My duck keeps going off her legs

[Whiters]

Hi, I have 2 ducks (an Aylesbury and a Campbell) both are now 8 years old. My Aylesbury duck Darcy has now gone off her legs on 4 separate occasions over the past 4 weeks. It lasts a few hours, during which time we carry her and place her in her house to rest. After a few hours she is back on her legs and back to normal. Can anyone advise please? I have read that ducks can go lame when they have worms, but am unsure if this is the cause as it lasts momentarily and she returns to normal after a few hours.
Sometimes she will become quiet and act out of character, but I generally put this down to her behaviour prior to laying an egg. As again after this she returns to normal?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Can you take her to a vet? That would be best, but if you can't that's okay too.

What do you feed them?
Do they have oyster shell?
Are they laying?

 

[Whiters]

Welcome to BYC! Can you take her to a vet? That would be best, but if you can't that's okay too.

What do you feed them?
Do they have oyster shell?
Are they laying?

Hi
Thanks for coming back to me.
I feed them corn and oyster shell. They have lettuce daily and cucumber. They also free roam the grass in our garden and borders. They are currently laying a couple of eggs a week. The last time I took my other duck to the vet, they didn't really know how to help, even though they are a country vet and are used by the local farms.
Thanks

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I am sorry but 8 is really old for a duck. Is it possible this is end of life?

 

[casportpony]

Hi
Thanks for coming back to me.
I feed them corn and oyster shell. They have lettuce daily and cucumber. They also free roam the grass in our garden and borders. They are currently laying a couple of eggs a week. The last time I took my other duck to the vet, they didn't really know how to help, even though they are a country vet and are used by the local farms.
Thanks

May I suggest that you switch them to lay crumble or all flock feed and give them some calcium gluconate or human calcium citrate orally?

The calcium gluconate you can find in the cattle section of most feed stores. The dose I would use is 0.20 ml per pound orally or by injection.


The calcium citrate you can get at Walmart:


You might also want to get some liquid b vitamins, brewers yeast, or nutritional yeast.

 

[Jennifer Cappi Williams]

I JUST went thru this with my 8 year old goose. She became immobile. I took her to the vet and she had the calcium injections. It was really easy to give her these myself once I was shown WHERE they are administered to. Then she got the same calcium given to her orally. Well after three weeks she was still NOT walking. I took her back to the vet and we both figured what happened is this : lack of calcium = can't walk, Oh I haven't walked in a while and now my legs are asleep so I DON'T WANT TO WALK, well now I have not walked in THREE WEEKS my muscles have gone to mush.... Puddles by this time living in the bathtub on towels with her business end pointed at the drain. I bought her a toy that she could sit on and get some blood flowing in her legs. (I had to sit with her as she was on it but it saved my arms since I WAS holding her up trying to get her to put weight on her legs) I then would put her in a water tub that was deep enough for her to swim and made her swim. She is NOW back to normal. Next Spring she will get a hormone shot to STOP EGG PRODUCTION. I don't want her going thru this again... (her eyes foam up when she is sad)

 

[Jennifer Cappi Williams]

Hi
Thanks for coming back to me.
I feed them corn and oyster shell. They have lettuce daily and cucumber. They also free roam the grass in our garden and borders. They are currently laying a couple of eggs a week. The last time I took my other duck to the vet, they didn't really know how to help, even though they are a country vet and are used by the local farms.
Thanks

I get that! I just happened to find an Avian and Exotic vet and she gets pet chickens, ducks, and geese all the time...otherwise NO ONE would be able to really help. When I had a chicken with wry neck and asked a different vet what I could do about it, he suggested a HAMMER. (i DONT use that vet anymore)

 

[casportpony]

She is NOW back to normal.

So glad to hear she is better!

 

[Whiters]

May I suggest that you switch them to lay crumble or all flock feed and give them some calcium gluconate or human calcium citrate orally?

The calcium gluconate you can find in the cattle section of most feed stores. The dose I would use is 0.20 ml per pound orally or by injection.

View attachment 1418481
The calcium citrate you can get at Walmart:
View attachment 1418484

You might also want to get some liquid b vitamins, brewers yeast, or nutritional yeast.

Thank you, I will give this a try

 

[Whiters]

I am sorry but 8 is really old for a duck. Is it possible this is end of life?

I hope not