Runty Duck Behavior

[kitchwitch]

I have 11 ducks, one of which is smaller than the rest. At 7 weeks of age she's about 1/2-3/4 the size of her hatchmates and is very quiet. All the other ducks run around in a big group and she's always last in line. While the others eat and drink, she stands back quietly and watches until some of them clear out of the way. She IS eating and drinking just fine, but she's small and today I noticed she is shaking. Any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[Rosebud 18]

I have a runt in mine to. I ordered 10 in the last bunch and they are runners. She would sit and shake so I started using the poultry-pak. I would put some in a small cup and dip her beak in it to make sure she was getting it. I also made a soupy mix with her feed and the water and dipped her beak in that to. She would eat and drink a little at a time. I did that several times a day for several days and she got alright. She is 3 weeks old now and running and keeping up with the others but still smaller. I call he Baby Girl. I hope she's girl.

 

[kitchwitch]

I thought about adding something to the water, but she's drinking great and has an appetite. This morning she was up and running around with the rest of them and again, she was eating and drinking with gusto. Really, I just wanted some other opinions for my mother in law's sake. If an animal, any animal, isn't doing EXACTLY what all the other animals are doing she freaks out and immediately assumes there's something terribly wrong and it's about to die.

It is still into the upper 40s at night here so with her being so small I think the shivering behavior might just be her getting chilled. She wasn't shivering when I let them out of their house this morning.