sick duckling??

[loganxo12]

hello all this morning I woke up and found my crested pekin duckling going in circles with clenched feet and shaking of the head and seems to cry out in pain while doing so... after a few mins of doing this it is all of a sudden fine.. should I be worried and take them to my emergency vet??

 

[Kiki]

How old is it and what exactly do you feed it?

 

[loganxo12]

How old is it and what exactly do you feed it?

I am not sure as of age I got them like a week from my local feed store and I have only been feeding them duckling starter grain.

 

[Kiki]

I am not sure as of age I got them like a week from my local feed store and I have only been feeding them duckling starter grain.

Can you take a picture of the bag of feed and a video of the duck? (Upload it to YouTube)
Do you feed anything else?

 

[loganxo12]

Can you take a picture of the bag of feed and a video of the duck? (Upload it to YouTube)
Do you feed anything else?

 

[loganxo12]

i attached a video of my duckling and no I have not it has been fine the past week until today

 

[SilverBirds]

Your duckling may have a neurological disorder which, is unfortunately pretty common in crested ducks.

 

[loganxo12]

Your duckling may have a neurological disorder which, is unfortunately pretty common in crested ducks.

is there anything that can be done?

 

[SilverBirds]

is there anything that can be done?

If it is neurological then no. It's just something he'll live with for the rest of his life.

 

[BelovedBirds]

It looks to me like this baby may be showing signs of a neurological problem. The crest on the head that you see, is caused by a hole in the skull, a deformity.
Some cresteds are able to live normal lives but some struggle more.

is there anything that can be done?

If its neurological it can't really be fixed, but you may be able to help him. Is he able to eat and drink normally? How often does he become disorientated like in the video? Depending on the severity, he may just be a handicapped pet. Or, alternatively if his quality of life goes downhill you may need to consider euthanasia. But this doesn't need to be decided right now if he is managing to do normal ducky things like eating, drinking, preening. It's ultimately up to you to judge quality of life.

I'll tag some more knowledgeable people, perhaps they'll have different opinions or advice to offer. @Miss Lydia @New duck mommy 2021