Angel wing in ducks, & how we wrap to mend it - Pictorial

[Duck Drover]

I'm not there to see it, but I know during molt my Runners can appear to have Angel wing for a day, then it corrects itself.  The feathers seem to twist in their sockets.

I have had that happen where I can tuck the tip back under and it stays. I decided to just go ahead and tape these two to make sure the tips go back under the wing since the drake's wing seemed more twisted and it has been for a week or more now. Sometimes I see a wing stick out briefly and then the duck is able to tuck it back under on its own but it concerns me if it is a genetic weakness that needs to be removed from the gene pool. I think the hen would have been fine without taping but it does not hurt so we went ahead and did her wing when we did his and I am considering selling them at a discount as pet quality instead of keeping them to breed just in case it is at all genetic.

I sometimes wonder if they get their wing twisted the way we would twist an ankle but the extra weight of the blood in the feathers keeps them from being able to get the tip twisted back under where it belongs in order to heal the strain or sprain. I have only seen it happen while the blood feathers are weighing down the wing tip but we have hardly had it show up in our flock and when it does we sell them as pet quality instead of breeding quality.

 

[Datacross]

Well, my muscovy drakes wrap has been off for a little over a day now and looks perfect, other than a little drooping from their wings being heavy right now. When I first took it off it stuck out just a little bit but gave it a full day off and he's adjusted and worked out his wing a lot and got everything situated nicely! So glad I didn't have to rewrap, chasing him down was a pain and trying to wrap him was difficult with an 8 month pregnant belly even with my husband's help! XD I wrapped him in self-adhering bandage and then put a strip of waterproof first aid tape around it just in case, but it didn't seem I needed the tape. Both the scovies were very well behave and didn't incessantly pick at all after the first few minutes.

 

[Datacross]

Grabbed a quick pic since they came on the porch this morning to eat flies. The all black one was the one afflicted with either angel wing or an injury. Also got a quick view of the other's pretty white wing tips! It looks like they've finally got all their feathers in. Can't believe they're almost ten weeks old already

 

[Miss Lydia]

Grabbed a quick pic since they came on the porch this morning to eat flies. The all black one was the one afflicted with either angel wing or an injury. Also got a quick view of the other's pretty white wing tips! It looks like they've finally got all their feathers in. Can't believe they're almost ten weeks old already

They are gorgeous too. Love the wild type. Great news about the wing,. Hard to wrestle them without an 8 month pregnant belly. lol

 

[robinjs11]

My muscovy didn't start to show signs of angel wing until he was 8 weeks old. 2 days prior to this pic was when he first showed signs in the left wing and then the right wing followed. I tried wrapping it but he was very upset and could not balance being large with both wrapped so I left it. I thought he wouldn't be able to fly which I was okay with since I have since clipped their wings but he did fly out of his fence several times. The other 3 ducks have never picked at his wings, maybe because he is a bit of a bully himself. He looks like an airplane but hasn't seemed to bother him at all.

 

[duckmeister]

New patient, little teeny tiny black bibbed hen, I held her by the legs and my wife wrapped a single strand of duct tape in front of the legs and over the left wing and under the right wing. She still has a lot of blood in her flight feather quills so hoping for 100% success with this little girl. Will find out in a week or so.

 

[Miss Lydia]

New patient, little teeny tiny black bibbed hen, I held her by the legs and my wife wrapped a single strand of duct tape in front of the legs and over the left wing and under the right wing. She still has a lot of blood in her flight feather quills so hoping for 100% success with this little girl. Will find out in a week or so.

 

[Ren2014]

New patient, little teeny tiny black bibbed hen, I held her by the legs and my wife wrapped a single strand of duct tape in front of the legs and over the left wing and under the right wing. She still has a lot of blood in her flight feather quills so hoping for 100% success with this little girl. Will find out in a week or so.

X2

Below is my last FAILED attempt


I just removed his wrap yesterday because he was acting kind of depressed and limpy. I will re-wrap him Sat.

 

[Miss Lydia]

X2

Below is my last FAILED attempt


I just removed his wrap yesterday because he was acting kind of depressed and limpy. I will re-wrap him Sat.

 

[duckmeister]

New patient, little teeny tiny black bibbed hen, I held her by the legs and my wife wrapped a single strand of duct tape in front of the legs and over the left wing and under the right wing. She still has a lot of blood in her flight feather quills so hoping for 100% success with this little girl. Will find out in a week or so.

Here she is weeks later, her wing 100% straightened out.