Sick duck

[Txfarm]

I have 6 ducklings that are 4 months old and one of them is having trouble walking and staying up with the others. She is sitting a lot and has trouble keeping her wings up. She is constantly trying to pick them up. They were given brewers yeast from hatching.
Right now she is in the “hospital” with mush and water with electrolytes. Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[alinas2010]

Sorry to hear about your duckling. I don’t have ducks, but let me tag some duck people.

@Miss Lydia @Jenbirdee

 

[BelovedBirds]

I have 6 ducklings that are 4 months old and one of them is having trouble walking and staying up with the others. She is sitting a lot and has trouble keeping her wings up. She is constantly trying to pick them up. They were given brewers yeast from hatching.
Right now she is in the “hospital” with mush and water with electrolytes. Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

Any heat or swelling in her legs or feet?
Is she laying eggs yet? Is her tail up or pointing down?
What breed is she?

It could be a few things, but first of let's rule out a niacin deficiency. When she does stand, are her toes pointing inwards? Are her legs bowing inwards at all?

Any ducks having trouble walking or feeling lethargic/tired, we often advise treating for niacin deficiency to be safe. The treatment would be warm (but not hot) soaks, supervised***, so she can get the weight off her feet. About 10 minutes or until she's tired of it per session. Most importantly we advise giving them 1 ml of durvet vitamin b complex per day. This can be purchased at tractor supply- it says injectable but it can be given orally over a treat.

When you say trouble keeping her wings up, is this while standing, using wings to balance and catch herself, or all the time droopy?

Photos are always helpful

 

[Txfarm]

Any heat or swelling in her legs or feet?
Is she laying eggs yet? Is her tail up or pointing down?
What breed is she?

It could be a few things, but first of let's rule out a niacin deficiency. When she does stand, are her toes pointing inwards? Are her legs bowing inwards at all?

Any ducks having trouble walking or feeling lethargic/tired, we often advise treating for niacin deficiency to be safe. The treatment would be warm (but not hot) soaks, supervised***, so she can get the weight off her feet. About 10 minutes or until she's tired of it per session. Most importantly we advise giving them 1 ml of durvet vitamin b complex per day. This can be purchased at tractor supply- it says injectable but it can be given orally over a treat.

When you say trouble keeping her wings up, is this while standing, using wings to balance and catch herself, or all the time droopy?

Photos are always helpful

No swelling or heat in her legs, her tail is down, she is a mallard hen. No bowing and when she does stand her feet are pointed forward.
Her poop is very runny and a dark brown. Her wings are all the time droopy with her constantly bringing them up..
This morning she now has what sounds like congestion and she hasn’t eaten or drank since yesterday morning. I am afraid that I am losing her.
Thanks for your response.

 

[BelovedBirds]

No swelling or heat in her legs, her tail is down, she is a mallard hen. No bowing and when she does stand her feet are pointed forward.
Her poop is very runny and a dark brown. Her wings are all the time droopy with her constantly bringing them up..
This morning she now has what sounds like congestion and she hasn’t eaten or drank since yesterday morning. I am afraid that I am losing her.
Thanks for your response.

Could she have eaten something toxic? Or possibly drank stagnant water?
I think this is the next thing to rule out.
If she is pooping, I'd guess that it's not an impaction. Brown and runny doesn't sound abnormal

I assume it's not possible for an animal to have gotten hold of her? Is it possible that a drake was overly rough with her?

In the event of poisoning, I'd reccomend giving her activated charcoal, you could give her 1g per kg of body weight, mix it with enough water to become a liquid, but not too much that she can't stomach it. It can be administered orally but you would have to be very careful.
You'd use a syringe and you'd push it to the right side of her throat avoiding her glottis (airways). You may need two people, one to hold her, one to syringe.
The black circle in this image shows where the liquid must go down, a bit past the glottis

With her tail down, I'm wondering if she may be having a hard time laying an egg. If she is pooping, she must be drinking some amount, and isn't likely egg bound. But they can have troubles with the egg while it is higher in their system, to be absolutely safe and rule it out:
Give her 1ml of calcium gluconate (durvet brand) from TSC. Orally over a treat, or syringe fed the same as above directions.
Or give her a 600mg calcium citrate tablet. You can pop it into the throat if youre careful, it would need to go into her right side, the same again as the image directs.

Try feeding her something really tasty and see if she gets her appetite back, like blueberries, banana, mealworms in a bowl of water or peas... whatever she usually goes for. If she would eat it, plain scrambled or raw egg would be excellent for her, full of vitamins and protein. Make sure she has constant access to clean drinking water and grit.

 

[Txfarm]

My mallard hen is doing better but she still can not walk. It’s like her legs won’t hold her up. Eating and drinking is ok. She just sort of scoots around.

 

[BelovedBirds]

My mallard hen is doing better but she still can not walk. It’s like her legs won’t hold her up. Eating and drinking is ok. She just sort of scoots around.

Do you have drakes?

 

[Txfarm]

Do you have drakes?

Yes, just one. And so far I haven’t seen him trying to mate with her but not out of the question.

 

[Txfarm]

Could she have eaten something toxic? Or possibly drank stagnant water?
I think this is the next thing to rule out.
If she is pooping, I'd guess that it's not an impaction. Brown and runny doesn't sound abnormal

I assume it's not possible for an animal to have gotten hold of her? Is it possible that a drake was overly rough with her?

In the event of poisoning, I'd reccomend giving her activated charcoal, you could give her 1g per kg of body weight, mix it with enough water to become a liquid, but not too much that she can't stomach it. It can be administered orally but you would have to be very careful.
You'd use a syringe and you'd push it to the right side of her throat avoiding her glottis (airways). You may need two people, one to hold her, one to syringe.
The black circle in this image shows where the liquid must go down, a bit past the glottis
View attachment 4192233

With her tail down, I'm wondering if she may be having a hard time laying an egg. If she is pooping, she must be drinking some amount, and isn't likely egg bound. But they can have troubles with the egg while it is higher in their system, to be absolutely safe and rule it out:
Give her 1ml of calcium gluconate (durvet brand) from TSC. Orally over a treat, or syringe fed the same as above directions.
Or give her a 600mg calcium citrate tablet. You can pop it into the throat if youre careful, it would need to go into her right side, the same again as the image directs.

Try feeding her something really tasty and see if she gets her appetite back, like blueberries, banana, mealworms in a bowl of water or peas... whatever she usually goes for. If she would eat it, plain scrambled or raw egg would be excellent for her, full of vitamins and protein. Make sure she has constant access to clean drinking water and grit.

Thanks so much for your support and help. If she got a hold of something bad I would think that her siblings would have too, they move around in a group. Not laying eggs yet and I haven’t seen our one drake mating with them yet. Thanks so much