My poor funny legged baby duck :'(

[MommysZooHouse]

I recently got 4 baby pecan ducks. They are 3 weeks old this weekend. I was told they where all the same age. (Purchased from TSC) however, the one that was just a bit smaller has seemed to maybe be have developmental issues with his legs/& walking properly. Instead of standing upright, he's actually just waddling around basically on more or less the bend of his legs & he doesn't really open his webbing on his feet all the way out. They just kind of stay curled up. I feel so bad 4 my poor little ducky :'( is there anything I can do for him? Will this maybe correct itself with time? He doesn't seem to be in any pain. If all else, we just have an extra special duck

 

[Pyxis]

It sounds like a possible deficiency. @Amiga can you help?

 

[Amiga]

I recently got 4 baby pecan ducks. They are 3 weeks old this weekend. I was told they where all the same age. (Purchased from TSC) however, the one that was just a bit smaller has seemed to maybe be have developmental issues with his legs/& walking properly. Instead of standing upright, he's actually just waddling around basically on more or less the bend of his legs & he doesn't really open his webbing on his feet all the way out. They just kind of stay curled up. I feel so bad 4 my poor little ducky :'( is there anything I can do for him? Will this maybe correct itself with time? He doesn't seem to be in any pain. If all else, we just have an extra special duck

@MommysZooHouse

Sounds like a B vitamin deficiency. If that's what it is, I think he or she could recover nicely. Too many variables to be sure, but there's hope.

Here is a writeup I did to try to cover all the bases regarding what to do about B deficiencies. And by the way, ducklings' needs for vitamins seem to vary duckling to duckling.

Response for ducklings with likely niacin deficiency
People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here

.

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

@Pyxis thank you so very much - the non-duck world has needed more of my time than usual the last few days. Please feel free to tag me any time.