Still new to raising ducks, have questions about my Pekin. Thanks

[JimathyandHonky]

I posted on here about a month ago, I brought home a Pekin that had curled toes. He’s doing much better with his foot now!!

However, I have questions I’m not seeming to find the answers for. My other duck is a Rouen so I can’t compare them. My ducks are 4-5 weeks old, for the most part my ducks have been about the same size. My Pekin started to get rounder but not much longer than my Rouen. He is noticeably bigger than my Rouen now, but just in the last week or so.

My Pekin just seems to have a large butt, i don’t know if this is normal. He seems to still stumble around, and I don’t know if it has anything to do with having had the curled toes. He is growing tall, he eats well, loves treats poops normally. He snuggles up with my Rouen, and my Rouen runs around knocking him over. Lol

Thanks I’m advance

 

[Evadig]

He is a cute duck! You could try giving him nutritional yeast for extra niacin. That might help with him wobbling all over.

 

[Miss Lydia]

He is a cute duck! You could try giving him nutritional yeast for extra niacin. That might help with him wobbling all over.

Great idea
@JimathyandHonky have you given them any niacin? since your Pekin is having some problems I would start him on liquid B Complex since he likes treats you can add 1 ml over something he really loves and get him to gobble them up, mealworms work well for this. Then once he is up walking and not stumbling give the liquid for another week before switching over to Nutritional Yeast on their feed. Since both your ducks are going to be large they may have to have nutritional yeast all their lives to help keep their legs strong. My ducks are mostly adults my youngest are 7 months old and I put Nutritional yeast over the feed every other day. When they are young like yours they need the extra niacin daily until at least 10-12 weeks old and maybe much longer, depending on breed.
They sure are cute

 

[JimathyandHonky]

Great idea
@JimathyandHonky have you given them any niacin? since your Pekin is having some problems I would start him on liquid B Complex since he likes treats you can add 1 ml over something he really loves and get him to gobble them up, mealworms work well for this. Then once he is up walking and not stumbling give the liquid for another week before switching over to Nutritional Yeast on their feed. Since both your ducks are going to be large they may have to have nutritional yeast all their lives to help keep their legs strong. My ducks are mostly adults my youngest are 7 months old and I put Nutritional yeast over the feed every other day. When they are young like yours they need the extra niacin daily until at least 10-12 weeks old and maybe much longer, depending on breed.
They sure are cute

Thanks, I know they need lots of niacin, I am currently feeding a duck food that contains niacin. How would I go about getting a supplement? My Rouen seems to be doing very well just my pekin that seems to be struggling. I work at a store that sells birds and the other Perkins his age, at the time about 2 weeks old, they where much longer but more slender.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you know if your Pekin is a Jumbo Pekin?
TSC usually carries the liquid B Complex. Once you get this start putting this over a small amount of Dried mealworms so you're sure it gets full dose. Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter if we feed the best feed with a good dose of niacin that we'll still have one come down with a niacin deficiency. Most of the time it's Pekins too being they were developed as meat ducks they grow super fast to be slaughtered at 12 weeks old so their little legs just can't keep up with how fast their bodies grow, So we have to supplement for them to help those legs stay strong to carry around their weight for many years.

 

[JimathyandHonky]

Do you know if your Pekin is a Jumbo Pekin?
TSC usually carries the liquid B Complex. Once you get this start putting this over a small amount of Dried mealworms so you're sure it gets full dose. Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter if we feed the best feed with a good dose of niacin that we'll still have one come down with a niacin deficiency. Most of the time it's Pekins too being they were developed as meat ducks they grow super fast to be slaughtered at 12 weeks old so their little legs just can't keep up with how fast their bodies grow, So we have to supplement for them to help those legs stay strong to carry around their weight for many years.
View attachment 3808096

I work at a TSC, I’ll pick some vitamin B complex up. I don’t know if he’s a jumbo, when we received the birds in, they came in as assorted ducks. Most of the ducks were pekins, but there where some rouens and some other breeds.

When I first found him in the tank of ducks, he was noticeably smaller than the others. I saw that his foot had curled toes so I moved him to a smaller tank with only one other duck. It was a few days before I decided to bring him home with me, when I went to pick him up he was back with the other ducks. I could still easily find him because of the size difference.

About until a week and a half ago he wasn’t much bigger than my Rouen, now he’s noticeably bigger. I just wasn’t sure about the roundness. Other pekin owners I’ve talked to say they ducks don’t look like that.

Thanks for all the advice it’s much appreciated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

He sounds adorable and with your care is doing great. Look how rounded these jumbo are
https://www.agrinewstoday.com/jumbo-pekin-duck/

 

[JimathyandHonky]

Do you know if your Pekin is a Jumbo Pekin?
TSC usually carries the liquid B Complex. Once you get this start putting this over a small amount of Dried mealworms so you're sure it gets full dose. Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter if we feed the best feed with a good dose of niacin that we'll still have one come down with a niacin deficiency. Most of the time it's Pekins too being they were developed as meat ducks they grow super fast to be slaughtered at 12 weeks old so their little legs just can't keep up with how fast their bodies grow, So we have to supplement for them to help those legs stay strong to carry around their weight for many years.
View attachment 3808096

I got the vitamin b complex, how often do I give it to him? And for how long?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Every day until you see him over his issues. Then for a week after. Then you continue to treat by using Nutritional yeast over their feed daily 1 Tab per cup of feed most likely all his life. Pekin can have lameness and niacin deficiency all their lives and so they need supplements to help keep their legs strong.

 

[JimathyandHonky]

Every day until you see him over his issues. Then for a week after. Then you continue to treat by using Nutritional yeast over their feed daily 1 Tab per cup of feed most likely all his life. Pekin can have lameness and niacin deficiency all their lives and so they need supplements to help keep their legs strong.

Thank you so much for all the help.