Angel wing in ducks, & how we wrap to mend it - Pictorial

[ktduck]

Hey there,
Thought I would update you on the wing issue with sir Francis. I didn't end up wrapping it, I was thinking after all the info I received that it was just a heavy new wing. And thankfully he has grown out of it and his wing is perfect now! Woohoo! My ducks are 8 weeks now, and they have become a little skittish, but still lovely and enjoy being outside now

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hey there,
Thought I would update you on the wing issue with sir Francis. I didn't end up wrapping it, I was thinking after all the info I received that it was just a heavy new wing. And thankfully he has grown out of it and his wing is perfect now! Woohoo! My ducks are 8 weeks now, and they have become a little skittish, but still lovely and enjoy being outside now

Glad to hear his wing worked it self out. Yep they go through some standoffish episodes but if you keep spending time with them and offer treats they come back around. and don't forget to post pics of them.

 

[jhause]

Iain, he sounds fine. I know you will check it often and be aware if something is off.

Gossiped, sorry to say yes 8 months is far too old. Luckily it shouldn't effect him as long as he isn't in a confined cage.

I have a domestic wood duck that has angel wing and I want to say that the duck is roughly 1 1/2 months old, so is it to late to try and fix the wing?

 

[Tivona]

I have 3 ducklings that will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. One is developing angel wing. I first saw it yesterday just starting to tip out. Today its most definitely flopping out to far. Three days ago it was fine, just heavy from blood. So this is very recent, hopefully making this all more likely to be fixed. I have cut the protein for them to hopefully stop anymore problems from developing but tomorrow I will be wrapping.

I have the vet wrap. Duck tape for securing the ends if it looks like the end will pull up. An assistant to help make this all possible. Scissors. Any additional tips or items I should know about?

Last time I had to wrap a duck it was because one got a bumble on a foot a couple of years back. I used vet wrap but the duck pulled it off till I added the duck tape. Not sure here how well vet wrap will stay on for a week. Anyone know if ducklings pull it off? Anything I am missing? Any tips on the wrapping itself?

 

[Tivona]

Update: All three ducklings have angel wing. I have never seen this in any of my birds before. I got these duckings from a friend and I am guessing the parents are both genetic carriers for this. Another thing that might be part of the problem is that these little guys/gals didn't like to forage. I have only seen them peck at a few blades of grass. They ignored anything green I tried giving them. Fruit was a no too. My guess is that between the genetics giving a predisposition and them only wanting to eat the mash I gave them, they got to much protein pushing it into a problem. All my other ducklings in the past got the same stuff for feed but they liked to forage more and they came from other places and different breeds so different genetics as well. I currently have goslings that are the same age and getting the same feed as these ducklings and the goslings have not even a hint of angel wing on any of them, but they like to forage so they balance any protein needs. These little ducklings now have a much reduced protein mash because they just don't like to eat their vegetables. I have cut it with oats and minced up grass and kale mixed right into the mash. Now they have to eat the greens.

So I tried wrapping the wings but have had some problems getting it right. Either to tight or the ducklings pull it off. I finally found this video that shows how to wrap the wings. It seems to be working so far but I may switch to the nylons method. They got wrapped last night. I had to remove the wrapping this morning to correct it and today I can already see a difference. Much less tipped out. Still my wrapping needs some work but the video really helped me. It was a bit hard for me to find it so I am posting it so it may hopefully help others. Anyone try the nylons to wrap? How did you cut them?

 

[ahchick1]

The left wing on my Magpie drake (he's about 4 1/2 weeks old) is sticking out a little and I suspect angle wing. I'm inserting some photos to see if others agree. He is the black and white one:




Does that look like angle wing? The photos aren't the best. It is most obvious when he's laying down... the lower left pin feathers definitely stick straight up on the left side. Maybe I should just give it a few more days.

They're eating flock raiser... I'll see about lowering the protein.

Thanks.

 

[Duck Drover]

I had a Call duck with a broken wing last year and I had to tape it so it would not dangle. What I used was paper tape from the Dollar Tree. By the time the tape came loose, the wing was healed. I use paper tape for anything on birds that requires taping because it is cheap, non-toxic, and biodegradable. I personally have not found the vet wrap to be as easy to use.

 

[KatiPc]

I saw that 8 months is too old, how about 16 weeks? My female has it on both wings and my male just seems to be on one.

 

[Duck Drover]

It would not hurt to try. I have an older Call drake that had angel wing when I got him and I wrapped it. The wing is still wrapped so I donkt know if it will hold but I figured it was worth trying.

 

[sunnyfishy]

Whoa, I didn't even know what angel was til yesterday! I had wondered the past week what was up with one of our young pekins (they're about 6 weeks old now), and one of our males has one wing doing this. We've been calling him Wonky Wing, just thinking it was an odd duck trait. Now I read the whole thread about this and may try the wrap, but I don't want to worry he'll get picked on by my alpha pekin who can be very aggressive at times.

Is this a thing we have to do? I didn't see anywhere that it's causing pain, but I'd hate to think we could fix it if it *needed* fixing and we didn't. I guess we'll be adjusting their diets according to suggestions on here, but our ducks do free range, so it's funny only 1 of 10 ducks has this issue.