Our peking ducks have broken legs

[pingpong]

Our peking ducks are only 3 weeks old. They both have broken legs. We also have 4 mallards with them. All the same age. Why would only the peking get hurt? What can we do for them? And does this usually happen to peking? It just seems strange that the mallards are ok. Please advise. Thank you.

 

[Pyxis]

What do you mean broken legs? Are you perhaps meaning that they are bow-legged and their legs are bending out to the sides? If that is the case they have niacin deficiency and you can give them niacin to hopefully help them recover.

 

[pingpong]

No. One leg is bent behind them and they walk in circles. They keep falling over. They are eating and drinking fine. It's very heartbreaking to watch them.

 

[Pyxis]

Do you have pictures? The walking in circles thing sounds like wry neck, which is caused by nutritional defiency and can be treated with poultry vitamins. Pictures would really help though.

 

[pingpong]

I can get some pictures tomorrow and post them. It's really strange. One leg is bent back. They can't stand on it. They go in circles then fall over. Very sad. Only 3 weeks old.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Well that's about the perfect age for Niacin deficiency to show up. Without pics tho it's hard to say. You could just start supplementing with vitamins, taking the just-in-case approach. It certainly shouldn't hurt.

 

[Chickincredible]

I'm sorry to hear that. I used to have 5 Pekin ducks and one of them had a weird leg problem where he would just limp and get exhausted after a couple steps. I used to swim with them and I held the duck (we named him Afro since he had this plume of feathers on his head) in the water and he'd peddle with his legs. It really built his strength up and he learned to walk normally. I'm no expert on ducks or medicine but I hope that your ducks feel better.