Limping Duck - Am I missing anything? (Pictures)

[SeaSea47]

My ducks were out free-ranging for a couple of hours on Sunday, and one of the girls came back with a limp. I've had a drake and rooster do that in the last few months, and both of them healed after about a week or so, so I'm hoping that's the case here. It actually reminds me very much of my rooster's behavior. She's a year old and very healthy and sassy. I can't see anything visibly wrong with her foot except one of her toes seems like it's slightly off color, but I started looking at all the ducks' legs and none of them are really uniform in color. I could be missing something else though. There's no bumblefoot - the bottom of the foot is fine but I couldn’t get a picture. There is no warmth or major swelling.

I've been limiting her activity, gave her some aspirin yesterday and today, and I've been giving her extra protein and niacin. Is there anything else I can do? She is actually putting more weight on it and moving around more today than she was Monday, so hopefully, it's just a sprain or bruise and she's on the mend, but I can tell it's still painful. She's eating and drinking and preening and trying to flirt and swimming in her little pool just fine otherwise. The only difference in behavior is the limp.

 

[Quatie]

Sounds like a minor injury due to a drake breeding her or just clumsiness. Usually you can feel the leg slightly warmer, but not much else. A couples days of rest should solve it. I would keep her separated from the drake, so it has time to heal. Drakes can cause females to get reinjured.

 

[SeaSea47]

Sounds like a minor injury due to a drake breeding her or just clumsiness. Usually you can feel the leg slightly warmer, but not much else. A couples days of rest should solve it. I would keep her separated from the drake, so it has time to heal. Drakes can cause females to get reinjured.

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't separate her initially because my drakes have been really calm and not really mating at all lately, but they got kind of wild tonight (my girls have a little hiding spot they go to when they don't want to mess with the boys and she's been staying in there a lot) so she may have to come inside in the big dog crate tomorrow. Hopefully, she'll be fine in a few days! Thank you!

 

[SeaSea47]

She seems to be a little better today. She's still got a pretty bad limp, but I let her out for a few minutes of free time, which was probably not the best idea, but they needed to get some energy out, and she was running and flying and keeping up with the rest of them instead of staying back and laying down like she has been so I'm hoping she's heading in the right direction.

 

[Quatie]

She seems to be a little better today. She's still got a pretty bad limp, but I let her out for a few minutes of free time, which was probably not the best idea, but they needed to get some energy out, and she was running and flying and keeping up with the rest of them instead of staying back and laying down like she has been so I'm hoping she's heading in the right direction.

Have you re-examined her leg and seen if you can notice anything different about the leg? It may have taken time to show up.

Rest is really the best thing for them. I have a runner with a really bad leg injury that I am not sure will ever fully heal. But forcing her to rest has made the biggest difference. If I let her out too early, she would rapidly deteriorate. It really depends on how bad the injury is. In my runner's case, she has a slipped tendon. For other minor injuries, it usually heals fairly quickly unless another duck is causing the injury. For example, one of my Saxony ducks was challenging my Muscovy. She kept getting reinjured until she realized she should not challenge the Muscovy.

 

[SeaSea47]

Have you re-examined her leg and seen if you can notice anything different about the leg? It may have taken time to show up.

Rest is really the best thing for them. I have a runner with a really bad leg injury that I am not sure will ever fully heal. But forcing her to rest has made the biggest difference. If I let her out too early, she would rapidly deteriorate. It really depends on how bad the injury is. In my runner's case, she has a slipped tendon. For other minor injuries, it usually heals fairly quickly unless another duck is causing the injury. For example, one of my Saxony ducks was challenging my Muscovy. She kept getting reinjured until she realized she should not challenge the Muscovy.

Yes, after seeing her flying and landing on the leg today I decided that wasn't a great idea to let her out just yet. I don't see anything new on her leg. I still can't tell if that discoloration in the toe is normal or not though.

A few months ago, I had drakes who were fighting to the point that was one of them was getting injured and terrified to go back into the pen with the other two. he's been happily living on my back porch since (I'm working on building a bachelor pen for the other two and he'll go back in with the girls), but ever since I've taken him out, my other two boys have calmed down considerably. The whole flock really has. They barely even mate anymore. That drake had a similar injury but he laid down a lot and wouldn't put weight on it at all, but after about a week or so on the porch, he quit limping.

I don't think her injury was caused by an interaction - I was actually out with them when it happened and they were just rooting around in leaves. She does put more weight on it each day, so I think it's healing.

I hope your runner gets better soon!

 

[Quatie]

Yes, after seeing her flying and landing on the leg today I decided that wasn't a great idea to let her out just yet. I don't see anything new on her leg. I still can't tell if that discoloration in the toe is normal or not though.

A few months ago, I had drakes who were fighting to the point that was one of them was getting injured and terrified to go back into the pen with the other two. he's been happily living on my back porch since (I'm working on building a bachelor pen for the other two and he'll go back in with the girls), but ever since I've taken him out, my other two boys have calmed down considerably. The whole flock really has. They barely even mate anymore. That drake had a similar injury but he laid down a lot and wouldn't put weight on it at all, but after about a week or so on the porch, he quit limping.

I don't think her injury was caused by an interaction - I was actually out with them when it happened and they were just rooting around in leaves. She does put more weight on it each day, so I think it's healing.

I hope your runner gets better soon!

That is good that it is healing! Hopefully it will continue to get better. Some ducks are really good about resting.

 

[SeaSea47]

That is good that it is healing! Hopefully it will continue to get better. Some ducks are really good about resting.

Thanks. She's kind of the head duck, I guess, so they typically leave her alone anyway? She seems to set the mood, and I see them all resting more this week, which is weird, but I am definitely keeping an eye on things and will still separate her if she stops improving.

 

[SeaSea47]

That is good that it is healing! Hopefully it will continue to get better. Some ducks are really good about resting.

Well, I think I will bring her in today. I haven't been out with her yet, but my dad said she seems a little more tired, so I'm thinking she can spend a few days resting in my big dog crate. I can keep her on the back porch so my drake back there will have some company and she won't be alone (but they can't touch). Do you think that would be better or would it be better to try to separate her within the pen with hardware cloth?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use a large dog crate for hospital recovery or a dog x pen.