neurologic issues with newborns

[cdowens]

My mallards have been laying eggs like crazy since November and I've been keeping 2 incubators at full capacity since then. I've had a few that has been born with neurological issues and then die about 4 - 5 days later. not sure how to care for them. The flop over on their backs and kick their feet, can't seem to hold their heads up and their little feet are a little curled up? They look healthy other than that, big hatchlings. but they can't eat/drink cause they keep flipping over. I try to feed/give them water when I hold them, but I can't hold them while I'm at work. It's very frustrating and I feel so sorry for them. Is there anything I can do. i think I've had about 5 of them do that - I have one that hatched on Monday and is like that. They are so sweet but not sure how to help them.

 

[mccabe]

Aloha cdowens. How very frustrating. First, let's deal with basics. Is there any way you can let your mother ducks care for the babies? This takes a lot of pressure off of you and they are really geared up for the job. Build a couple of nice enclosures with a small pool, fresh healthy grain, duck starter. The mothers will abandon those weak, and raise and protect the vigorous. By instinct.

Now. Baby birds are sometimes weak and fall over. These generally die. They are fragile. There is a virus or infection invading the little things. While it sounds like you have a lot with this disorder, that may not be the case. If you have had 50 pass through your incubator and 5 are sick, that is not bad. How many do you have over all? One or two from each hatching is about par. Put them down and get on with it. Put your time, money and efforts into the others. If it seems too large a percentage, then perhaps you need to evaluate the parents. Is there excessive inbreeding? Are the parents all stock from a beginning hatching? Could they be getting any poison--where they swim, a neighbor using rat poison or insecticide, food with rat or mouse droppings, mold or something icky in their pens, coops, enclosures?

I don't know how long you have been at this, but as a last resort I always seek some old codger that has been doing what you are doing, except for a 150 years, and knows all the possibilities. (Alas, I am now one of those.) Take this person a jar of the best local honey, bottle of wine, fresh baked bread...something special, sit at their feet and listen carefully. You will probably learn more in an hour, from someone in your very area, caring for your kind of flock, than what you could learn scanning the internet for a month.

You obviously care. That is an excellent start.