riverdaughter13
In the Brooder
Hey there BYC
We are having trouble with one of our ducklings, a 4 wk old cayuga. Besides her, there is one other cayuga and two welsh harlequins, all received on the same day. Additionally, a friend of ours has several of the ducklings from the same shipment/hatching as we split the order with him.
Starting at about 2 weeks old, the one cayuga appeared to be sitting much more than the other ducklings. She also stumbled, and we noticed her left foot was slightly turned in. We have been using unmedicated Purina Flock Raiser crumbles, and at that time adding approx. 150 mg of niacin to each gallon of drinking water. We had split a bottle of Niacin with our friend, and it turned out the type he had purchased was a flush free variety. We immediately switched them to a newly purchased "plain" niacin, and upped the dosage to 200 mg/gallon.
In addition to this, clumps of grass and herbs have been offered to the girls, and we have been swimming them 2-3 times/week. They are in a kiddie pool with pine chip bedding. I have also added brewers yeast to the food since about 3 weeks on.
This particular duck is much smaller than the harlequins, and especially small compared to the other cayugas. She walks on the length of her legs. This past week she had seemed to be doing better, getting fully up on her feet and even taking short runs.
But the last couple days she seems to be regressing, sitting more again and pushing herself up with beak and wings.
The affected (left) leg still has a slight inward turn to the foot, and the hip seems pushed outward. I've looked into splinting the leg, but am afraid to do more harm than good.
Does anybody have suggestions, or similar experiences? I hate to see her struggling like this.
We are having trouble with one of our ducklings, a 4 wk old cayuga. Besides her, there is one other cayuga and two welsh harlequins, all received on the same day. Additionally, a friend of ours has several of the ducklings from the same shipment/hatching as we split the order with him.
Starting at about 2 weeks old, the one cayuga appeared to be sitting much more than the other ducklings. She also stumbled, and we noticed her left foot was slightly turned in. We have been using unmedicated Purina Flock Raiser crumbles, and at that time adding approx. 150 mg of niacin to each gallon of drinking water. We had split a bottle of Niacin with our friend, and it turned out the type he had purchased was a flush free variety. We immediately switched them to a newly purchased "plain" niacin, and upped the dosage to 200 mg/gallon.
In addition to this, clumps of grass and herbs have been offered to the girls, and we have been swimming them 2-3 times/week. They are in a kiddie pool with pine chip bedding. I have also added brewers yeast to the food since about 3 weeks on.
This particular duck is much smaller than the harlequins, and especially small compared to the other cayugas. She walks on the length of her legs. This past week she had seemed to be doing better, getting fully up on her feet and even taking short runs.
But the last couple days she seems to be regressing, sitting more again and pushing herself up with beak and wings.
The affected (left) leg still has a slight inward turn to the foot, and the hip seems pushed outward. I've looked into splinting the leg, but am afraid to do more harm than good.
Does anybody have suggestions, or similar experiences? I hate to see her struggling like this.
