Help! Sick Duck! *Found out it's flystrike, and update on my boy*

I found one of my favorite boys sick this morning. You guys already helped him once, a few months ago, when he was a duckling and had cut his feet open at TSC and had an infection. I thought maybe you could help him out again. He is a boy duck, so no egg binding here. I found him this morning huddled in my driveway, not moving. He was all dirty and really thirsty, so he got a bath. His stomach is still CAKED in dirt - I don't know how it happened. So now I have him inside in a dog kennel with food and water with a little bit of gatorade in it, for electrolytes, since my last packet of sav-a-chick has gone missing. He's shivering, and seems unable to move, or just too weak to do so. He does flail around a little if upset, and has use of his wings, but he doesn't seem to want to move his legs. My first thought was bumblefoot, but no black scabs, so I don't know. I called my vet and the doctor who sees ducks isn't in today, and the other vet in my area who does isn't picking up the phone. What else can I do for him? Also, I have some baytril left over from when one of my chicks was sick a little while ago, and if anyone knows the dose for an almost fully grown pekin male, I'd dose him and see what happens. Perhaps it is bumblefoot? Does anyone have any pictures of what it looks like it a duck? I'm in my second year of vet school this year, so I'm not afraid to do the surgery if need be. Does anyone have any ideas?

So he's got flystrike. I'm going to TSC to get supplies.

Pyxis said:

So he's got flystrike. I'm going to TSC to get supplies.

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I hope he is okay! I have not heard of flystrike before, as I am still getting my feet wet when it comes to ducks...
So, I thought I would share this link with everyone, in case there are other people who don't know what flystrike is, just as I didn't.
http://gomestic.com/pets/fly-strike-is-your-pet-at-risk/

Oh my goodness I hope you can help him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiasis

Sending prayers for you both. How sad. Please keep us posted.

Okay, here's the update:

I picked him up to look at his vent, and maggots. Everywhere. His stomach feathers were actually turning brown because of the maggots, because apparently some of them had been on his stomach, but it looked like they had all moved on down to his vent. So then I looked him over, and they were all over his back right behind neck, and all around his neck in that area, like a collar of maggots, and also down his keel. It was so disgusting and there were so many you could actually hear them moving. I started picking off as many as I could, but I was getting nowhere, so I went to TSC and got an insecticide that can be used directly on poultry, poured some into a dish of water, and plopped him in. Then I started taking cupfuls of the water and pouring it over him. It was at this point I realized he wasn't even waterproof - he got soaked like a chicken would if you threw it in a pool. So the maggots started dying and wriggling off of him as fast as they could to get away from the insecticide, and then landed in the dish of water mix. I swear there were at least a thousand or two. Then I rinsed him clean of the insecticide with warm water, blow-dried him because, as I said, he was no longer waterproof. He was shaking and shivering, and I'm sure he was in shock from the pain of a thousand little creatures slowly eating him. His whole belly was torn up, and around his neck, so he got blu-koted quite a bit. Now he's tucked away in a dog kennel under a heat lamp with food and water with electrolytes. and during the whole painful process, he never tried to run away or bite me or anything. Such a sweet duck that life has been cruel to.

I'm guessing he got poop on his feathers and wasn't able to wash it off, and that's how this happened. My oldest male bullies him ferociously, and I'm thinking he kept him away from the pool. The poor thing has been terrified to come down to the yard, and won't even sleep in the duck house at night - he was sleeping under the deck on hard gravel. The big male has also been keeping him from food, I think, and is teaching the gang he decided to hang out with to bully poor Coconut, too. After this, I think the big male is finding a new home. He's going back to live with my aunt, where he originally came from, and in return I'm getting a couple girls, since she has two males and about forty girls, and currently, it looks like all my ducklings turned out to be males, so I have one girl and five boys, which might be contributing to the problem. What do you guys think? Do I swap him for a couple girls, or do I try to get them to get along? The big male also goes after two of the other boys - he'll only hang out with the girl and one of the other males.

Anyway, here's a picture of Coconut after his bath before I blow dried him:



Hoping he pulls through. This poor boy's had a rough life.

Get rid of the bully. Get more girls.

Optimal drake to duck ratio is between 1 to 3 and 1 to 6, depending on the drake.

The bully will not learn to make nice.

Amiga said:

Get rid of the bully.  Get more girls.

Optimal drake to duck ratio is between 1 to 3 and 1 to 6, depending on the drake.

The bully will not learn to make nice.

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I thought so It just makes me sad because I've had Charm (the bully) for 3 years, and he actually disappeared for three months during that time and came back safely (he can't fly). He was so good with the two pekins that he hangs out with when I introduced them to him. Even though he's not very friendly and he's mean to my other ducks, I'm going to miss him

Could/would you trade all three that hang out together? Or would that just recreate the problem at your aunt's house?

Aww how sad I hope the lil guy pulls through. Like everyone has said it isn't going to improve even if you get him through this, I had to relocate a drake because of problems, fighting and being too hard on the girls, I loved that drake rescued him form the river actually, but I had to think about the flock as a whole and their peace, it has been much better for everyone, it's been a year actually and I still think about Bill but don't regret making the decision to relocate him to another home. please keep us updated on how the lil one is doing. Thanks.