Fox attack on duck! Help needed!

I'll try and keep this short because I always rant oh my gosh...

Last night my whole family forgot to close up the birds for the first time in three years, we all have flu and we could barely move. Mr Fox of course was waiting and my dad was woken up at 3am by the guineas screaming louder than he's ever heard before (which as y'all will know is pretty loud anyway) and he rushed out, bleary eyed, in his boxers to see what was wrong. Fox was stood there eyeing up the birds, feathers all over the lawn and just about every single bird was out of the three coops bumping into things and hiding in brambles. He had to literally boot the fox to get it to move and even then it only trotted off. He collected up all the birds he could find in an hour and a half but the guineas and a drake were missing and he feared the worst. Luckily all the birds were back this morning, and he called me out for a head count. All the chooks are fine and both the guineas are okay apart from the hen has basically her whole wing bare of feathers (which are all over the lawn). The missing drake was cowering under some boards and he needed a bit of TLC but everyone looked okay and I was thanking my lucky stars... But then I saw one of the ducks had not moved in 15 minutes and was lying down very awkwardly.

She didn't run away when I grabbed her and she hardly even hissed. Her wings covered it up, but there is a huge, like palm sized piece of flesh missing from her back, but it is pretty cleanly sliced and there's no dirt in it... On one leg, one of her toes looks broken and she won't put weight on the other leg but she can move it and flex her toes, and it hasn't been chewed... I'm assuming what happened was mr fox tried to pick her up and when she was too heavy he tried to drag her off by the leg. I put some colloidal silver on the wound but me and my dad were late for school and work already, and my mum had to take my sister to a medical appointment (she's not very competent with the birds anyway)... So that's all that can be done until I get home at about 4:30 tonight (it's 9:40am here presently).

I'll post a picture later, I wondered if anyone has experience with this sort of wound and is there any home treatment that I can do? We're taking my bearded dragon to the vet tomorrow for a follow up on an operation so we can get some meds for the duck as well but my parents have just spent £1,200 on that operation and my parents are doing a self build atm, so we don't have any spare money as it is... Uggghhh yeah. It's very stressful atm. Does anyone know anything I can do to keep her going strong? I thought if I can disinfect the wound and keep the flies away, she might be okay on some antibiotics until it heals?

Thanks guys!

I had a fox wound an Orpington in a very similar manner. I cleaned the wound and slathered her with triple antibiotic cream. I put the flap of skin back in position. I kept her in our house in a quiet room for about two months. I wanted to make sure the wound stayed clean. It took her about a week to eat and come out of shock. During that time I gave her water and nutridrench through an eye dropper. I didn't treat any leg injury, she walks with a limp now but has fully recovered. Sorry to hear about the attack and best of luck.
Amy

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly... Unfortunately the flap of skin is in the fox's belly so I'm gonna have to improvise on that. Do I need to keep it overed? And if so, is there a way I can keep it covered but still clean?

I think if you can keep her in a "hospital crate" where it is relatively clean, with fresh bedding, water, good food, that's half the battle.

The colloidal silver is a good idea. Some folks do well treating such wounds with a simple mild saline solution four times a day at first. There is a product called Vetericyn that also reduces risk of infection. I would not cover it tightly, as I believe it needs some air to avoid gangrene.

You can consider oral antibiotics, but she may not need them. It's a tough call, as it is difficult to detect systemic infection in a duck till it's well along.

I don't know your weather, but flies will lay eggs in open wounds, so keep her in, away from flies. Trim the feathers short around the edges of the wound for ease of care and monitoring.

Ducks can recover from horrid injury, by the way. The vet may be able to give you some anti-inflammatory medicine that reduces pain.

Check under her wings and around her vent also for puncture wounds.

I would give her electrolytes and vitamins in water for a few days.

@casportpony has experience with medicines.

Feel free to post over on the Duck Forum if you have not yet.

Thanks so much Amiga. She seems a lot better today and is pushing herself around with the leg that was completely useless yesterday. She had a bite to the pad and it punctured her foot a little but the webbing is fine and it isn't swollen. The wound on her back is sealing up incredibly well, it's not infected at all and there's no flies to be seen. My parents wouldn't let her in the house but she's in the stable which is heated to room temps and as for the flies, it's autumn anyway so they're pretty much all dead... just to be sure though, I literally bathed her in natural citrus fly repellent (she smells really, REALLY nice lol) I've been through her down meticulously and the wound and there are no eggs, I'm sure of it, but I'll keep checking just in case.

Should I put some more silver and saline on the wound or do you think I should leave it to dry? I'll post a picture after I've checked up on her again in a minute. Also, she's drinking normally but hasn't eaten a thing(well she may have nibbled something I suppose but her crop feels empty). How do you emergency feed a duck? Is it the same as any other bird? and thank you! I wasn't sure if two threads on the same scenario was okay. I'll post something over there too. Thanks again folks!

*Edit: the gauze is stuck down onto her feathers either side of the wound, with a gap at the back for air. It's not touching the muscle/bone itself, which is why I was worried about fly exposure but there isn't a problem in that regard, phew.

Good news!

Regarding the citrus fly repellant - I would hold off on using that again, based on some things I have read about being cautious with essential oils and ducks. It's not always forbidden, but there are some concerns. I don't know enough to say yay or nay - just be careful, see if you can find a reliable source of information about that. Good idea - just not sure, myself about citrus oil, and how much was actually used.

Folks who have posted about successful treatment of open wounds seem to spray or rinse with saline multiple times (2 to 4) daily for the first several days.

Yes, you can syringe or tube feed ducks, taking care not to send it down the wrong tube - @casportpony has started a thread, Go Team Tubefeeding. And Majestic Waterfowl has a video on FB showing syringe feeding a goose.

If she has been in shock, I would not force feed for a day or two. She needs fluids, so if she's drinking, that's great, and you can add vitamins, electrolytes, even some gruel (water that has soaked grains, so it has some nutrients) to the drinking water.

Thank you again! I had heard that myself but I was in a hurry and I couldn't think of anything else that would certainly keep the flies off. However I shall do my research to make sure if it's okay to use again.

Oh that sounds good then, I'll use the saline in a spray bottle.

Ah that is why this website is so brilliant, oh my gosh... thank you. I would have fed her straight away, I'm used to small birds which can die within 20 hours of not eating... she is pretty chubby (I've only had her a month and her past owners fed her bread, pasta and salmon every day) so that should work in her favour. I'll definitely do the vitamins and gruel as well. Her flock followed me and found her while I was in the stable, came over and started doing their little breathy greeting ritual. I love them, they're so gentle to each other unlike all the other poultry that live here lol.

Ducks are astounding!

I need to get my ducks from night pen to day pen - I am tardy this morning, uh oh, but I'll check back when I can.

Thanks Amiga. I've posted the pictures here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1135709/injury-from-fox-attack-graphic#post_17587488 . Good luck with your ducks! They really are lovely.

Following! One of my khaki Campbell’s got attacked by a red fox last night. Dog scared it off before it could do too much damage but there is blood and missing feathers snd some puncture wounds.
I’m seeing saline and colloidal silver? She is currently in a crate with clean hay and water snd a towel over her (it’s 2am) and will probably keep her in for the weeks. Any other tips?