Muscovy duckling keeps flipping on back

[Scovies16]

Hey group! I have a 9 week old Muscovy who flips on her back and can't right herself once in a while. She is definitely the smallest of my 9 and gets picked on a bit. Sometimes she tips onto her back and can't right herself but when I flip her over she just shakes it off and continues to do her ducky things. No issues eating drinking or keeping up with the rest of the flock. Any ideas?

 

[Amiga]

Sounds like a seizure. Sometimes extra B vitamins can help. Here is something I wrote about that.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Generally, folks who supplement with brewer’s yeast use a tablespoon per cup of food.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Another approach is to use B Complex capsules, and use the B3 - niacin - levels as a guide. Again, 150 mg B3 per gallon of drinking water.


Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

Sometimes it only takes a few days to see improvement.

You can also see how it went for Qwackers and Bentley from these threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857143/treating-wry-neck-in-crested-duckling-edited-title

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761308/peking-duckling-with-crooked-neck-help

.........being smaller, is she getting enough food and water to drink, or is she being shoved aside by the others? Dehydration can cause trouble.

 

[Scovies16]

Thanks for this wonderful information!!

We have been giving niacin in the drinking water (and probiotics/electrolytes on really hot days) and brewers yeast in the food since we got the ducklings at 3 days old. They all seem to be fine, and this one is mostly fine just once in a while seems to do the flipping thing. There isn't niacin in their pools (they have 2), so maybe she is drinking from the pools only and just not getting in on the food as much as the others (since she is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order - and is the smallest).

What do you recommend if this is the case? She hates being separated from the group and I fear this just stresses her out more. If needed I could separate her and her favorite drake, who is her best buddy, just for company. What are your thoughts on time they should be separated if I do this?

 

[Amiga]

Thanks for this wonderful information!!

We have been giving niacin in the drinking water (and probiotics/electrolytes on really hot days) and brewers yeast in the food since we got the ducklings at 3 days old. They all seem to be fine, and this one is mostly fine just once in a while seems to do the flipping thing. There isn't niacin in their pools (they have 2), so maybe she is drinking from the pools only and just not getting in on the food as much as the others (since she is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order - and is the smallest).

What do you recommend if this is the case? She hates being separated from the group and I fear this just stresses her out more. If needed I could separate her and her favorite drake, who is her best buddy, just for company. What are your thoughts on time they should be separated if I do this?

Long day, here, apologies for taking a while to respond.

Ahem.

Just between you and me and a thousand of our closest friends, what I do is I put the nutrients in some treats - for my flock, thawed frozen peas are the best treat in the world. I put a couple tablespoons of peas in a custard cup, thaw them out, mash a few of them, and then add whatever I am trying to get into the duck - calcium, metacam, antibiotics - and I sneak around and get the duck just a little ways away from the flock. Maybe just get her into a corner and I squat down and show her and only her the custard cup with peas in it. I hold back the other ducks while she eats her special. The next time, as soon as she sees me coming with the custard cup, she starts to separate herself away from the rest of the flock, and we have our little rendezvous. This actually is how it works, and it works that way with different ducks. The ones I have needed to medicate catch on right away that they are getting something just for them, and they sneak around with me. It's kinda cute.