Do not give up on an injured duck!

Last week one of my then 5 week olf Khaki Campbell ducks was injured in a stampede when they were frightened. I saw it happen and as soon as was over one was unable to walk. She could only walk on her elbows/hocks. I was devastated. No obvious external injuries etc. i did a lot of research on the internet hoping to find someone else who had had this happen to see what her prognosis might be. I felt it was probably a nerve injury. I saw no improvement for a week and I was so worried she would never improve and I was so aftaid she would get skin breakdown on her hocks with how she was walking. I was willing to give her time, but wasn't going to let her suffer. I kept her with the flock to help reduce the stress of being seperated. They were kind to her as if they knew. She had a sled now for her pool because she couldn't get in the bigger pool. She was so happy to be able to be in the water. Yesterday I saw her stand with her legs straight and walk several steps! I was shocked and so excited. Today she was walking much more. She is by no means fully recovered, but hopefully on her way. I couldn't stand the thought of putting her down and thought hopefully with time she will show improvement. I cried when she was first injured and today I cried when she was walking. I was just so relieved. It's been a stressful week. So please, if you have an injured duck give them some time to heal if possible. They really are amazing and resilient.

I'm so happy your duck is feeling better, and I couldn't agree more. Ducks are resilient creatures; it's amazing what these tiny little birds can withstand!

PS: Welcome to the forums!

Thank you and I'm thankful to have a forum where people can share info. It's a wonderful thing!

Glad you are spreading the word! Ducks can recover, given some time and the right treatment.

frenchbet said:

Thank you and I'm thankful to have a forum where people can share info. It's a wonderful thing!

Click to expand...

Great news!!

Welcome to BYC @frenchbet

frenchbet said:

Last week one of my then 5 week olf Khaki Campbell ducks was injured in a stampede when they were frightened. I saw it happen and as soon as was over one was unable to walk. She could only walk on her elbows/hocks. I was devastated. No obvious external injuries etc. i did a lot of research on the internet hoping to find someone else who had had this happen to see what her prognosis might be. I felt it was probably a nerve injury. I saw no improvement for a week and I was so worried she would never improve and I was so aftaid she would get skin breakdown on her hocks with how she was walking. I was willing to give her time, but wasn't going to let her suffer. I kept her with the flock to help reduce the stress of being seperated. They were kind to her as if they knew. She had a sled now for her pool because she couldn't get in the bigger pool. She was so happy to be able to be in the water. Yesterday I saw her stand with her legs straight and walk several steps! I was shocked and so excited. Today she was walking much more. She is by no means fully recovered, but hopefully on her way. I couldn't stand the thought of putting her down and thought hopefully with time she will show improvement. I cried when she was first injured and today I cried when she was walking. I was just so relieved. It's been a stressful week. So please, if you have an injured duck give them some time to heal if possible. They really are amazing and resilient.

Click to expand...

I joined this group just to thank you for this post. Two weeks ago we managed to catch a fisher during an attack. We killed it before it could get anymore of our chickens, but it had already killed four of the eleven. We then discovered it had already been in our duck house. One of our Campbells had already passed away. We managed to get the remaining five ducks, and seven chickens inside our bathroom. Our chickens were frightened, but uninjured. Unfortunately our ducks were all in really bad shape. We did everything we could to stop the bleeding and keep them comforted. We honestly didn’t think any of them were going to make it. We were looking all over the internet for anything on how to care for severely injured ducks, and didn’t have much luck. It seemed as if everyone in our situation had lost all of their ducks. Finally around 1AM we found your comment. “They are amazing and resilient.” We switched from hospice care to an ICU. Unfortunately we did lose another one of our ducks the next day, her injuries were too severe. We love our birds very much. We are heartbroken over those we lost. Though we have you to thank for the hope you instilled in us that night. Two weeks later our four ducks are doing immensely better. Our Pekin drake, Darling, was in the worst shape. We ended up bringing him to the Cornell vet a few days after the attack because we did have hope that he was going to make it. Giving a duck four pills twice a day for two weeks hasn’t been easy. I’ve learned some tricks that I would be happy to share with the community. But each day we see more improvement. Today he eagerly ate the dry food ON HIS OWN and then proceeded to reach his neck further back for his preening. I don’t know if you’re still active on this forum. Or if this will even reach you. But from my family to you, we wanted to thank you for this post from five years ago. You gave us hope. And we have four happy and healthy ducks to show for it. Thank you Frenchbet.

So happy your four ducks have recovered @srose0116 ! They look beautiful and I can imagine your heartache over the ones you lost.

Duckmom27 said:

So happy your four ducks have recovered @srose0116 ! They look beautiful and I can imagine your heartache over the ones you lost.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much. This is a wonderful community. I’m glad we found it.