The Duck Thread

[wildsam]

They should start laying soon if they have not already. But they may also be waiting til spring to lay depending on where you live.

Our young hens haven't all started laying yet either but we're really far north in WI so they might wiat

 

[ducklover31]

someone please help I don't know what to do I have 8 baby ducks 1 was jerking its neck back and forth so I thought it was choking or something (turns out it wasn't choking) but I put it along with the rest of the baby ducks in the bathtub with its food and water they ate they drank so I put them back and now ALL of them are jerking their necks side to side. are they ok? is it something in the food? any information will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Amiga]

I am having a hard time picturing this.

Do they have water with their food?

 

[Alice28]

Can you get a video? Like Amiga, I can't really picture what you mean...

 

[Amiga]

Ducklings will swing their heads around if they are choking. And if they don't have plenty of fresh water with their food, they can choke.

 

[ducklover31]

they have plenty of water I cant get pic or vid. they'll just lay there trying to got to sleep and one will just sit up a bit and jerk its neck kinda downwards and jerk left than jerk right

 

[Amiga]

See if it looks like this - I will attach a video in just a few minutes to this message.

Especially starting around 42 seconds in

 

[Alice28]

they have plenty of water I cant get pic or vid. they'll just lay there trying to got to sleep and one will just sit up a bit and jerk its neck kinda downwards and jerk left than jerk right

Do they have niacin in there water or brewers yeast in there food? That's the only thing I could possibly think of that could be a problem. Does it seem like a muscle thing or that they are chocking? Are they making noise or seem in pain? I don't know what it could really be, but trying to guess. Sounds odd

 

[ducklover31]

Do they have niacin in there water or brewers yeast in there food? That's the only thing I could possibly think of that could be a problem. Does it seem like a muscle thing or that they are chocking? Are they making noise or seem in pain? I don't know what it could really be, but trying to guess. Sounds odd

I don't know about the niacin or brewers yeast and their not choking because they've been doing it for about 30 mins and they don't make noise when doing that and they don't seem to be in pain either

 

[Amiga]

If it is just a little head jerk or three, I don't think that's a big issue.

Here are some things to check.

The brooder needs to be the proper temperature, with room to move away from the heat. The temperature needs to be - generally speaking - 90 degrees F the first week, dropping 5 degrees per week as they grow. Too much heat can cause seizures and death.

They need water all the time, we covered that.

If they are getting chick feed, they need extra niacin - either adding niacin to their water at 100 to 150 mg per gallon (not no-flush or timed release niacin, just plain niacin), or a tablespoon of brewer's yeast per three ducklings to their food once a day.

Raising and caring for ducklings is a sticky you may want to see.