Weak Duckling

[Quack and Waddle]

Hi. We have a Call Duck duckling that we had to manually assist with hatching yesterday because he has 2 three day old siblings and could not seem to hatch by himself.
We were able to get the shell off very carefully with YouTube guidance, warmed and dried him, gave him drops of sugar solution. Put him under brooder heat last night.
Did not expect him to make it through the night, but he did and seems more active this morning! Legs still very weak, cannot stand though and eyes won’t open. He is on a soft towel under brooder. Doing some pecking behavior.
Should we try to offer crumbles or mash? Concerned about legs and eyes.
Any suggestions would be appreciated,
since we are first timers.

 

[ruthhope]

Hi. We have a Call Duck duckling that we had to manually assist with hatching yesterday because he has 2 three day old siblings and could not seem to hatch by himself.
We were able to get the shell off very carefully with YouTube guidance, warmed and dried him, gave him drops of sugar solution. Put him under brooder heat last night.
Did not expect him to make it through the night, but he did and seems more active this morning! Legs still very weak, cannot stand though and eyes won’t open. He is on a soft towel under brooder. Doing some pecking behavior.
Should we try to offer crumbles or mash? Concerned about legs and eyes.
Any suggestions would be appreciated,
since we are first timers.

Do not worry about food--the absorbed yolk provides enough nutrition for 2 days. You might offer oral rehydration solution rather than sugar water. Dip your little finger in the solution and bring the drop on your finger to the ducklings bill. Buy rehydration salts and make up your own solution or buy ready mixed solution from the pharmacy shelves at your local supermarket. Once this little one is eating, add nutritional yeast to the crumbles. 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast per cup of crumbles to ensure it has enough niacin.

 

[Quack and Waddle]

Hi. We have a Call Duck duckling that we had to manually assist with hatching yesterday because he has 2 three day old siblings and could not seem to hatch by himself.
We were able to get the shell off very carefully with YouTube guidance, warmed and dried him, gave him drops of sugar solution. Put him under brooder heat last night.
Did not expect him to make it through the night, but he did and seems more active this morning! Legs still very weak, cannot stand though and eyes won’t open. He is on a soft towel under brooder. Doing some pecking behavior.
Should we try to offer crumbles or mash? Concerned about legs and eyes.
Any suggestions would be appreciated,
since we are first timers.

Thank you. Going to get some rehydration solution. Assume that you mean something like Pedialyte?
Seems like he tries to eat mash, but unable to hold his head up. Have definitely seen him swallow the sugar water though. Legs getting stronger, but we’re concerned about the inability to hold head up.

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you. Going to get some rehydration solution. Assume that you mean something like Pedialyte?
Seems like he tries to eat mash, but unable to hold his head up. Have definitely seen him swallow the sugar water though. Legs getting stronger, but we’re concerned about the inability to hold head up.

Pedialyte--exactly!

Maybe also dip a wet finger tip into the feed crumbles, and then offer the crumbs stuck on your finger to the ducklings. I do that several times an hour for sick ducklings. If its just exhaustion, and they are warm enough in the brooder, they will start taking crumbles quite quickly. Once your little fluffie starts eating, tge neck muscleswill likely strengthen as it starts moving