Runner duckling has its head hanging! What is it?

[T Hi]

My neighbor has 2 runner ducklings that are a few weeks old. They were fine up until today!

1 of them has its head sideways and kind of hanging. It looks like it is looking up at an airplane all the time! Sometimes it lifts it straight but then back down. It is still eating and drinking so far. I went right over when she called me and it seems like it is in no pain. I felt up and down the neck and breast bone... nothing seems out of place.

PLEASE----- any suggestions to what it might be?

If it had broke its neck would it still be peeping and otherwise normal?

I don't want this poor baby to suffer. If it needs to be culled I would rather they do it sooner than later. For the duckling and the family.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I may possibly want to repost this in the emergency section, you may get a faster answer. I don't have ducks so sorry I couldn't help you

Good luck!

 

[bt03]

it may be a case of wry neck. I'm not 100% sure what it is or hoe to treat it but i have come across several threads here that talk about how to cure it. if you put it in the search bar on here you will come up with lots of good threads about it. Hope things get better soon.

 

[T Hi]

The duckling is still the same this morning.

Would wry neck just occur out of no where? The duckling was perfectly fine and running around straight and tall up until yesterday afternoon!

I think it is 3 or 4 weeks old.

 

[bt03]

I'm not sure if it would appear out of nowhere but looking at some of the past wry neck threads it look like there is a chance that it could. It looked like the most common cure was vitamin E and B12 but i''m not sure how much or how often. I'm so sorry no one has come along that has more knowledge but i will keep looking to see what information I can help you find and hopefully someone will come and help soon.

 

[Sachasmom]

One of my Runners started doing this just the other day too, also just shy of 4 weeks. I think the concensous has been a vitamin deficiency, possibly Niacin or Thiamine (B1)

What has she been feeding hers? I was feeding mine chick starter from TS, but they had about 5 days of Agway grower (15%) when my hubby brought home the wrong feed.

I have 40 perfectly normal Runners and this one. Go figure. I'm thinking that they are deficient from the start, and since the chick starter is lacking some vitamins it finally presented.
I also think it has to do with the way Runners are "made" with long slender necks? I seem to recall one of them tilting its head to look at me, but maybe it wasn't doing that on purpose, poor ducky!

I mixed up some Vitamins/electolytes for mine yesterday and it is showing improvement today, still has a head tilt, but it is starting to right its head now too. I did read that infant vitamins (without iron) were good too,
but I have not gotten to the store yet to get some.

I guess I am going to have to read up more on suppliments like Brewers Yeast and all that for ducklings, I raised a few batches fine last year on chick starter and then Purina Flock raiser.
I switched them over to a Gamebird starter, and it lists Niacin on the tag, but of course, no amounts.

 

[Rosebud 18]

Have you tried using poultry-pak. It is suppose to have all the vitamins that they need. I started using it when I first got mine. So far no problem (knock on wood). I got mine from the feed mill and it cost $4.95 per pack. It's a powder you mix in their water. I use a 2 liter coke bottle and mix 1/8 teaspoon in the water. Good luck on the babies.

 

[YYZ]

Seems to be a common problem on here. I sure hope the poor chickens are getting better.

 

[T Hi]

I know she feeds them Purina Flock Raiser mixed with grit and brewer's yeast. (Because I put the food together for her!) It is what I have used for my runners and have not had problems.

Should I suggest the powdered vitamins for the water too? I don't want them OVER supplemented!

 

[Sachasmom]

Whats the protein on the Flock Raiser? I can't recall if its 18 or 20? I'm thinking it was for older ducks though, not ducklings, but I don't have a bag handy here to check it? I know I started feeding mine that when they were about two or three months old?

I haven't seen the Poultry Pac, I'll have to check TS when I go tomorrow, I just used something I had hanging around the house for the rabbits... Do you guys do the vitamins in the water every day or just once or twice a week? Everyone else seems pretty robust, couple runty ones in my second batch though.

I was going to get a bottle of the liquid baby vitamins tomorrow too and see how that did.

I'd say just directly dose the affected ducklings with the vitamins? I wonder if some of them are genetically predispositioned to not process vitamins correctly?