Angel Wing Continued?

[JenniferK]

Some helpful people here identified my little duck's problem as angel wing, so I taped them until the tape fell off after about 2 days and the wings looked better. Then they started to slump again, so I re-taped for about 3 days and then they looked great. Now some of the feathers look really funky and I don't know if it's the angel wing problem, or if maybe the developed wrong because of the tape -- it's like the shaft is actually bent. Should I tape it again to get it tucked under?

Before tape:

During:

After:

Now:

 

[bt03]

It is just the shaft that is bent? It sounds like it was bent during taping so I bet it will be ok when she molts and gets new feathers.

 

[70%cocoa]

Looking at the taping pics it does seem as if some of the higher up feathers were bent out a bit (not a problem I would have thought) so I tend to agree that it's just a feather that went a bit wonky with the taping but that will come good after moulting.

I have seen on another forum pics and discussion of a goose that had a single twisted feather (and not a Sebastopol goose either which is meant to have lots of twisty feathers). It seemed from that discussion that now and then you can get a wonky feather that persistently grows in a twisted way. In the case of that goose the feather was actually upside down right from the shaft, not just twisted half way along. Is the feather on your duck twisted from halfway or does it look the wrong way right from where it joins the bird? If it's only part way along the feather then I'd bet that it's temporary.

I've also seen on chickens that if chicks are fed very high protein diet while their feathers are forming then they can stick out for a while (until a moult) but this tends to be groups of feathers, not just one isolated one.

It looks like you have done a nice job of fixing the angel wing!

Would you mind posting another pic once your bird has had another moult? Would be great to know the outcome

 

[JenniferK]

From what I can tell without pinning her down to really get a close look, it's just bent in the shaft, although when I tuck the end of her wing up and under, it hides the problem. It just doesn't stay that way.

Oh well, we'll see what happens when she (or he?) moults. Do you have any idea how long I'll have to wait for that to happen? I'd be glad to post another photo if I can remember by then.

By the way, the video link on taping for angel wing that someone pointed me to when I posted the original problem was indispensable. I don't know how common angel wing is, but I was wondering if that link should be in the sticky posts.

 

[Horsefly]

love love love your duck, where did she come from? It looks to me like a loose feather. How long has it been there? I notice sometimes my chickens will get a twisted flight feather when they are molting and it just gets out of place but isn't quite ready to fall out yet. It will usually come out in a couple days. It doesn't seem to me like it was related to the taping because she was fine for awhile after the tape came off. Good job on correcting the angel wing.

 

[JenniferK]

The feather has been getting funkier and funkier over the last week I would say. It seems to look worse as it grows.

Thanks, Horsefly. We actually picked up a pair of Black East Indies from someone who needed to find homes (they had about 20) and the female managed to hatch this one and one other that died the first day. She pretty much abandoned this baby, so we raised it alone and gave it tons of attention. Last night was the first night it slept outside with the other ducks. In the beginning the father would chase it but yesterday they all (including my 3 full-size ducks) seemed to be a big happy family, so I thought it was time. I think it was much harder on me than on her! But she still came in and sat on my lap for a while this morning, so I'm happy now.