I have a Pekin who had the same problem with his legs. I gave him the niacin at the time, and it didn't really seem to help. It may have helped by just not letting it get any worse. He is now fully grown and can walk around, but not like the other ducks. He falls over fairly easy when the other ducks bump into him, but that normally only happens when they are all excited and trying to get to their treats. He is a drake, and in with the hens and another drake. Luckily the other drake never picked on him, but I have seen the healthy drake now pick on him once or twice. I may have to start keeping them separate if it gets worse, but as of now it is almost nothing. I am probably just a little too over protective. I was wondering if I were to try the niacin again, now that he is older, would it help any at all? As I said, we gave it to him as he was growing and he at least can walk around and swim, just not nearly as well as the others.
I've now had chickens for years, but am a little new to ducks. We have had them for over a year, but my other half cared for the ducks, and I took care of our three flocks of chickens. We recently moved to a home with a large stream that has a deep pool they can swim in like a pond. They are currently in a large chicken tractor I built out of pvc and chicken wire so it would be light weight and able to be moved to fresh grass. ( Built one out of wood and hardware cloth first and learned its too heavy to move a lot. lol ) It has a wooden coop on the back that I put them in every night to be safe from predators. They have never been free ranged, but I would like to start. How easy is it to train them to come back to you? We live in South Central Kentucky, so predators are everywhere. We have hawks all the time, saw a bobcat running down the road, coons, opossums, skunks, fox, and massive amounts of coyotes. Not to mention dogs that people just let run loose. They would only be able to be out when I am out there with them, or something would get to them. I actually have to MAKE them go into the wooden coop every night, so I am thinking they wont just come back when I want them to, or even if I have treats, as they love water and would just stay in it. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
.....I keep nothing in the pen but do plant around it for good wind protection...
