My duckling acts strange.......(white crested ducklings)

quackers619

Songster
Aug 21, 2015
354
74
111
fayetteville,ga
I have 2 3 week old white crested ducklings born from same hatch but one is much smaller and has a huge afro that seems to block her vison she is super jumpy, walks in circle and tends to push herself up against the wall but most strange is when you pick her up she freaks out and then falls fast to sleep...Is this normal?Any one with white crested ducks please share info about them and I would like Any one with white crested ducks please share info about them.
 
She is demonstrating signs of neurological problems. Common to vaulted skulls, of which hers is severe. You could try getting some Poultry Nutri-Drench into her. If that doesn't solve the problem, I recommend that you euthanize her.
 
I don't know if I'd jump to culling her, this is (unfortunately) pretty common in breeds with vaults (Silkies, Polish, ect). Vitamin E and selenium are the usual recommended treatments. Nutri-Drench is an excellent energy boost, and that would really help the little thing right now (it may also already have the E and selenium in it, not sure).

One word of caution, if you decide to work with her, this might be an issue for her for the rest of her days. One of my Silkie roos suffered an injury to his vault as a youngster. He took a peck on the head when he was introduced to my flock. He would "head bang", walk in circles, run into things and tuck his head between his legs and do somersaults. It was pretty bad. I treated with vitamin E capsules and selenium and after a couple of months, he was much better. He lived a long time, I had him about 8 years, but he always had a head wobble. Most of the time it was slight, but other times (when he was stressed) it was pretty severe. When it would get bad, I'd go ahead and treat him again to get it back under control.

Good luck with your poor little duckling!
 
Thank you for sharing that info with me. our ducks are family. A little over a year ago we bought 3 peking ducks because they were so cute not knowing they make wonderful pets the were loved by many on our street and someone let their dogs out and they killed all3 ducks. So we decided we wanted more ducks we picked up 2 of them from a small duck farmer over 2 hours away and then ordered the 2 crested ducks a waited over a month for them. we raise them in the house for the 1st 2months and I'm not ready to just give up on her so thank you again for all your help
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Thank you for sharing that info with me. our ducks are family. A little over a year ago we bought 3 peking ducks because they were so cute not knowing they make wonderful pets the were loved by many on our street and someone let their dogs out and they killed all3 ducks. So we decided we wanted more ducks we picked up 2 of them from a small duck farmer over 2 hours away and then ordered the 2 crested ducks a waited over a month for them. we raise them in the house for the 1st 2months and I'm not ready to just give up on her so thank you again for all your help:thumbsup  


It sounds like she has a very good home. Depending on your financial situation you may be able to take her to a vet and get her started on some medications. Since it is neurological and could be neurons misfiring antiseizure meds might be helpful? It may be worth looking into.
 
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