Hi everyone, just looking for more ideas to improve my ducklings health. Thanks in advance for any ideas, and sorry this post will be a bit long
Speck is a 9.5 week old, mixed breed, female duckling. I posted about her when she was a little hatchling and got a lot of great advice that helped me through her early days.
Speck’s health history:
Speck was able to zip on day 28 but then got stuck. I didn’t help her for several hours because the zip looked normal, but finally I stepped in and finished the zip. Her yolk was fully absorbed, she definitely wasn’t premature. But she immediately started flopping around, falling on her back, and twisting around. She didn’t have a bent neck, but she had no neck control. She repeatedly got stuck on her back and also freaked out at the slightest thing. I’m unsure if these abnormalities are the reason she wasn’t able to hatch on her own - or if she got damaged from being stuck in an awkward position- either brain or nerve damage. Her eyes were a bit squinty and I wondered if she was partially blind.
Early treatment: I immediately started her on liquid vitamin b complex and nutridrench. Over the first 48 hours she gradually gained neck control and was able to walk. When she was a few days old I started giving her vitamin E, and scrambled eggs daily. The vitamin E really seemed to improve her “neurological” symptoms and I wondered if she had crazy chick syndrome. I continued all this until she was about 4 weeks old.
Speck improved very slowly but she continued falling on her back randomly and freaking out about any change in her environment. She quickly fell behind her siblings in size and development. She barely grew - was about 60 grams at 3 weeks old. I was constantly afraid she would die from failure to thrive. She was afraid of water, and didn’t learn how to peep until she was around 10 days old. She walked awkwardly and had bent toes but her legs were never particularly bent. Eventually all her toes straightened out except one (I tried taping her feet but it didn’t work).
When she was around 3 weeks old, she finally started to grow, stopped falling on her back, her eyes and vision seemed normal, and she no longer freaked out about things.
After that all her major symptoms resolved but I still don’t think she’s 100% healthy and I’d like to try to improve her health.
Here’s her current status, and my treatment plan.
She’s still about 2/3rds the size of her littermates.
She almost never fully extends her neck. I’m not sure she can reach her oil gland.
Her feathers look bad, she does preen.
She still hates water and never swims.
She still walks a bit slowly and awkwardly even though her legs look straight.
She currently has angel wing on the left side. Right wing is looking iffy, I’m monitoring.
She’s generally kind of weird But I love her very much.
Here’s what I’m doing for her and what I’m going to add:
Feed: Purina duck pellets, nutritional yeast, and oats to try to decrease protein (angel wing).
Supplements:
I just got poultry cell and will be adding it to her water daily.
A few days ago I restarted her on 400 iu vitamin E, and I already think she’s extending her neck more and showing more interest in playing in water. I also restarted scrambled egg for selenium.
Angel wing: I wrapped her left wing and will check it tomorrow to see if the wrap needs to stay on.
Questions:
Selenium: is the egg enough or should I get a selenium supplement? I’m worried about overdosing.
Vitamin B. Should I restart the liquid vitamin B? She hates the taste but I’ll do it if you guys think it would help. I stopped when she was around 4 weeks old because I’d read long term use could cause problems.
Anything else I could be doing? She’s super sweet and loves treats. I think her quality of life is good but I’d love her to have the best life possible.
Thank you for reading my essay
Here are pictures of Speck. You can see her funky feathers, and the way she carries her neck
Speck is a 9.5 week old, mixed breed, female duckling. I posted about her when she was a little hatchling and got a lot of great advice that helped me through her early days.
Speck’s health history:
Speck was able to zip on day 28 but then got stuck. I didn’t help her for several hours because the zip looked normal, but finally I stepped in and finished the zip. Her yolk was fully absorbed, she definitely wasn’t premature. But she immediately started flopping around, falling on her back, and twisting around. She didn’t have a bent neck, but she had no neck control. She repeatedly got stuck on her back and also freaked out at the slightest thing. I’m unsure if these abnormalities are the reason she wasn’t able to hatch on her own - or if she got damaged from being stuck in an awkward position- either brain or nerve damage. Her eyes were a bit squinty and I wondered if she was partially blind.
Early treatment: I immediately started her on liquid vitamin b complex and nutridrench. Over the first 48 hours she gradually gained neck control and was able to walk. When she was a few days old I started giving her vitamin E, and scrambled eggs daily. The vitamin E really seemed to improve her “neurological” symptoms and I wondered if she had crazy chick syndrome. I continued all this until she was about 4 weeks old.
Speck improved very slowly but she continued falling on her back randomly and freaking out about any change in her environment. She quickly fell behind her siblings in size and development. She barely grew - was about 60 grams at 3 weeks old. I was constantly afraid she would die from failure to thrive. She was afraid of water, and didn’t learn how to peep until she was around 10 days old. She walked awkwardly and had bent toes but her legs were never particularly bent. Eventually all her toes straightened out except one (I tried taping her feet but it didn’t work).
When she was around 3 weeks old, she finally started to grow, stopped falling on her back, her eyes and vision seemed normal, and she no longer freaked out about things.
After that all her major symptoms resolved but I still don’t think she’s 100% healthy and I’d like to try to improve her health.
Here’s her current status, and my treatment plan.
She’s still about 2/3rds the size of her littermates.
She almost never fully extends her neck. I’m not sure she can reach her oil gland.
Her feathers look bad, she does preen.
She still hates water and never swims.
She still walks a bit slowly and awkwardly even though her legs look straight.
She currently has angel wing on the left side. Right wing is looking iffy, I’m monitoring.
She’s generally kind of weird
But I love her very much.Here’s what I’m doing for her and what I’m going to add:
Feed: Purina duck pellets, nutritional yeast, and oats to try to decrease protein (angel wing).
Supplements:
I just got poultry cell and will be adding it to her water daily.
A few days ago I restarted her on 400 iu vitamin E, and I already think she’s extending her neck more and showing more interest in playing in water. I also restarted scrambled egg for selenium.
Angel wing: I wrapped her left wing and will check it tomorrow to see if the wrap needs to stay on.
Questions:
Selenium: is the egg enough or should I get a selenium supplement? I’m worried about overdosing.
Vitamin B. Should I restart the liquid vitamin B? She hates the taste but I’ll do it if you guys think it would help. I stopped when she was around 4 weeks old because I’d read long term use could cause problems.
Anything else I could be doing? She’s super sweet and loves treats. I think her quality of life is good but I’d love her to have the best life possible.
Thank you for reading my essay
Here are pictures of Speck. You can see her funky feathers, and the way she carries her neck
