Pekin Duckling Pale Beak And Trouble Walking (Need Advice)

[BelovedBirds]

I guess I should ask, if it's not a niacin deficiency what else could it be? If I need to be looking for other treatments for something else I'd like to be doing my research.

She's so big now and almost fully feathered except on her underside. She could be out with my flock. I'm putting her out during the day to free-range but at night I'm bringing her indoors to make sure she gets her supplements. I'm keeping her in a spare bathroom in the bathtub at night so I chill with her enough to see she's eating plenty of the brewers yeast (I refill the bowl twice before bed and in the morning) and drinking a lot of the water. Before in the brooder in my bathroom I watched her and she got both sets of supplements in the food and water. I've had ducklings with niacin deficiencies before and this is the first I've given this amount of supplements to.

She's the first duck I've had to give as much of this stuff to with little change after a month. But she's also one of the few ducklings I've ever gotten from a chain store like Rural King so I don't know if it could be genetics or she has something else wrong with her. My other ducks came from Metzer farms or I hatched them myself so niacin deficiencies cleared up easy and quick if they happened. I'd like to be researching if it could be something else in case I need to get supplies. I live in a town with a population of 70 people so I have to order online or travel pretty far to get animal medicines and such.

Any update?

 

[marxrab]

But you haven’t been giving it like it’s recommended for treating niacin
Pekin ducks are more prone and some are in higher need then others
It would be like you getting a throat infection
The dr days take 500 mg of penicillin for 10 days
You decide to take 150 mg for 5 and expect the same result
She needs it done properly to be able to rule it out
your ruling it out when you haven’t done the proper steps

At this point I've pumped this duck with more niacin suppliments than I've ever done with any duck in all the years I've had ducks. Straight in her mouth so I know she's getting every drop. Absolutely no improvement. Not even a little. I'm ruling out a niacin deficiency at this point. I'd love to know other suggestions so I can be moving forward to seeing if could be something else. She never got injured. She's just walking strange and she doesn't stretch her neck out like her partner. She moves around the yard but mainly stays still a lot. No duck vets here and a vet visit to a dog/cat vet is a guaranteed $300 bill. Need advice more than niacin.

 

[Ridgeback825]

At this point I've pumped this duck with more niacin suppliments than I've ever done with any duck in all the years I've had ducks. Straight in her mouth so I know she's getting every drop. Absolutely no improvement. Not even a little. I'm ruling out a niacin deficiency at this point. I'd love to know other suggestions so I can be moving forward to seeing if could be something else. She never got injured. She's just walking strange and she doesn't stretch her neck out like her partner. She moves around the yard but mainly stays still a lot. No duck vets here and a vet visit to a dog/cat vet is a guaranteed $300 bill. Need advice more than niacin.

I used Airvet for our pekin that was attacked. It literally was a lifesaver and Dr.DMV was awesome and super knowledgeable. It was $5 to sign up and $35 for a video visit with followups.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

At this point I've pumped this duck with more niacin suppliments than I've ever done with any duck in all the years I've had ducks. Straight in her mouth so I know she's getting every drop. Absolutely no improvement. Not even a little. I'm ruling out a niacin deficiency at this point. I'd love to know other suggestions so I can be moving forward to seeing if could be something else. She never got injured. She's just walking strange and she doesn't stretch her neck out like her partner. She moves around the yard but mainly stays still a lot. No duck vets here and a vet visit to a dog/cat vet is a guaranteed $300 bill. Need advice more than niacin.

I really don’t know what to tell you
To me it looks like niacin issues
I’m not a vet so I’m giving the best advice I can
I myself have a duck who has had gleet issues from a fungal that we have no idea where it came from
I have 16 ducks and she is the only one
But I have been to the vet and fortunate enough I’m able to have one close by
Im over 3500 in vet bills now
Been on 4 antibiotics and now 35 days into 90 days of fungal meds at 270 dollars per 30 days
2 trips to avian vet 3 hours away who is working with my local regular vet
I understand frustrations and trying things but not seeing much improvements but I continue to do the things in hopes it will get better

For now I would continue to give 1ml vitamin B complex directly once per day
I would add nutritional yeast of 1tbs per 1 cup feed
It won’t hurt the others to have it
Some ducks need more
You could also give her a multivitamin in case there are other deficiencies
I wish I had more answers but I know in some cases it can take a long time to fix and maybe she needs more time

 

[BelovedBirds]

At this point I've pumped this duck with more niacin suppliments than I've ever done with any duck in all the years I've had ducks. Straight in her mouth so I know she's getting every drop. Absolutely no improvement. Not even a little. I'm ruling out a niacin deficiency at this point. I'd love to know other suggestions so I can be moving forward to seeing if could be something else. She never got injured. She's just walking strange and she doesn't stretch her neck out like her partner. She moves around the yard but mainly stays still a lot. No duck vets here and a vet visit to a dog/cat vet is a guaranteed $300 bill. Need advice more than niacin.

It's only been around a week of treating her with the proper dosage of niacin, right?
So that's one week into treatment, it took probably over a week for me to see improvement when my duck had a deficiency as a baby. I'd keep up the niacin.

Other possibilities include slipped tendons, I haven't heard a lot about this condition, it seems more common in ducklings- how old was she when symptoms started?

This is unlikely to be a cure, but you could try giving her nutri drench in her water or a dose directly- its full of various vitamins that can give poorly birds a boost. It can't hurt to give her that to boost other vitamins in her system.

 

[marxrab]

I'm just posting an update in case anyone has this issue. Sadly Waffles passed away in her sleep. I firmly think she had some genetic problems. I treated Waffles with extra niacin from March through the end of April and she never showed any signs of improving. I gave her other vitamins and no change. She still wasn't fully feathered even though her sister had long beat her to that milestone. I've never experienced a duck that feathered as slowly as her. Her beak stayed pale. She really just never thrived so all I can figure is bad genetics.

Somehow she hurt her beak and I'm not sure how so I gave up letting her in the yard with the other ducks. I ended up bringing her indoors and she became a house duck. I bought a special play pen for her and made her a bed out of an old comforter so she had a soft place to sleep. I had her on the couch cuddling with me and she got tons of fresh vegetables so she got pampered at the end. I took her out to visit the other ducks today and she chilled with them. I brought her in after a bit and put her in her playpen. She was fine and sleepy. I saw her with sleepy eyes and dozing off as I went to take a bath. When I came out she was gone. She must've gone in her sleep. I'm very heartbroken because she was the sweetest girl. I really enjoyed her company and she's the first duck who I've had who loved cuddling and being petted. She'd close her eyes and push her beak into my clothes the hide her beak and she'd fall asleep. At least I got to pamper her and show her love and affection while she was here.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What a precious picture. So very sorry for your loss.