friends]

what are you feeding? sounds like a niacin deficiency to me. nothing you did wrong, i have two pekin boys and we deal with feet issues atleast yearly because of how heavy their breed is

 

[anonymous99]

what are you feeding? sounds like a niacin deficiency to me. nothing you did wrong, i have two pekin boys and we deal with feet issues atleast yearly because of how heavy their breed is

i feed this to my ducks. the label came off, but it has 18% protein. i have vitamin b (or is it b3?) liquid complex that one of my other drakes had to use. my local feed store didn’t have any other feed that the ducks could eat. and tractor supply doesn’t have what i need either. since my drake has started acting like this, i haven’t wanted to do anything to him that could potentially make him feel worse. my ducks have been eating this ever since they were 3 weeks old with no problem.
edit: i also separated the drake away from the others for his safety. in his condition, there’s no way he’ll survive. if i’m not there to help him and he flips on his back, he could die.

 

[fatty and friends]

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i feed this to my ducks. the label came off, but it has 18% protein. i have vitamin b (or is it b3?) liquid complex that one of my other drakes had to use. my local feed store didn’t have any other feed that the ducks could eat. and tractor supply doesn’t have what i need either. since my drake has started acting like this, i haven’t wanted to do anything to him that could potentially make him feel worse. my ducks have been eating this ever since they were 3 weeks old with no problem.
edit: i also separated the drake away from the others for his safety. in his condition, there’s no way he’ll survive. if i’m not there to help him and he flips on his back, he could die.

that is your problem. ducks need a duck feed, not chicken feed. mazuri and purina both have duck pellets with way more niacin than chicken feed, i believe chewy delivers them

 

[anonymous99]

that is your problem. ducks need a duck feed, not chicken feed. mazuri and purina both have duck pellets with way more niacin than chicken feed, i believe chewy delivers them

And i understand that, but any grower feed that i’ve looked at online has too much protein in it and i understand that as ducks get older, they need less protein.

 

[fatty and friends]

And i understand that, but any grower feed that i’ve looked at online has too much protein in it and i understand that as ducks get older, they need less protein.

at 12 weeks they can have adult duck feed not grower feed. just make sure it is normal duck feed and not layer

 

[anonymous99]

at 12 weeks they can have adult duck feed not grower feed. just make sure it is normal duck feed and not layer

In the meantime, should i give my drake some of the vitamin b liquid complex?

 

[fatty and friends]

In the meantime, should i give my drake some of the vitamin b liquid complex?

yes you could. also adding brewer yeast into his food can help

 

[Miss Lydia]

I used this same feed for my ducklings since I can’t get duck specific feed. Please start him on the b complex why not? That maybe just what he needs and it sure won’t hurt him?

 

[anonymous99]

I used this same feed for my ducklings since I can’t get duck specific feed. Please start him on the b complex why not? That maybe just what he needs and it sure won’t hurt him?

I just don’t understand how this suddenly happened to him overnight when he was doing completely fine before and walking fine. I added some b complex a while ago. I hope it helps some.