Limping ducks - multiple people looking for help.

[Dances with Ducks]

When you look at some of the photos people post or their description (like "leg turning inward") when their ducklings are going lame I wonder if bow legged doesn't fit to some degree - how bad does it have to be before we can wonder about niacin deficiency.
I had never heard of perosis, or that a manganese or choline (which is a B vitamin - presumably also in brewers yeast) deficiency could also be causing lameness.
So I appreciate the info.

 

[rainplace]

Update:

I couldn't make myself remove Crackers from her little flock. It freaked her out too much, so I thought I'd just watch and wait. I made sure that she always had food and water near to where she was laying. Things just stayed the same. Then this past week she started getting around better. And this morning it was almost like she never had such a hard time walking. She still has a bit of a limp, and her good foot turned in a bit (I think to compensate for the lame one), but she's using her "lame" leg and foot more. So it took a little over a month to see any difference.

I was so happy watching her get around this morning

 

[Sunny Side Up]

My turn to update:

After several days of confinement together, giving both the limping and the non-limping ducks vitamins 2X a day, I let them back out into the yard to range with the other older ducks & the geese. Vinyl's limp lessened in severity until it disappeared, Latex never limped. I think it helped that they had each other, bought & raised together since they were day-old ducklings, to stay confined to the pen together while the one recovered.

I still cannot say for certain what caused it, or what helped her to recover. It's possible it was really nothing, and would have gotten better with no intervention at all. It's also possible the time of confinement &/or the vitamins helped keep it from getting worse. Because they're my son's special pets, I'm glad I made the effort to intervene, just in case.

I noticed one of my younger ducks, one of 4 hatched by a hen & truly skittish, was limping the other day. They've been eating only chick starter and haven't been roaming the yard. I haven't noticed any of those signs of severe vitamin deficiency, nor any other symptoms. I know they'd be really really distressed if I tried to grab them & drip vitamins down their yack holes, so I'm just letting them be. And they seem to be getting better on their own.

Thank you everyone for your imput.

 

[rainplace]

That reminds me. I gave my limping duck the vitamins also

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
No I haven't, and that's reassuring. So I may not go as far as to buy extra supplements as long as no other symptoms appear. I usually wouldn't intervene this much for other birds, but like I said, they're my son's special pets and we want to give them the best of care. I don't think it'll hurt them to be kept on pen rest together, and given a few extra vitamin drops before bedtime.

And don't discount the amazing curative powers of chocolate ice cream for humans, it'll cure anything from bad head colds to advanced cases of sarcasm. I think I need a pint right now...

Actually, chocolate *does* have a certain amount of natural painkiller to it. It was no accident that it appears as a medicinal in the Harry Potter books...that is based on fact. Now that doesn't mean everybody who has an owwie go out and binge on it though! A little giving some help does not mean that "more must be better"!

 

[nettie]

lol chocolate ice cream.... well the chocolate is no good for the ducks... but once while they were annoying/beggin me for a treat while i had a bowl, i tried to see if my ducks would eat some ice cream from a spoon, but they took a bite and spit it out right away... lol.

I think gettin more than enough vitamins can't hurt in anyway, and could possibly help, so might as well. Spa treatments, akak luke warm baths in the tub so they can float seem to help too. YOu can also give a limping duck a mini soak in an epsom salt bath... just make the water warm enough to melt the epsom salt and make it just deep enough to cover the legs. I suggest you put the epsom bath in a sall tub or container... something they can't swim around in, but just big enough to hold a duck. And you have to watch them, so they don't drink the water. I'd say 5-10 minutes helps.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I don't know if this will help, but I have a Moscovy duck about 4-5 months old. He is picked on by the rest of the chickens and the other ducks cause he can't run away. I'm not sure if its both his legs or one but some days he can't even crawl and some days it seems as though nothing is wrong! There are alot of ups and downs. The other ducks pick on him and he kinda keeps to himself, I tried to seperate them and see if he healed but he and the other ducks went nuts so I put them back together. He is missing alot of feathers cause everybody picks them off and he is VERY big compared to the rest. I got him at a show with 2 other Moscovies and he has VERY big feet and is VERY big comapred to the rest. I'm not sure if its him or if he really isn't the same kind of duck as the rest. Please help!

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
Try the B vitamins STAT! Some animals, and humans even, just have a more natural immunity, whereas some are more susceptible to some things. Sounds like a deficiency to me; your duck will have life-long problems if it continues to progress...

Hope ALL of your ducks get better!

I have one limping duck that it comes and goes with, seemed to come on with the cold...I have ordered the brewers yeast, because if it doesn't help, it can't hurt.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
Too much niacin in their diets can be quite bad. It is called niacin poisoning. Furthermore, limping is not a sign of niacin deficiency.

From http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/206928.htm

A niacin deficiency is characterized by severe metabolic disorders in the skin and digestive organs. The first signs are usually loss of appetite, retarded growth, general weakness, and diarrhea.

...

Ducks and turkeys with a niacin deficiency show a severe bowing of the legs and an enlargement of the hock joint.

 

[duckluck]

I don't plan on getting too carried away with it...a little here and there and we'll see how they do. These ducks have a pretty good diet; pellets, cat kibble, whole oats, BOSS and kelp along with free-range in about a half acre pen, with occasional minnows in their pool. Also occasional flakes of hay.