Any idea what is wrong with my duck's leg?

[Miss Lydia]

That doesn’t look to bad actually. Hopefully this is going to keep going now and she’ll heal completely . I was just able to let my Runner out of her X pen a couple days ago it’s been 3 weeks and she didn’t have swelling or bruising. Your on the right track. That bruising and swelling has to be from an injury wouldn’t you think?

 

[boxermizer]

I'm guessing its from some kind of injury, but it didn't look like that when I first quarantined her. So I'm guessing, after thinking about it more, that she hurt it in the pen I had her in for a while. Now I'm putting her in this makeshift pen outside during the day (that my son and husband built as a fort ) and a dog kennel in the shop at night. She definitely hasn't given up. She's going about business as usual except for the limp and not moving about much. I did some research on food (primarily for my chickens, I have 11 and I get 1 egg every few days, I think from the same chicken) to see if I can get them to lay better. So instead of pellets, I made my own mix of oats, corn, sunflower seeds, mealworms and diatomaceous earth (I'll probably add some alfalfa, I forgot about it today). Anyway, I mixed up a batch intending to feed it to the chickens tonight but it got dark before I was done. But I gave a handful to the duck and she gobbled it up like crazy, even though she had a bowl of food that she wasn't eating out of at the moment. She just wants to be with the other ducks, so I hope the healing speeds up a bit. Plus, its going to get cold here soon and I'm not going to be as thrilled to be pampering her.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any leg injury takes time just be careful not to let her out too soon I made that mistake with my Runner an had to put her back in the xpen for 3 more days now she is out running with the rest. Are you giving her b complex it really does help! Your only adding your homemade to what your already feeding? It’s very hard to make up a well balanced feed for our birds but you can go on Metzers web site and read about it if interested! I hope in the next few weeks you see full recovery!

 

[boxermizer]

So, this poor duck's ankle is just not getting any better. I have to admit I haven't been good at putting her in water regularly. Its been fairly cold here for me to be messing with water outside, plus I was guessing warmish water would be best and I felt like it looked worse when I left her in it while running some errands one day and a super cold hard wind blew up, I wondered if she'd gotten too cold. I know ducks are cold hard and the water wasn't frozen, but her body sure felt cold. I finally thought today to put her tub in our spare shower while my husband is at work (he's not keen on animals in the house). And I could do this daily, when I'm home.

Question 1: is there any time limit on how long I can leave her in the water? She's not trying to get out. I'll hear her splashing around then she'll be real quiet for a while, then back to splashing. She feels cold to me even though she's in the house and she's in luke warm water, but maybe that's just how she feels to me. She is a duck afterall.

Question 2: is there any infection that looks like this? I don't understand why it slowly looking worse (albeit, its seemed to get worse on a couple specific occasions), unless it is broken. She's still eating and drinking just fine and laying an egg occasionally (its winter and the other ducks aren't laying much either). She tries just as hard as ever to get away from me when I move her inside/outside every day and has even gotten more clever with her tricks.

A friend suggested adding some herbs to help support her body with whatever and she seems to love them. 1 tablespoon of calendula/comfrey blend and 1 tablespoon of nettles/raspberry leaf/oat straw/alfalfa blend. I've been giving this to her daily since last Friday. My friend also suggested Prid. I wrapped it for close to 24 hours yesterday with no sign of improvement. Probably needs longer. When the arnica blend homeopathic cream wasn't helping, I picked up something else at Tractor Supply (don't recall, its in the barn), but after a week or so, no improvement with that either. I'm still putting arnica in her water along with the vitamins that are high in B's. I'm also still adding nutritional yeast to her food. Between the two, I feel something is causing her feathers to tinge orange. I don't suppose this will hurt anything??? In addition, her food is pellets with a handful of oats/whole corn/sunflower seeds/oyster shell/diatomaceous earth/meal worms blend (I made for my chickens, but she LOVES it).

I purchase an epsom salt poultice at Tractor Supply (https://www.statelinetack.com/item/...BG_pOeeUmCsSt0DcrKtbugG2Sk80L-5BoC9YIQAvD_BwE) and had planned to use it, but was trying the other things first. I'm going to use this today after I get her out of the water. Any thoughts on this? What's wrong? What direction I should take from here? Anything else?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am going to have to look for that Epsom salt gel that looks like a good product.

If your going to let her soak in water it should be nice an warm not luke warm being warm water is going to help relax the muscles and warmth plus using the ES gel can help bring down inflammation. I would not put her in water an leave her don't let her chill. Feel her legs and feet to make sure she isn't chilled. She is a duck yes but if she isn't well having her in cold water is not going to help. Can you post pics of her leg again? Since your saying she is worse. I don't know what your temps are outside but bringing her inside and outside can be detrimental to her health too. Changes in temps.

 

[casportpony]

What type of food does she get and is she laying eggs?

 

[boxermizer]

I will try to take more pictures tomorrow. I wondered about the in and out, differences in temperatures, but I don't know where/how to let her soak if I don't bring her in the house. Its just so cold outside and the water would be cold in no time. Plus, in the house I can keep a closer eye on her. We don't keep it super warm, 68 is the warmest, but its still considerably warmer than the last several days. She is staying in the barn/shop at night and its not getting below freezing in there because we keep heaters on to keep the water pipes from freezing. If its nice outside (above freezing and sunny), I move her outside so she can get some sun and see her friends who are still very concerned about her , when I don't have her soaking.

 

[boxermizer]

I feed Nutrena All Flock to the ducks, plus I've been giving her a handful of the oats/whole corn/sunflower seeds/oyster shell/diatomaceous earth/meal worms blend twice a day. She also gets a vitamin supplement (contains a probiotic) in her water and nutritional yeast on her food.

 

[Miss Lydia]

All flock is a good diet for water fowl and all poultry. Is she laying?

 

[boxermizer]

I took a picture of her leg when it was looking worse, but I never got around to posting it.

She only lays once in a while, but my other 2 aren't laying any better. I'm guessing because of the cold or because they are separated and aren't happy about that.

HOWEVER, I have good news. Several days ago it finally started looking like the swelling is going down and she's walking better. Its continuing to go down, but at a very slow rate. But she is also very feisty and so very smart and clever. She wants to be with her pals so bad. This morning she dumped her water and I thought surely she wouldn't get out in the few seconds it would take me refill her jar. But before I got halfway to the hydrant she'd flow up and out of the opening I'd left. Thankfully I cornered and caught her pretty quickly. Her exit was completely blocked by her shelter, which required flying over and she KNEW I'd left the gate down. She was just waiting for me to make a mistake like this. I am amazed at how smart they are. And yesterday I saw the male laying right beside her on the other side of the fence. They miss each other so much, but I'm so worried her leg will get damaged again if I put them together anytime soon. Once the swelling goes away and she doesn't have any limp, I plan to put her with the other females, but lock the males up for a week or so. They are going to be distraught for several more weeks I expect. But I want her leg strong before I mix the sexes.