Blind Duckling?

[LCasselman]

I'm about 90% sure one of my Rouen ducklings is blind. He doesn't flinch or move away like the others do when approached by a person, he walks into walls and falls off the ramp into the kiddie pool. He seems to be managing to find the food and water, but he's always separated from the rest of the group. They're almost ready to leave the box/heat lamp and go solo into the pond area and I'm worried about him. Thoughts?

 

[Debs Flock]

Oh, that makes me sad. Wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but I've never heard of such a thing. Maybe you can do a search on here for blind duck. I'll tag some of our many helpful members and maybe they can offer advice.

@Amiga
@Miss Lydia
@needlessjunk

No other names are coming to mind, but you'll get some guidance soon, I bet.

 

[Amiga]

If he has vision problems the pond is the last place I would put him*. Even sighted domestic ducks can get into fatal trouble in ponds (I am speaking in general terms here, not knowing your exact setup). Ponds attract predators and open water gives raptors a straight shot.

If you can have a vet look at him - that would be good.

Is there a way you can take a closeup of his eye? I am wondering if there is something going on with the nictitating membrane.

*and I don't think you'd do that

 

[needlessjunk]

I think a vet is a good place to start. I would want to know if the poor little thing is going to have to be a special duck and come inside. I know some people have the ability to make it work and I don't know if you can. I personally cannot and would have to look into the quality of life that kind of duck would have.

 

[LCasselman]

Thanks for the advice! I looked into house ducks, but there's no way I could manage that. We have small kids in the house. Our setup is a pond with about 20' of grass surrounding it, and all that fenced in. There's a greenhouse that is set into the fence, with a duck door in it, so that's their warm and dry area. They're not in there here yet though, right now they're in a box with a heat lamp in the garage at night and during the day they have a kiddie pool with a small grass area barricaded for them. With ramps in and out of the pool. The blind duck gets along really well currently. She swims around the pool, bumps into the edges, finds the ramp. She walks close to the ground and up the ramp, but she often falls off the side back into the water, or straight off the end onto the ground, rather than turning for the down ramp like the rest do. She mostly swims and then rests on the ramp. She's finding the food and water fine as she's growing along with the others and she seems to enjoy swimming as much as the rest and grooms herself. I'm hoping she may just learn to adapt and be ok, but once they move to the big pond (btw, what age can I do that move?) she might struggle. What's the best age to slaughter for meat if she's not going to make it? Wouldn't want her death to be in vain.

Thanks.

@Amiga
@needlessjunk