Strange balace issues

[Ravynscroft]

Doesn't sound like anything you're doing is causing or making it worse... sounds like a definite preexisting condition... may have been Niacin deficiency, injury or genetic...

Good source of Brewer's Yeast for 2 and 4lb tubs...

https://www.amazon.com/AniMed-Pure-Brewers-Yeast/dp/B011CHKDUQ

jefferspet.com has a 15lb tub for $30... just depends on how much you'll need or go through in a given amount of time...

Good luck... sounds like they have a great home with lots of love and care...

 

[duckitup]

From what I'm reading she's been wobbly the entire time you had her, right? Does her tail, when standing still, look straight, or is it curved (even slightly) to one side? Does her spine shift awkwardly when she walks? Where did you get her from? A hatchery, breeder, farm store? If it's someone you know, you could ask them if they cull out minor skeletal or muscular defects (most breeders do).

Just wondering because she sounds a lot like Gimpy used to, but to a much lesser extent (fortunately).

Yes we have had her and three of her siblings from the same place for around 2 months. The first month they were kept in quarantine. She has always been wobbly since the day she got here. When standing still she wobbles forward and back ward and tucks her tail almost under herself. It doesn't curve either way side to side while standing still. When she walks slowly her tail seems to curve one way with one step and the other way with the next step. She is wobbly while walking slowly but not wobbly at all when she is running or foraging while she is more perpendicular to the ground. She is only wobble when she stands up straight like runners do or when she walks slow. We bought her and her sisters off of craigslist from a guy and his kids hobby farm. I have no idea where they got them from as ducklings.

What was wrong with Gimpy? Is there a thread on it?

 

[duckitup]

Doesn't sound like anything you're doing is causing or making it worse... sounds like a definite preexisting condition... may have been Niacin deficiency, injury or genetic...

Good source of Brewer's Yeast for 2 and 4lb tubs...

https://www.amazon.com/AniMed-Pure-Brewers-Yeast/dp/B011CHKDUQ

jefferspet.com has a 15lb tub for $30... just depends on how much you'll need or go through in a given amount of time...

Good luck... sounds like they have a great home with lots of love and care...

Thank you for the link!!!!! That is way better than the $10 I spend on the tiny container I can buy from the grocery store.

 

[Ravynscroft]

​Thank you for the link!!!!!  That is way better than the $10 I spend on the tiny container I can buy from the grocery store.

Very welcome! I get it for my Calls when I'm hatching large amounts, just in case... even though the flock raiser I use has proper Niacin amounts for ducklings...

 

[arrowti]

Yes we have had her and three of her siblings from the same place for around 2 months. The first month they were kept in quarantine. She has always been wobbly since the day she got here. When standing still she wobbles forward and back ward and tucks her tail almost under herself. It doesn't curve either way side to side while standing still. When she walks slowly her tail seems to curve one way with one step and the other way with the next step. She is wobbly while walking slowly but not wobbly at all when she is running or foraging while she is more perpendicular to the ground. She is only wobble when she stands up straight like runners do or when she walks slow. We bought her and her sisters off of craigslist from a guy and his kids hobby farm. I have no idea where they got them from as ducklings.

What was wrong with Gimpy? Is there a thread on it?

Gimpy had a severe wry tail deformity (caused by a twist in the spine that usually results in the tail being off center). It can range from a wobbly duck to a duck that can't walk. Gimpy was closer to the latter, as he could walk, but he limped badly and eventually died from heart failure due to the pressure on his heart from the deformity in his backbone.

Sounds like your duck has something else, but not serious. So long as she can walk and run and be a duck - and doesn't get bullied by the other ducks - she'll be just fine. Since it was from a kids hobby farm then there wouldn't be high breeding standards or a lookout for defects like these (most ducklings will birth defects or leg/spine defects are culled by breeders), or at the very least, diagnosed before selling. Keep up what you're doing and I hope she gets along just fine.

Beware of drakes. Ducks who may have leg or spine deformities can be seriously injured when a drake attempts to mate with them.

 

[duckitup]

I'm so sorry about Gimpy. Poor thing. And thanks for the heads up on drakes. We have 3. I've never seen any of them try to mate with her but I will keep an eye out. Gosh that scares me. We love them all so much. I can't imagine letting any of them go. I was not aware of wry tail at all but it does make me wonder about another duck we had. We picked up 3 from another craigslist ad a little earlier in the summer. One of them had a bent tail. Curved to her left, and it was always in that position while swimming. Never noticed it when she was standing. She didn't wobble at all though. We only had her a month before she suddenly went completely lame. Couldn't really walk and tried to drag her self with her wings. We separated her from the others and put her in her own coop with water and food near by hoping she would heal herself with some rest. Her joints weren't swollen or hot. No bumble foot. We had no idea what was going on. I contacted the vet about her but he couldn't see her right away. She quit eating but still drank water. We tube fed her two days in and the next morning I found her dead. ( I know the tube feeding went down the right hole and isn't the reason for her passing) We wanted to have a necropsy done but it happened over the Labor day weekend and the vet said that even though we had refrigerated her body that it would be too old 4 days later to bring in. After reading your experience I wonder if she had spine issues and a drake tried to mate her that day. Maybe it severed something??? I felt so bad for her. It was so sudden. In the am when I let them out she was fine. I worked all day that day but my boyfriend had told me she had been limping later that day. By the time I got home and it was time to put them in for the night she was completely lame and could barely move. We separated her that night. After speaking with the vet when she died he thought maybe it was an infection of some sort. Micoplasma etc. But none of the other ducks ever came down with something thankfully. I asked him if a leg fracture could possibly kill a duck in 3 days and he said it would be very unlikely and more likely an infection of some sort. But, thinking back, I don't think I ever mentioned to him that she had a curved tail. I guess I didn't realize that could be a thing. I'm going to look up wry tail for any info I can find. Thank you for your well wishes. I just hope she isn't in any pain.