Hello dear duck people, i have a problem 1 of my 8 muscovite ducklings isnt growing. You heard it correct, he's just stuck at this development stage for about 2-3 weeks now He has this weird behaviour, when everyone is eating, he'd just wander around and go away from the flock. He still has an apetite tho, but he's not growing. I am afraid something is wrong with him The ducklings are almost 2 months old, and im feeding and giving them water on a regular basis. pic related Anyone know what i should do?
Aww, that's sad. I don't know that I have the perfect answer for you, but I'm going to tell you what I'd do if it were my duckling. I would collect that little duckling plus another mild-tempered duckling that it gets along with, then I would provide those 2 ducklings their own area/enclosure with lots of feed available, plus water with added vitamins, like Sav-a-Chick. I'd offer only the vitamin added water for a few hours, then after that I'd offer plain fresh water but leave both plain and vitamin water available. I should have asked, what % protein feed are you offering? That little one, in my opinion, would likely benefit from some higher, like 20-22% feed, but only for a little while. I'd say no longer than 2 weeks or so. That higher % feed probly is not good for your healthy ducklings tho, so I wouldn't offer that to them. The problem I've seen with ducklings here is that if they are isolated, they tend to freak out, and then if the duckling is alone and stressed, it just might not eat anyway So that's why I said 2 ducklings. I would just really make sure that the bigger ducklings are not forcing the little one out at feeding time. If the little one isn't showing any other signs of illness, then I think you should be able to get it caught up size wise pretty quickly. Otherwise, you might have to isolate it. You could also research into Fermented Feeds and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) which can boost nutrition. Please give these things a shot and post back your results. Good luck.
I don't have an answer but sometimes they just fail to thrive, it could be something happened in the egg or genetic. I had one some years back I' am thinking her heart. So sorry.