Need help with baby duckling, wry neck or neurological?

[Miss Lydia]

Absolutely no change today He's been getting the vitamins 2x a day, I am noticing too he hasn't grown like the others, I swear they get bigger by the hour! I feel terrible separating him from his siblings but mama duck has them out and about already and there was no way he would be able to keep up. I tried to give him a little bath today and he panicked and just kept swimming backwards. We all take turns holding and cuddling him, it's about all I can do for now. We have to wait and see I guess...Thanks for checking on him On another note, is it too soon for mama to bring the babies outside? They're only 5 days old today and it was a little chilly. She does hover over them sometimes to keep them warm, but mostly I observed them huddled together to keep warm when they napped. I have a heater in their hut for nighttime and they went right to it when I put them in tonight. This is our first hatch and everything is pretty new to me.

Actually they will amaze you at how well they will do, cool weather doesn't seem to affect them at all not when raised by a duck. It actually makes them strong. Let mama take care of them she'll teach them everything they need to know. And heat inside is really not necessary honest.

as for baby your are doing the right thing by taking care of him, he may not survive but at least he has a fighting chance with ya'll he'd probably already be gone if he was with the others trying to keep up. All you can do is what you are doing and hope for the best.

 

[732delilah]

It's the morning of day 3, I have been giving him polyvisol infant vitamins 2 to 3 times a day, all my research here has suggested those, should I try something additional? His spinning is out of control! I am sprinkling a little flax seed meal on his food (thank you Amiga) as well. I did notice this morning he feels a little stronger to me than yesterday when I hold him and he might be just a tad bigger than when I left him last night. I went out to feed the others and came in to find him on his back almost drowning in his inch of water. He needs to watched round the clock, so glad that didn't happen when he was left alone overnight.

 

[Haunted55]

You can go back to post 8 and do the things I mentioned there. Poly is very limited in the kinds of vitamins it provides. A much better bet is a good multi poultry vitamin and the addition of the Super B Complex.

 

[732delilah]

Thanks, I'll get him on some poultry vitamins today.

 

[732delilah]

Hello everyone, it's been a few days now and despite my efforts, lots of vitamins and love, the little guy is doing much worse. His head is now constantly in an upside position with the top of his beak resting on his back. It is so hard to watch this. He still manages to eat, drink and when he can keep his balance for a second, preen himself. He takes a few steps and seems to go into a seizure throwing his head backwards, falling down and flailing about. I don't know what to do....

 

[Haunted55]

Hello everyone, it's been a few days now and despite my efforts, lots of vitamins and love, the little guy is doing much worse. His head is now constantly in an upside position with the top of his beak resting on his back. It is so hard to watch this. He still manages to eat, drink and when he can keep his balance for a second, preen himself. He takes a few steps and seems to go into a seizure throwing his head backwards, falling down and flailing about. I don't know what to do....

Okay...let's review. What are you giving him for vitamins. I need to know exactly what and how much.

 

[732delilah]

Well, I'm still giving him the polyvisol 2x a day, I purchased Durvet Vitamins & electrolytes from tractor supply, this is a general livestock/poultry vitamin which when I compared to others (I believe nutri-drench?) seemed to be the most potent and complete vitamin they had, their selection was quite limited. This one is added to his water as is a b complex - human vitamin capsule 1 dissolved in a 2 quart jar of water. I am seeing no change at all which is why I'm thinking this is neurological and not a vitamin deficiency. On the plus side, he is definitely growing, but not as much as his siblings.

 

[Haunted55]

Well, I'm still giving him the polyvisol 2x a day, I purchased Durvet Vitamins & electrolytes from tractor supply, this is a general livestock/poultry vitamin which when I compared to others (I believe nutri-drench?) seemed to be the most potent and complete vitamin they had, their selection was quite limited. This one is added to his water as is a b complex - human vitamin capsule 1 dissolved in a 2 quart jar of water. I am seeing no change at all which is why I'm thinking this is neurological and not a vitamin deficiency. On the plus side, he is definitely growing, but not as much as his siblings.

Do not give the Poly with the Durvet vitamins. This is overdose to do that. Just the poultry vitamins and the Super B Complex. Make sure it's the Super B, a regular B Complex is less potent and doesn't contain the C.

