Why is this Muscovy duckling so small?

[Kessel23]

I had a hen hatch 3 muscovy ducklings a few weeks ago. Another muscovy hen, who hatched nothing as usual, decided to join the other mom and help brood the ducklings. So 2 moms and 3 ducklings. From hatch day there was this one duckling who was smaller, I do not think he has even grown at all since, the other hatchlings are nearly 3 times the size of him now. They are eating a high protein starter food and a lot of bugs and whatever else their two moms give them.

 

[casportpony]

Do you have a food scale you can with it on? If it really is 1/3 the size of the others it's possible that there is something wrong. May I suggest that you start weighing it daily?

 

[Kessel23]

I have a scale that my dad used to weigh asparagus, I will go and weigh the ducklings when I get back.

 

[casportpony]

I have a scale that my dad used to weigh asparagus, I will go and weigh the ducklings when I get back.

Perfect! Let me know what it weighs and I will check my Muscovy weight data and let you know if it's in the normal range.

 

[Kessel23]

Alright, I will be back in a few hours and weigh him, thanks for the help

 

[casportpony]

Alright, I will be back in a few hours and weigh him, thanks for the help

You're welcome!

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

Once I had a Muscovy duckling that never grew the other year. It ended up getting very skinny legs and dying. I’m not sure what causes the problem of the duckling to not be able to grow.

 

[Kessel23]

Alright I am back at home, I will go and catch them and weigh them now. I also need your opinion on the two normal ones, I wanted to know if they are hybrids or pure Muscovies. They look black and white to me which should not be possible because all of my breeding Muscovies are either chocolate or white. I do have the one pied drake but he has never bred with a duck so they can't be his kids, he is actually scared of the other ducks and rarely goes near them. I saw my Pekin drake mating with the Muscovy hens earlier in the year when they were laying their clutches so I wanted to know if you think the other ducklings could be hybrids. I will be back with pictures and weights in a little bit.

 

[casportpony]

@Pyxis or someone else can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that white just cover up the base color. Go ahead and post pictures though.

 

[Kessel23]

Ok here is the small duckling, we call him Donald. I am pretty sure he is a pure muscovy because he is solid white and has blue eyes like the Muscovy drake that should be his dad.

He is definitely bigger than when he first hatched but not by much.
Here is his weight-

Here is one of the other hatchlings, I really think it is a hybrid the more I look at him... He already has feathers coming in, his beak is white and has a black mark near the top of it that I have seen in pictures of other hybrids. The feathers that are coming in are not brown or black, they look like the feathers on a rouen.
Also, I am apparently pretty good at guessing because this guy is only 2 OZ away from being 3 times the size of donald.

(pounds)
The other duckling looks more normal, he is not feathering in yet and is slightly lighter in color.

his beak is also normal color. I did not weigh him but he is about the same size as the other big one.