7 week old Cayuga looks haggard

[misfitsailor]

We are raising 2 Cayuga hens and 3 Rouens (2 hens, 1 drake). They are 7 weeks old. They all just passed their "droopy wing" stage, all but one Cayuga. Her wing tips still hang down, and many of her feathers look wet and unruly. Is she just a late bloomer, or is something wrong? They all seem active and healthy. We have raised Cayugas once before, but have not seen this in the past. Any ideas?

 

[cayugaducklady]

I'm sorry you're having to worry about this.

My girls looked rough while they were molting around this age. My husband called them zombie ducks because the hollow quills without feathers looked like undead movie effects.

I never saw anything that looked like wet feathers on any of them. My smaller hens used to "borrow" the oil gland of my biggest hen during this time. i'm not sure if they liked her oil better or if they were just using what was convenient.

My girls were molting in warm weather. They were getting a couple hours of supervised swim time each day. THey'd spend jsut as long preening as they did swimming.

They did grow feathers in at their own pace. My smallest hen took a bit longer to finish growing in her feathers than the others.

Maybe a protein boost will help them finish the molt? Growing bodies and growing feathers takes a lot of energy.

Maybe a brief swim in a place where they cant get chilled would encourage/help her spread the oils around ?

i'm not an experienced poultry keeper so please take this advice with a grain of salt.

I offered free-choice dry lentils for protein boost. In my area I can get them at the grocery for about $1.69 a pound regular or $4.00 a pound for organic.

My hens are also absolutely bonkers crazy for venison. When I haven venison scrap I mash them up in food processor . They also love grain free venison cat food.

 

[misfitsailor]

Thanks for your reply. The one duck is a little more presentable now, but her wing tips still hang low often, and some feathers still look wet. The other 4 ducks continue to look picture perfect. I hope this duck is just a late bloomer, and that this will pass.

 

[Amiga]

I wonder if carefully holding the duck's body so that her wings are free, then walking along letting her flap her wings as if she is flying might strengthen her wings. I would not do this for more than a minute at a time - don't want to exhaust her. It helped one of my ducks who had droopy wings when we got her. She was a year old at the time.

 

[misfitsailor]

Now the wings don't droop, but the tips stick upwards at weird angles. The wings stay like this all the time. Is this a deformity? The other Cayuga looks perfect. 8 1/2 weeks old now. Here are a couple of fresh photos.

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[cayugaducklady]

Hi,

I'm not an experienced duck keeper.

That looks like angel wing. From what I've read about it it can treated or reduced in severity.

There are some threads about it on this forum.

 

[misfitsailor]

Thank you! Now I know what I am up against.

 

[Orca5094]

Yes, definitely angel wing. You should be able to fix it in a bird this young, but you need to wrap it right away. Lots of information about angel wing and how to wrap wings here if you do a quick search.