Muscovy ducks, duckling

[fri2097]

Hello, so i got a female that recently hatched 5 ducklings. By now they are around almost 2 weeks old. Recently the weather where i live got rainy with some sunshine. Today in the morning (rainy day) i noticed one of the ducklings separated from the mom and group. It seems to be the runt since it only lays down and is not as active or fast as the rest. I also noticed that whenever the mom duck is around it wants to stay under her. She does a pretty good job protecting them since any time i approach them she runs towards me and becomes aggressive. My question here is if i should do anything special for the duckling? or i should just watch it closely and act if anything is needed? My concern is it weakening.
This morning i fed all my ducks some worms in hopes that would help the runt thrive more.
Also i feed them regularly a mix of seeds with pellets, although they always leave the pellets behind.
thank you.
[ducks are muscovy]

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I'd say you should just watch it closely and act if anything is needed. And maybe give the mom and her babies some hard boiled eggs of any breed of poultry and maybe make scrambled eggs with minerals and vitamins added plus very nicely grounded/crush eggs shells for calcium.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

And a happy welcome from Northern Italy!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello, so i got a female that recently hatched 5 ducklings. By now they are around almost 2 weeks old. Recently the weather where i live got rainy with some sunshine. Today in the morning (rainy day) i noticed one of the ducklings separated from the mom and group. It seems to be the runt since it only lays down and is not as active or fast as the rest. I also noticed that whenever the mom duck is around it wants to stay under her. She does a pretty good job protecting them since any time i approach them she runs towards me and becomes aggressive. My question here is if i should do anything special for the duckling? or i should just watch it closely and act if anything is needed? My concern is it weakening.
This morning i fed all my ducks some worms in hopes that would help the runt thrive more.
Also i feed them regularly a mix of seeds with pellets, although they always leave the pellets behind.
thank you.
[ducks are muscovy]

If you have poultry cell liquid you can add that to their drinking water. What are the seeds you feeding them?

 

[fri2097]

I'd say you should just watch it closely and act if anything is needed. And maybe give the mom and her babies some hard boiled eggs of any breed of poultry and maybe make scrambled eggs with minerals and vitamins added plus very nicely grounded/crush eggs shells for calcium.

Thank you, i do save all my egg shells and feed them to the ducks. I was concerned they be too sharp for the ducklings but perhaps if i crush them a lot that be enough. Im gonna look into the minerals and vitamins avaible in my area or online. (im from mexico)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Keep this in mind ducklings don’t need egg shells too much calcium is hard on the kidneys. The same as we shouldn’t feed our ducklings layer feed.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

Thank you, i do save all my egg shells and feed them to the ducks. I was concerned they be too sharp for the ducklings but perhaps if i crush them a lot that be enough. Im gonna look into the minerals and vitamins avaible in my area or online. (im from mexico)

Great, hope the ducklings does good. Again welcome to BYC!

 

[fri2097]

If you have poultry cell liquid you can add that to their drinking water. What are the seeds you feeding them?

I didnt even know poultry cell liquid was a thing, thank you. Is a mix i buy at a local feed store. Where i am at there is not "duck focus foods" is mainly for chickens and roosters so i buy a maintenance one for rooster. It contains corn, sorghum, wheat, oat, rice, peas and 2 kinds of pellets (brown one made of soy and 2 other things and a red one that has vitamins A, D, E, complex B [B1, B2, B6 and B12] Vitamin K, calcium and other minerals.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I didnt even know poultry cell liquid was a thing, thank you. Is a mix i buy at a local feed store. Where i am at there is not "duck focus foods" is mainly for chickens and roosters so i buy a maintenance one for rooster. It contains corn, sorghum, wheat, oat, rice, peas and 2 kinds of pellets (brown one made of soy and 2 other things and a red one that has vitamins A, D, E, complex B [B1, B2, B6 and B12] Vitamin K, calcium and other minerals.

If they carry something that is strictly pellet, I would get that. The problem with mixes like this is the bird will pick and chose (as you've noticed with leaving the pellets behind). You may also want to wet the feed to make it easier, especially with ducks.

You'll also want to start adding niacin to the food, as ducks require much more than chickens do.

Finally, !!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Does it say how much niacin reason asking is niacin deficiency is pretty common in waterfowl babies so it’s very important they get B3 daily which is niacin. I can’t get duck specific feed etc here either I buy chicken feed and add Nutritional yeast for the niacin the feed doesn’t have and poultry cell is really good for new ducklings gives them an extra boost it’s actually called Rooster Booster Poultry Cell. Extra vitamins are good to help a duckling who maybe struggling but It needs to contain niacin which is what they need for strong legs.