too thin?

[DucksAndGardens]

Ducks are about 12-13 weeks old now. I have 10 ducks and a goose. They free range in the yard and in the neighbor's field all day and I give them around 4-7 lbs of Purina Flock Raiser a day. Sometimes they empty the bowl, sometimes not. It just depends on how many slugs they ate that day. Still, I feel like they are underweight. Their keel bones are really sharp. But they are bright eyed and active.

Thoughts?

 

[Amiga]

Could you remind us of the breed?

My first thoughts - they are young and growing fast, they may need a bit more, but as you said, sometimes they don't finish it all. Any way to increase number of feedings, or do they have food free choice all the time?

Get a fecal test to check for parasites.

Add more peas or oatmeal, maybe with a little bit of coconut oil to their diet - if they are foraging it's probably pretty high protein, and that - I think - can actually adjust the metabolism to avoid putting on weight….

 

[casportpony]

They can get worms from eating slugs, so I would get a fecal test done or worm all of them.

-Kathy

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Breeds are swedish, cayuga, welsh harlequin, golden layers, and a pekin.

They have free access to food and water all day.

Any recommendations on a wormer?

 

[casportpony]

Breeds are swedish, cayuga, welsh harlequin, golden layers, and a pekin.

They have free access to food and water all day.

Any recommendations on a wormer?

It would be best to consult with a vet, but if that's not an option you could use Safeguard. The most effective Safeguard dose is 0.23ml per pound orally for five consecutive days. That dose will treat roundworms, cecal worms, capillary worms and gapeworms.

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

My vet will accept stool samples that I bring in. Results usually next day. Much less than an exam.

 

[casportpony]

My vet will accept stool samples that I bring in. Results usually next day. Much less than an exam.

Always an option, but what should one do if one has skinny ducks are the fecals are negative? Situations like this a vet may decide to worm them, but I doubt they will advise doing that without first seeing the duck.

- Kathy

 

[casportpony]

A peafowl buddy of mine does routine fecals, and the way he does it makes sense to me... He gets lots of fresh poop samples from as many birds as possible, places the poops in a baggie, stirs it really well, then takes it to the vet. His vet does in house fecal, so he gets the results while he waits. He is an established client, so his vet will make recommendations without seeing the birds.

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

Always an option, but what should one do if one has skinny ducks are the fecals are negative? Situations like this a vet may decide to worm them, but I doubt they will advise doing that without first seeing the duck.

- Kathy

I take things step-wise. First, least expensive, fecal test. Negative, then we rethink, go to the next likely possibility. Could be - bacterial infection, fungal infection, metal toxicity, other kind of toxicity . . . or there is just not that much forage available.

 

[casportpony]

Always an option, but what should one do if one has skinny ducks are the fecals are negative? Situations like this a vet may decide to worm them, but I doubt they will advise doing that without first seeing the duck.


- Kathy

I take things step-wise.  First, least expensive, fecal test.  Negative, then we rethink, go to the next likely possibility.  Could be - bacterial infection, fungal infection, metal toxicity, other kind of toxicity . . . or there is just not that much forage available.  

The problem I have seen with that is that many people on BYC have had negative fecals and they think that a negative fecal means that their birds *don't* have worms or coccidia, when all it means is nothing was found in that sample.

-Kathy