Okay, I have a few minutes so please bear with me and I'll explain a bit. Your chick is young enough that the extra B vitamins can make a difference in how his neuro system still developes. With humans, if a child is born with problems because the mother may not have been eating right, taking her vitamins, ill....there are so many things that can cause these things. Many can and will show improvment if the situation is changed even after birth. The addition of vitamins to human or animal can do this. Not always and maybe not 100%, but still a live functioning being, able to have quality and quantity of life. The Super B Complex has vitamin C added to it and I've tried the B and the Super B and found that it is the latter one that does the trick. Whether it is the addition of the C or not, I can't prove it either way, except through my own observations. Weird thing...birds synthesize, make, vitamin C. Not sure which word is more correct but you get the idea. I have only seen 1 poultry vitamin with added C and couldn't tell you now which one it is. Anyways, manufacturers figure it's not something that needs to be added right? The birds make it themselves! Hey! We get to save on an ingredient! Okay...but what if this little one can't make his or her own vitamin C? What if the problems passed from the mother were bad diet and this function, it should have, was one that didn't develope because of this? What then? Vitamin C is an extremely important part of the growth of nerves, skin, muscle....yadda, yadda, ad nauseum. Giving the Bs in a higher dose is great, but if you don't have the C working with them, you are fighting a losing battle. One or the other cannot do it's job alone.

Many of you have seen me go on and on about the vitamins....lol, sometimes it gets to me too,but it's important. There are certain ones, E, D, A, K....that are fat soluble. They stay with the body and are stored in the fat. Your bird isn't up and moving around, using up these fat stores, chances are you are givng them a harmful, if not lethal dosing. These can even cause pralysis if given in too high amounts. My links are not easily gone through to find what information I need, otherwise I'd add the ones pertaining to this stuff here. Sorry, it would probably take me hours to sort through them to find them. If you want to do a search yourself, look for vitamins and their functions, dosage and avian vitamin needs. next do a search on the feed you are giving your chicks. See if there have been any recalls or forums where others are having problems with some of the same issues you are. Never think that the feed is always safe. It isn't, just like anything else, stuff happens and ingredients can be left out or added in harmful dosing. Heads up at all times. You start seeing a problem with your birds, immediately think ingestion and check their feed first and then a check list of what else they could have gotten into.

I hope this helps you understand why I say not to give the Poly-vi-Sol and why I say Super B Complex.

 

[OmAnNom]

That seems like a long list of med's for a small duck. Aren't ducks prone to overdosing because of the speed of there digestive system? I know abolutely zero facts on the subject but the common sense part of me says high quality food and clean water will make a duck thats meant to live live.
I'll be following this and really hope the little guy pulls through.

 

[Haunted55]

That seems like a long list of med's for a small duck. Aren't ducks prone to overdosing because of the speed of there digestive system? I know abolutely zero facts on the subject but the common sense part of me says high quality food and clean water will make a duck thats meant to live live.
I'll be following this and really hope the little guy pulls through.

The B vitamins leave the system through water. Water soluble. Fat soluble do not, they store in the fat cells of the body. It is very hard to overdose on the Bs if the bird or human is active at all and drinking. The fat soluble on the other hand...I have knowledge and I am still hesitant to play around with these. There is one, Wry neck where the E deficiency makes it a no brainer for the addition of extra E and small doses of Selenium to make the E work better and even then, it needs to be done in a way that is consistant with symptoms. As with everything...too much of a good thing can be harmful.

Asking for help and answers here on BYC can be a Godsend! So many times we run across things that are new to us and have no clue what, how, or when. When I give an answer to someone I try my darndest to make it right. I also hope the person I am answering will research their symptoms as well and be able to make an educated guess as to what they want to do. That's what I do and maybe I'm projecting onto others by thinking this way. I hope not.

As for the high quality feed, I absolutely agree with you. Unfortunately, you cannot always count on receiving what you are expecting in the bag. I've brought home bags tainted with mold, feed that was on a recall, feed that was mixed with some other kind of animal feed. These were brand names on those labels, not store brand. With the questions of the aflatoxin infected harvest last year, in my opinion, all feed is suspect. Please do a search on feed recalls if you haven't already. When I started looking into it last year, it scared me bad. As i said to the OP, heads up, it's not always as it seems.