Rouen duckling having seizures? Please help!

[emmilo]

We have 10 ducklings altogether. 3 one and a half week old Pekins and 7 two and a half week old Rouens. They are all in the same bin right now with fresh water as often as they need and regular chick starter. Also, they are bedded on pine wood shavings. Yesterday one of the Rouens seemed to have a seizure, head all the way back and against its body and legs straight out in front of it. It wasn't moving just laying on its side. The poor thing came out of it in a few minutes after looking slightly dazed and confused. After, it was completely normal looking not exhibiting an signs of anything strange. But then the same thing happened again tonight. I'm not sure if this little guy needs something extra in its diet or what I should do. All the other ducks are completely fine and haven't had anything like this happen. Any advise or remedies would be greatly appreciated. I hate to see my little duck struggle.

 

[azhenhouse]

Hi, I think you really need to post this in the duck forum. You might be able to get more help there. Chick starter does not have the niacin in it that ducklings need. You should add 100 to 150 mg of niacin per gallon of drinking water from zero to eight weeks old. You can buy it at a drugstore or health food store. Don't use the non-flush niacin, but the regular kind. It is very important to make sure they have niacin. For my four Welsh Harlequin ducklings I use a Poult Pak in their water, which has niacin in it. I got it from Metzer Farms when I ordered the ducklings. Our local feed store has a similar product that can be used for the ducks, check your local store to see if they might have a product to use. Also, if your local feed store does not carry duck starter/grower you can mix feed together to get the niacin you need for the ducklings without having to use a supplement. You can mix one part chick starter, one part turkey or game-bird starter/grower, and one-half part uncooked oatmeal for the ducklings. I used this recipe for the first two weeks until I found a local feed store that carried Purina Flock Raiser, which is all I use now. I have attached a great link to a wonderful list of fresh food treats for your ducks.

I hope the duckling gets better. Keep me posted, and try posting on the duck forum for more responses.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=242460

 

[emmilo]

So sorry I didn't thank you earlier. Thanks for your post, it helped so much. We have had ducklings before and even had them on the correct food. I don't really know why we changed it up this time. Hopefully we won't have any other problems. Thanks so much!