Need help with one of my cherry valley ducks!

[ToAd_DuckLord399]

Hey guys, one of our cherry valley ducks is really struggling to walk! When he stands he is ok for a few seconds and then he starts shaking and puts his wings out to support himself and then when he sits hes fine again! We are feeding him and giving him water as he cant get up and make it to the water/food bowl! Hes having niacin in his water and metacam to try and ease the pain and he does seem to move alot faster when he does get up now but hes still really weak and unsteady on his legs! We have checked his feet over and theres no cuts and no signs of bumblefoot or breaks in the legs atall and when i hold him to give his meds he seems to have a popping sound from his hips, but only while im holding him! Its driving me crazy to see him like this, he acting fine apart from when he stands and he cant move so i cant figure out whats wrong. The only things that come to mind is hip dysplasia but im not 100% sure! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! Edit: hes also indoors with us on his own in the warm!

 

[Miss Lydia]

How old is your duck and what type of niacin are you giving him? How long has this been going on?

 

[ToAd_DuckLord399]

Hes 6months old and on none flush niacinamide! Hes been unsteady on his legs the whole time we have had him, the place we got him from was feeding him the wrong food but we got him back and he picked up, then we put him outside with the others and he got alot better and then 1 day he just started not to move around as much! I suspected he slipped and hurt himself and we bought him in and let him rest for a few days and then tried metacam but its had minimal impact on his movement really! Hes also on electrolytes!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can he move his legs in water normally?

 

[ToAd_DuckLord399]

Yea in the water hes full of beans!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you possibly get a video of him trying to get around? Are you in the US? Asking because we have seen great improvement with leg issues by using liquid B Complex. Plus giving it orally

 

[ToAd_DuckLord399]

We are in the UK and the niacin we have is the best stuff we can get here, which is pretty much exactly the same as what you stated to try! Its so annoying that you guys can get so much for your babies, but here its really difficult without forking out stupid amounts of money just to get a prescription from the vet! I will try and get a video tomorrow as hes had his meds now and is relaxing! I really dont think its a niacin or any type of vitamin problem to be honest. From what we have learnt he was on chick crum for 3-4weeks which isnt good as it is for cherry valleys/pekins or alesburys but it was also medicated chic crum and then the woman put them on medicated chicken growers and then layers! Not to mention they was put out at 5 weeks old, not even feathered in a real harsh autumn where it was constantly raining solid for nearly 2 months! after seeing this we took 4 of them, 1 died the first day we got him home, he was so cold and we couldnt warm him up and he just went with in hours of being here and then 1 other boy had niacin problems and we sorted him with in a week and then the 1 girl we had was with us for 2 months before she passed of kidney failure and she was never 100% either. Its heart breaking, we took the 4 weakest babies because we thought they needed a good home before the others and we lost 2 and now we have 1 healthy boy and 1 other boy who appears healthy but is struggling with his legs! We are not new to ducks we have 12 Call ducks, 4 runner ducks, 2 muscovies and 4 cherry valleys so this is why we are stumped as we have tried all the normal routes that we know of and we cant figure this out atall!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Could have been bad breeding too did the person have the parents to this duck. Or possibly a deficiency even in the egg if the parents weren’t fed properly. I wish I knew what else could help but all the b vitamins have helped many a duckling with leg problems much better than just niacin by itself. Another thing to consider is putting the niacin in his drinking water does water it down And a lot is wasted. Any way you can get him to take a treat like chopped tomatoes with the niacin sprinkled over so he gets full dose. He needs 125 mg a day.

 

[ToAd_DuckLord399]

Unfortunately we dont know their background, for sure it could be a problem passed on from his parents and there is no way we can find out as the woman is super secretive about where she gets her birds from! I think we are going to give him a week max and if still no improvement we will take him to the vets and try and get a x-ray or something to see if we can see the problem! Its no problem atall i just wanted to ask around to see if anyone may of had a case like this before! Thank you so much for you help and replies though, im hoping someone else will see this who has had a duck go through this and may be able to shed some light on it! Thanks