One of my ducklings not growing?

[paigeber]

Hello!

i have 2 baby anconas, 7 & 8 days old. One is getting MASSIVE & the other has barley grown. They are both eating & drinking, though the smaller one mainly cleans up after the larger one spills off the feeder, but also eats from the feeder too. Is this normal? Is my big one weird or my small one weird? Am I just a new parent with anxiety?

 

[Miss Lydia]

How adorable. We have seen it with some other members this year
@FunnyfarmMidwest had a little Call that was slow growing and can't remember the others.
As long as the little one is eating drinking pooping and acts healthy I wouldn't be too concerned although we all know that easier said than done. What are you feeding and are you supplementing with niacin of some kind?

 

[paigeber]

How adorable. We have seen it with some other members this year
@FunnyfarmMidwest had a little Call that was slow growing and can't remember the others.
As long as the little one is eating drinking pooping and acts healthy I wouldn't be too concerned although we all know that easier said than done. What are you feeding and are you supplementing with niacin of some kind?

I have a 22% duck starter with 60mg niacin/kg. I have additional niacin I can supplement if needed. I’ve also heard the 22% may be too high but have gotten mixed reviews on whether or not it is. It’s all very confusing .

 

[Quatie]

When I have smaller ones that seem a bit weaker, I like to give them scrambled eggs to give them a bit of a boost.

One of my runners was the smallest little duckling. I had to take pictures to make sure she was growing. Now she is the largest runner I have. You can see the size difference between my black and yellow duckling. They are same age.

 

[HappyClucker7]

As long as she's acting fine, I wouldn't worry. I have a chicken who was the smallest, weakest of the bunch. She turned into the biggest hen, and has been leader of the flock for the past 5 years.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use to start all my ducklings chicks and goslings out on 20% flock raiser and never had any problems. Alot of folks think high protein causes angel wing. And some think it's genetics no one knows for sure. But I'd think if you have duck starter with 22% then you are okay with it. One nice thing about all flock is you can start them on it at hatch and feed it all their lives. You do have to supplement with niacin though.