Please Help!! 😥 BEI Duckling not eating and losing weight

[chickens really]

Oh, that sounds tragic - poor little thing!
I guess that‘s the way nature works though...

I’m guessing Hazel probably did know something was wrong because baby kept crying and took a long time to settle. Poor little thing was probably starving, but just didn’t seem to be able to eat much of anything. I think she must’ve been blocked up from the hay she ate in the nest. That, and with her tiny size she just seemed to be struggling to swallow much of the crumble. I’ve never reared a bantam duckling before so I wasn’t sure if that was normal.

I wet feed to soupy mess. with my tiny Calls I use my coffee grinder to make the feed into a powder that I mix with warm water.

 

[chickens really]

Sometimes first time Mommas are confused. Seriously it's nothing you did wrong. I'd let her try again and I'm sure she will know better the next time.
I had one that set the eggs and the day they began hatching she never returned to the nest. I hatched them in my incubator.
She was scared of the Peeps.
Better luck next time.

 

[chickens really]

Thanks Chickens!
I’ll see how thing are looking next spring and if she’s keen I’ll give her another go (but have a much better back up plan this time just in case!)

If you ever need help ? I'll be around to help. Just contact me.

 

[johntfs]

This is exactly why I should have asked for help earlier! I ended up using a mortar and pestle to crush up the crumble into smaller pieces, but even then she was still struggling to actually swallow much. I would like to try and raise some BEI again one day so I’ll have to be better prepared for what to expect next time.

I'm really sorry for what happened. I was really pulling for the little adorable one to live.

I can't speak specifically to Black East Indies, but muscovys aside most domestic ducks are descended from wild mallards. Mallard mothers tend to lay 8-13 eggs. Even if they all hatch, she might hope to see 1 or 2 of those ducklings make it to adulthood. So, mallards very much play the odds. They're protective of their babies, but they'll kill one that's sickly or weak to keep it from slowing the flock or endangering the others.

That all said, the odds were pretty far against the little one living. Even if the baby wasn't with Hazel its weight in English terms was less than an ounce by my figuring. I know it's been a painful experience but I hope you try again with Black East Indies.

 

[chickens really]

Momma possibly knew something's wasn't right with that Duckling. I had a Momma that hatched 5 Ducklings and she drowned and killed the weak baby.
It wasn't anything you did wrong..