starving duck help

[rockymountain]

I had posted a month ago about abandon ducks, in the chicken forum,from a neighbor that moved and left many ducks they purchased and left. I helped gather them with the realtor, and suggested another neighbor that might take them. The neighbor who took them is old schooled and feeds her animals only donated food from food banks, etc. I kept looking for the ducks on her property and could only see her geese, and just a few ducts maybe three. I thought she must of butchered them. Well tonight I found this starving to death duck in my driveway. I scooped him up and brought home. Hubby not happy. Well anyway I assume it is a he with a few curled tail feathers, but is very weak, so skinny OMG, dirty, etc. I gave him flock food from my chicken food. He over ate and had a hard time swallowing, I thought I killed him from over eating. I tried to make him drink water,

wouldn't touch it. I left him and it appeared he did drink some water. I also added yogurt. Anyway he is very weak, not moving much but did find him sitting up, he has a hurt leg also but can use it. I am waiting to get his strength back and will see if leg is broken etc.

Any advise would be appreciated. Can ducks bring deceases to my chickens? I have the duck in a utility room, that I keep around 50 degree, in a large dog cage. It is shivering a little. Not sure if I should put a heat lamp on him.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Oh, poor guy!! Thank you for picking him up!!

Yes, he's a drake... and I would keep him isolated from your flock for now... anything *could* carry disease, quarantine is always recommended...

Since he's shivering, I would set up a heat source nearby, but not directly on him hot... just enough to bump the temp where he is about 15°... you can also wet down the chicken feed until he slows his eating down a bit... any obvious injury on his leg or foot? Check for black spots on the bottom of his foot, bumblefoot is a possibility...

 

[rockymountain]

He is very weak, so nervous to give a physical look over. I hope he makes it during the night. If he does I will look over his foot to see what is causing him pain. The room is temperature controlled so I increased the heat to 60, when I realized he was shaking, My vegetable harvest wont like it tho. Thanks about putting water in his flock food, I will do this now, makes since, since he over ate on me, Freaked me out struggling to swallow.

 

[luvmyduckies]

Thanks for saving this sweet boy. It sounds like you are doing the right things. I hope a few days food n warmth will get him on the road to recovery.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thanks for saving this sweet boy. It sounds like you are doing the right things. I hope a few days food n warmth will get him on the road to recovery.

X2

He may be shivering from shock, increased temp helps with that too... good luck and keep us posted!

 

[chickens really]

Give it a deeper bowl of water to clean out its nostrils.....Add peas and roman lettuce to the feed and make it a soupy mix...Not THICK......Keep it warm...Try hanging and old Blanket or towel over the cage to make it feel more secure.....Poor Thing.......


Cheers!

 

[chickens really]

Also.....Do not give it yogurt......Birds can not process dairy.....The only thing that causes is the runs........Also, no....Ducks will not transmit disease to Chickens........

How sad........

 

[rockymountain]

Update, he is eating his flock food and water. I had to wash him as he stunk so bad, like rolling in animal poop for a while. Did an inspection of his feet, the bad foot he holds up has only one dark spot that appears something embedded itself deep, very swollen. His only foot he uses looks awful, many black spots. After I bathed him I soaked his feet only in epson salt for 15 min. than put rubbing alcohol on both feet bottoms with neosporen spread everywhere. When drying him wrapped in a towel we tried to dig out the black spot to remove possible thorn. While squeezing the swollen part removed some black stuff couldn't find an actual thorn. We might need to do some digging with a sharp object tomorrow. Decided to wait to see if the swelling will go down, or since we broke it open the object might work itself out.

I did replace his water dish with a deeper dish. Also gave him smashed tomatoes with two sections of garlic. His living condition sleeping on waste and drinking from a septic pond, as well as the ditch I found him laying in mud water before I rescued him. I am thinking of trying to find antibiotics tomorrow at a farm store if possible, any suggestions. Also do ducks need sand/grit in their diet to digest food like chickens.
Bad Foot

Foot he uses

Both feet

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ouch, poor baby!

Get some clear/colorless iodine, that's better than rubbing alcohol for them... it's also called iodine tincture... and vet wrap and gauze so you can wrap it and keep the feet clean in between soaks... try not to cut any healthy flesh when working on it... a lot of times that is staph type infections and you want to keep it out of their bloodstream... an oral antibiotic might not be a bad idea with how swollen the one foot is and how many bumbles the other one has, not sure which would be best but maybe oxytetracycline... infection in ducks and chickens tends to be hard, cheesy chunks whitish or yellowish in color, rather than pus like we get... just keep soaking his feet each day and work slowly, these types of things can take several days to clear out properly so they can heal... this thread should help you...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/807777/bumblefoot-new-ideas-on-treatment-with-pictures

Yes, if you're giving him anything other than regular commercial feed, he will need some grit/coarse sand...

He might need to be dewormed as well, watch his poops... if they stay consistently watery I would deworm him once you get him on his feet...

As for what he's been eating and drinking from, botulism *could be* a concern... @Amiga has links to toxin flushes just in case you might need it...

You're doing great, so glad he found you!!!

 

[rockymountain]

I didn't mention we did put gauze and wrap on the foot we dug at. He did seem to like the padding, as kind of uses his foot a little, so it is helping. Thank you for stating staff as a possibility of the swelling, that is why we decided to wait and see swelling goes down. That is why I think we should find antibiotic for him. The other foot I didn't put padding on but will tomorrow after soaking again, poor guy. Beside this we are dealing with extreme underweight. I am worried about bacteria and possible worm issues as well. I checked the forum on this site and found suggestions garlic will fix this. Well he isn't exactly eating this so far, but I will check in the morning.