I have a four day old chick with a red swollen foot/leg and what looks like a small bumble scab on the bottom of her foot. She’s heavily favoring the leg, and not coming out from under the brooder to eat or drink as often as the other chicks. I’m unwilling to cut her foot to drain the swelling...
Do any of you keep water in their coop overnight? I never have because it’s so messy—but if it’s going to be in the high 80s overnight, I feel like maybe I should.
Is anyone doing anything special for their ducks during this heat wave? The heat index here is getting up to 110, and I’m sure we’ll see worse heat waves this summer. At what point is the heat truly dangerous for ducks, even with plenty of water and shade?
She seems to still be doing well! She has a limp that’s worse some days than others, but she gets around just fine and she doesn’t seem to be in pain. She loves swimming and peas and hanging out with the other ducks. Thanks for checking on her.
Sometimes when they’re that young, they just fail to thrive, and there’s not really anything you can do to turn things around. I think it has something to do with genetics or how they develop in the egg.
Also, is it possible that it’s a tumor? I remember a post a while back where someone thought their hen’s throat was blocked and caused a lot of pain trying to massage it down/pull it out before realizing it was actually a tumor.
I’m curious how long people are planning to keep their birds in flockdown? Especially those with less than ideal set ups, whose birds are in cramped quarters right now.
If you end up going this route, here are a few tips: the door isn’t super useful since it’s hard for a duck to step over the lip, but most dog pens like this also have a spot where you can disconnect the walls as well. We realized that standing far away and tossing the treats into the dog pen...
If she’ll come for food, could you try getting a mobile dog pen and luring her into it with treats? Something like this:
We recently caught some dumped ducks in a park using this method, and I don’t think we ever could have caught them otherwise.
Ouch, that looks painful. Our duck's foot also had a spot like that where it looked like pus was working it's way to the surface--eventually it burst. Once it opened up, I put decolorized iodine on it a few times, then left it alone.
Metzer Farms recommends these antibiotics: "Different types...
Does the swollen spot feel hot? If so, I bet it is bumblefoot. We have a duck whose ankle looked similar:
I ordered Baytril from the site linked in @Miss Lydia’s post. Our duck weighs 9 ish pounds. I gave her .6 ml twice a day for 7 days, which is a higher dose for longer than recommended, but...
To be honest, I’ve realized that he’s just not a great vet when it comes to ducks—which is a shame, because he’s the only vet I’ve been able to find in our region who’s even willing to work with ducks.
But I’m happy to report a happy ending (so far)! Some of the pus ended up working its way out...
I don’t think you should flush her. Without knowing what’s going on with her, any treatment you do could cause harm or st least unnecessary stress. Honestly the best thing I think you can do at this point is provide supportive care by keeping her warm and comfortable with food and water...
If anyone bugs you about it, you can try comparing it to rescuing a stray cat. It’s really not any different, people just aren’t used to thinking of ducks as domesticated and dependent on people for food and shelter.