Muscovy with walking problems, please help?!!!!

[kysilkies]

We can't see anything wrong with our baby(1 1/2mth old) but she's not walking much...Eats and drinks fine but there is something wrong with her that we can't see...There are 4 of them in a 2x3' crate until they completely feather, should we isolate the one and is there anything about Muscovies where this is not unusual among them?!?!...

We're lost and feeling bad for him...

He's eaten nothing but medicated chick starter and someone suggested it may be a vitamin deficiency...We have the food for older chickens, will that work with them?...

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Is it medicated with amprolium? That exacerbates niacin deficiency in ducks.

 

[kysilkies]

It's medicated, not sure with what...It's the standard Southern States brand...

Can they eat what my big chickens eat?

 

[horsejody]

Get some Purina FlockRaiser and crumble a brewer's yeast tablet in it.

 

[kysilkies]

Is active dry yeas the same thing?

 

[rainplace]

active dry yeast is not the same thing... I think.

Yes, you can feed them what you feed the chickens, many people do. However, chick starter does not have have all the vitamins needed for ducklings.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
No the yeast in the brewer's yeast tablets is killed. Active yeast can cause problems because too much can rob the intestines as the yeast feed.

ETA: brewers yeast is cheap and available at most pharmacies and at WalMart

 

[Duck_feeder]

As far as I know, brewer's yeast isn't always killed - just dried out. Depending on how it was dried will determine how much of the yeast survives. I'm testing some of the brewer's yeast we got from a feed store right now to test for live yeast. I'll post my results in a few hours.

Baker's yeast does contain b-vitamins including niacin (created when it ferments food). If you can't find any brewer's yeast you can make a mash of corn starch (don't use wheat flour - gluten will make the mash too sticky), sugar, water, and a little bit of baker's yeast. Let it ferment in a warm area for a couple hours (it'd get bubbly and foamy as it ferments). Microwave it for a couple minutes to kill all the yeast. The resulting mash is edible and will contain lots of extra nutrients that the original ingredients didn't have. Mix it in with their treats.

The isn't much of a difference between baker's yeast and brewer's yeast (in fact yeasts categorized as one or the other is in fact hundreds of different related species). Yeasts are selected for brewing or baking based on the quality of the final product (baking yeasts are usually faster at producing CO2, brewer's yeasts are selected based on alcohol creation and better fermentation and desired temps).

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
Two by three feet seems pretty small to me. You provide 1.5 square feet per bird, and Cornell University recommends 2.28 square feet per bird at six weeks.

http://www.duckhealth.com/housmngt.html

Furthermore, your birds really don't have much opportunity to exercise, and their muscles may atrophy. An extreme example might be putting one six week old bird in a one by two and a half foot box. Even though the area requirements are met at 2.5 square feet per bird, the bird obviously wouldn't be very active in such a small space. Commercial brooders provide large areas with multiple heat lamps and feeding stations for their ducklings to freely wander about while meeting the density requirements.

Are the legs on the duck bowing, and are the hocks enlarged? The following link is what the veterinarians look for when diagnosing niacin deficiency:

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

Also, where did you get these muscovy ducklings? Are these the ones from JM Hatchery?

 

[kysilkies]

I thought about that...We are going to be building them a large coop but honestly, we thought they'd grow slower LOLOLOL

Since they're 80% feathered, as long as it's not precipitating or freezing with 20mph winds, they can stay out in our temporary run during the day and just come in at night until we get coop done for them, which of course is now on top of Honey Do list...

Thanx for info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


>>>Also, where did you get these muscovy ducklings? Are these the ones from JM Hatchery?

No, Sydney Enterprise here in KY...