lazy duckling?

[aliveandliving]

so ...HI!

i have 3, 4 week old ducklings.
one is much larger [i assume the female] and the other two are smaller.
sometimes they catch up to each other in size, but then thius one explodes in growth.

my concern is the amount of sitting she does compared to the other two.
she will run around a bit and then flop to a sitting position. the other two seem to stand a lot more. and they eat standing. shell drop in front of the bowl and eat and drink like that....

it is not ALWAYS, just most of the time.

is this because she is so much heavier? is there a growth deficiancy in her muscles? is it a fear thing when i am hovering over them?

any other ideas?

other than this she seems healthy as heck. awesome personality. eats, drinks, tweets

thanx so much

 

[katharinad]

How much protein do you feed. To much will make them grow too fast and they can get pain from that. 16-17% protein should be fine. Also they grow so fast early on, which means they need lots of niacin. Add brewers yeast to their food and add niacin into the drinking water. You can get both at Walmart. Niacin needs to be 100mg for 1 gallon of water. All your ducks can get it. It's good for them.

 

[Wifezilla]

Don't worry about the protein. Seriously. I feed my birds 24% game bird feed. The only ducks with leg problems I had were ones I bought from other people who fed their ducks 16% protein feed.

I suspect the breed of the duck has more to do with it than anything. Is the big duck a Pekin? Sounds more like a growth spurt than a a health problem.

Niacin deficiency can be an issue so it might be a good idea to give them some, just don't overdo it.

 

[aliveandliving]

thanx guys

appriciate the feedback

they are all muscovys that i caught from my duck mammas that moved to my landlords house.
they get a combo now of half chick starter and half regular game feed they get worms 2 times a week and tons of fresh greens.
ill grab some nacin or better try to find some niacin ritch food.

thanx again.
like i said its not all the time. just more than not as far as i can tell.

 

[Wifezilla]

Ahhhh....your duck that is bigger is most likely a drake. With muscovies, the boys get pretty huge and the girls are smaller.

 

[katharinad]

I don't know about the size sex thing. My girl was always the larger one in my Saxony ducks. He then started to take over when they were 3 months old. I stick to the sound factor. May be different with other breeds.

 

[Wifezilla]

You can't voice sex moscovies easily. They don't quack.

 

[katharinad]

You are right she has Muscovy ducks. The quiet ones.

Slipped by me.

 

[aliveandliving]

oh well. i guess im going by size because the other clutches from this year have large females and small males.

eek.
i had them follow me out to their winter garden today. they are sooooooocute!

 

[katharinad]

I've been taking my ducks for a walk in our meadow with a bowl of peas in my hand. They don't mind walking a quarter of a mile as long as there is food involved. They are such beggars.