off it legs

[Anonymous]

hi
got a young black east indian duckling - one of several hatched a few weeks ago found it this morning of its legs - seems ok otherwise will eat, drink etc but legs just don't work . book we have suggests stress or heat as a cause - neither seems likely to me any thoughts cures??

 

[Anonymous]

more than lightly heat , but her are some more that may be a factor :
offspring
feeding food conataining cociddosat ( well it's somthing like that ) ,
poor bedding , the muck is corrosive so will burn there feet after a prolonged period of time ,
lack of grit , they need very fine grit/sand for bone growth,
poor nutrition ,

parent birds be also be a part
parent
poor nutrition ,
lack of grit/ sand
closely related parents
weak parents

there more factors , such as incubation , and the age , for the first day , some ducking are still tired from hatching , and if the parent birds are bred for exhabtion , they may be produce weak offspring because of there small size , so perfeably breed a FERTILE exhabtion drake to a oversize duck and have some good offspring .

hope this helps

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the input the bird is about 6 weeks old one of 2 BEI that we incubated along with various runners etc . they all are fairly pampered free range paddock weel fenced with a pond which is spring fed so clean and serveral older types of ducks and a few chickens. bedding changed almost daily, fed duck growers pellets and mixed corn on ad lib basis. all others are picture of health.
it sits - currently in a box but seems to be paralysed in the legs, seems also to have balance problem - i put it in a large bucket with a few inches of water to cool it down ( as suggested somewhere) it could not stay upright - sort of rolled over. it feeds happilly from hand and drinks but does not seem to like putting its head down so my daughters give it water from a spoon which it likes. it also stretches out its wings from time to time and initially seemed to quiver its tail in a spasmodic fashion but that seems to have calmed down of late.
its clearly some form of spinal/ nervous system disorder i have seen a reference on the web ( also relating to a BEI duck) which seemed simelar in symptoms also references to toxins from botulism seem to give simelar type symptoms although i would think if this was the case i would have more birds affected?

 

[Tim]

I have never experienced this happening before, and had never heard of it either... yet, I have had two emails in the last couple of weeks from people asking for help as they have the same problem and I haven't really had any good answers for them...

Well done Ben for coming up with such great suggestions... I have pointed them to this thread.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

and a additional note; mix sugar and water together and try to get the ducking to drink it ( put it's beak in the mixture )
this is just to give the bird some energy ,

 

[Anonymous]

Last wednesday was the first time i noticed our apricot call duck falling over constantly ,by the afternoon so worried , i went to the vet who did not know what the problem was, thought maybe muscular not neurological gave injection of metacam anti-inflammatory and painkiller saying see how she goes. I had to put her and sister in box not only for safety but because it was like niagra falls and they were getting drenched. I thought this might be the cause getting too wet ? damp in their bed as the slats had let water in , they were well behaved slept all night no falling over as she could not easily move around, both seemed happier as it was dry. Off we went for swim and food but poor thing started falling onto back again, i basically spent all day righting ,her bringing her to drink and swim which she did happily but with one hand by her side, even my giant rabbit clocked the problem and would run up to her when she fell, she jumped up
then probably thought she was going to be eaten. Rang vet again who had no further advice but prescribed oral metacam. I was still bringing them in at night in their box. Had to visit relatives on saturday , so i took her with me, bowl food etc for swim other end ,she generally had a good rest in car (mad i know) again happy on arrival with support swimming etc. Today (after another sleepover)she seems more upright but now walks backwards and only forward as if on tiptoe then falls down unable to support trunk, falling over less, even managing to right herself but not always, but i have now noticed from yesterday when she is wet after swim did does not dry easily, staying quite wet after some time, i have to put her i n atowel to dry her off, now after her swimming and divebombing session over hour ago she is still soaked ? is this part of same problem , these our my daughters pets but have taken up all my time i feel i cant leave her unless someone is aroun d to keep an eye on her, cant rely on the rabbit shes too busy laying out under the trees. Hope someone has idea what cause is otherwise its a waiting game to see if it goes away like a flu like illness. olivia