Pekin leg problem????

[mackenzie93]

So I have 5 ducklings, 2 mallards, 2 Pekins and a cayuga, they are approx 3 weeks old, and one of my Pekins seems very pigeon toed, ie stepping on his own feet, hips seem to jut outwards.. He gets around just fine, eating drinking normal, and just as active as the other ducks, wondering if maybe niacin deficiency or maybe just a genetic problem from flightless birds... I will post pics as soon as I learn how

 

[Miss Lydia]

So I have 5 ducklings, 2 mallards, 2 Pekins and a cayuga, they are approx 3 weeks old, and one of my Pekins seems very pigeon toed, ie stepping on his own feet, hips seem to jut outwards.. He gets around just fine, eating drinking normal, and just as active as the other ducks, wondering if maybe niacin deficiency or maybe just a genetic problem from flightless birds... I will post pics as soon as I learn how

Maybe be a niacin problem since usually around 2 weeks on is when it starts to develop so wouldn't hurt to start them all on either Niacin or brewers yeast

 

[mackenzie93]

Ok, can I get brewers yeast at any grocery store?

 

[mackenzie93]

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok, can I get brewers yeast at any grocery store?

Maybe some, I haven't been able to find any at ours but we're pretty rural, Health food store or on line at Amazon. Nutritional yeast is another good one.

 

[mackenzie93]

Ok, I'll go to our local store and at least check today, you can see her in the pics, farthest left duck, also looks to be losing fluff on her thighs.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok, I'll go to our local store and at least check today, you can see her in the pics, farthest left duck, also looks to be losing fluff on her thighs.

That's pretty normal can you see her feathers coming in in that area? I don't think that's anything to worry about. If you can find plain niacin you can crush up a tablet 100-125 megs and add to 1 gal of water till you can get the brewers yeast.

 

[mackenzie93]

I'll see what albertsons has. But hopefully that's it. At about what age should they start quacking? One of them is starting to sound like quacking but not quite sure. Want to make sure they aren't getting any infections. I might just be worrying excessively I've only raised ducklings once before and that was 10 years ago in California. And never had any issues with them. My last batch of Muscovies were about 2 months old when I picked them up, so ducklings and they problems are still kind of new.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'll see what albertsons has. But hopefully that's it. At about what age should they start quacking? One of them is starting to sound like quacking but not quite sure. Want to make sure they aren't getting any infections. I might just be worrying excessively I've only raised ducklings once before and that was 10 years ago in California. And never had any issues with them. My last batch of Muscovies were about 2 months old when I picked them up, so ducklings and they problems are still kind of new.

Usually around 8-12 weeks you can begin to tell drake from duck. Usually by 6-8 weeks my scovy drakes are larger than the ducks they hatched with. And because Pekins are such fast growers they tend to develop leg issues more often so I'm thinking this is most likely what you are seeing, and usually once you start them on the extra Niacin in the form of pill or brewers yeast they begin to show improvement pretty quick In less than a week for some. Since i have on Scovy's I'm not real sure on when you can pick up on drake to duck with Pekins but usually the ducks start first with quacking the drakes peep a little longer.

 

[mackenzie93]

Well this would make sense. After being in a bigger run for daytime and such her legs are already showing improvement over the course of 2 days, haven't been to the store yet but her hips aren't so jutted out and she's doesn't seem to be stepping on her feet.. Wondering if it was more cramped space added to a niacin deficiency.. But after reading more on here I'm going to assume the raspy peeping is the beginning of quacking for the 2. They are approx 3 weeks possibly 4 so it would make sense. Thank you all for the help! Will keep you guys posted on how the niacin works, just picked up some 100mg tablets from the store. Couldn't find brewers yeast and wanted to help the issue ASAP.