Runt duckling not growing?

TheDaringDucks

Chirping
Aug 4, 2024
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80
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I have a runt of a duckling who I swear has not grown a millimeter since it hatched. Is there any reason this might happen? Is this something that can be addressed in some way from my side of things? I know it has been eating and drinking just fine. It shows no other signs of illness. It's just SO tiny compared to its siblings. It's also so small that its buoyancy exceeds its mass, making it impossible for the lil fella to dive underwater.
 

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I have a runt of a duckling who I swear has not grown a millimeter since it hatched. Is there any reason this might happen? Is this something that can be addressed in some way from my side of things? I know it has been eating and drinking just fine. It shows no other signs of illness. It's just SO tiny compared to its siblings. It's also so small that its buoyancy exceeds its mass, making it impossible for the lil fella to dive underwater.
I took in 2 rescued muscovy ducklings last year. There was a great discrepancy in size although the person who rescued them was certain they came from the same clutch and same mama muscovy. The difference persisted and increased through to juveniles size (12 weeks) when it was obvious the smaller one was female and the larger one male. There isn't usually such a gender difference initially, but i suspect the smaller one was at tge small end of the size spectrum for muscovy ducklings and the larger at the upper end of the size spectrum. They both became healthy adults!!
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I had a runt blue runner duckling once. I asked for advice at the feed store ( will never again) they said switch her food brand ( which did nothing) and she died a few days later 😢 I think it was a case of “failure to thrive”
 
Sadly my runt ended up passing away. Thank you everyone for your advice. I hope I can implement it successfully for any future runts I might have
 

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