Please Help!! Duckling wont eat or walk!

[hm23]

Please Help! Any advice greatly appreciated!!

We have a duckling that hatched early with yolk sack still not finished absorbing. We assisted 36 hours after external pip after realizing membrane was sticky and stuck to duckling. After hatching left in incubator for 24 hours but had trouble drying due to sticky membrane. We were able to wash membrane off and duck has now fluffed up except for on belly where abdomen still swollen where yolk/umbilical cord was. The duckling seems lame and limp on one side of body and can't walk or stand up. Foot is curled in on both legs and will not stay open. We have it in a brooder alone now with heat lamp and have been giving brewers yeast and save a chick electrolyte as well. We have to dip it's bill in the water/food mixture and it barely eats any of it. It has been pooping but needs to be wiped off each time to prevent blocking vent since it can't stand or walk. This is day three since it hatched and seems strong and chirping but still not using one side of body and not able to stand. Any advice would be great!! This is our second time hatching ducks, last year we luckily had no issues so we are still fairly new to this. Thank you in advance!!

 

[Duckies321]

Hmm thats strange? I have assisted duckling to hatch before and they are sometimes a bit weird for a few days afterwards and dont walk or eat, one lasted 3 days like that and I had to syringe feed it. I put some food in the syringe then squeezed it a bit so there was food on the tip and got the little ducky to nibble it off the end, same with water. The yolk nutrients should last it a few days anyway, as long as it isnt too dry I think it will perk up, the fact that its looking better today sounds good. The other thing it could be is a niacin/thiamine deficiency but it sounds like your treating that with yeast anyway. Hopefully it will perk up tommorrow! Good luck!

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Update us tomorrow. Then we will know if there is a problem or just hatched too early. I had a temp problem with the bator last batch and two hatched with their feet upside down. With a little gentle massage and turning their feet right they came out ok

 

[hm23]

We put some bandaids on his feet to help keep his feet open. I will update tomorrow, thank you!

 

[hm23]

Update: no major changes, the area where the yolk sack was is slightly smaller today. He is still having a lot of trouble holding himself up and is still unable to stand or walk. One side of his body is still completely limp. We are still working on feeding him but he is not eating well.

 

[Duckies321]

That doesnt sound good
Dont give up just yet because if it was a bit of a traumatic hatch he could still be recovering. The other thing it could be is something neurological, I once had a lamb that had a traumatic birth and ended up getting starved of oxygen, it didnt die at birth but it had something similar to cerebral palsy and couldnt walk and was weak on one side. I looked after it for 3 months thinking it might get stronger and grow out of it but it didnt and at 3 months old and growing fast i realised it didnt have much of a future if it couldnt walk or eat grass so I had to put it down, it was heartbreaking but he taught me so much. Maybe little ducky got starved of oxygen at birth and has something similar? I hope not but it is a possibility. Good luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did your duckling finish absorbing the yolk after hatch?

 

[hm23]

Did your duckling finish absorbing the yolk after hatch?

I believe so, when hatched he was attached to the cord so we left him and it came off on its own. In the photo above you can see the area where the bulge of the yolk sack is and as of today it is much smaller and almost completely feathered in.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That's wonderful, so how is the little one doing?

 

[hm23]

That doesnt sound good
Dont give up just yet because if it was a bit of a traumatic hatch he could still be recovering. The other thing it could be is something neurological, I once had a lamb that had a traumatic birth and ended up getting starved of oxygen, it didnt die at birth but it had something similar to cerebral palsy and couldnt walk and was weak on one side. I looked after it for 3 months thinking it might get stronger and grow out of it but it didnt and at 3 months old and growing fast i realised it didnt have much of a future if it couldnt walk or eat grass so I had to put it down, it was heartbreaking but he taught me so much. Maybe little ducky got starved of oxygen at birth and has something similar? I hope not but it is a possibility. Good luck

That's wonderful, so how is the little one doing?

He is still having a hard time eating and walking but he is getting stronger for sure! We have been using bandaids on his feet to keep them uncurled and that seems to be helping a bit too! Hoping he recovers soon so he can join the others we hatched!