Broken leg

[Lamia143]

New to raising ducks. My Howard, a Pekin, broke a leg yesterday. Age I'm guessing is 3 months-ish. What I read told me to put him down. Is he really in misery? I brought him in the house. Kept him warm. He WAS drinking, and eating. I had to put him in tub today cuz he spilled his water and it mixed in with his poop and the straw, and he was a mess... he sooo enjoyed the water.... even though he couldn't move like he wanted.. ;( right now he's under a heated blanket on my lap.... what can I do? Do I wrap his leg so it don't flop around? Do I leave it? Can I give him pain medication? I have Ibuprofen, Meloxicam, Gabapentin, Tylenol??
Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Mo_fawaazzz]

M

New to raising ducks. My Howard, a Pekin, broke a leg yesterday. Age I'm guessing is 3 months-ish. What I read told me to put him down. Is he really in misery? I brought him in the house. Kept him warm. He WAS drinking, and eating. I had to put him in tub today cuz he spilled his water and it mixed in with his poop and the straw, and he was a mess... he sooo enjoyed the water.... even though he couldn't move like he wanted.. ;( right now he's under a heated blanket on my lap.... what can I do? Do I wrap his leg so it don't flop around? Do I leave it? Can I give him pain medication? I have Ibuprofen, Meloxicam, Gabapentin, Tylenol??
Any advice is much appreciated.

my pekin, Chungus, also broke his leg, and he was unable to keep up with the rest of the flock. My pekins were the only birds in my flock that had some random sort of health problem. Chungus had a broken leg and my other pekin had obesity and teary eyes. I invited all my pekins to dinner and I keep more active breeds like mallards now.

Pekins are meat breeds and are not good active foragers. Try taking him to the vet, but its not good to keep a dangling leg since then his entire leg could get infected. I suggest either you put him down or take him to the vet to amputate his leg (however you will have to bathe him and feed him daily, and make sure he somehow gets his exercise).

 

[azygous]

Have you ever taken basic first aid? Assuming you are correctly diagnosing the leg issue as a break, you would immobilize it so further injury doesn't occur. If it's a compound fracture, the bone would need to be set so normal healing can occur. If it's just a simple fracture, keeping the duck immobilized will encourage healing. Such injuries can take four to six weeks to heal.

 

[Eggcessive]

Tagging @Miss Lydia for help. What part of the leg was broken?

 

[Miss Lydia]

2.8 GIVING PAIN KILLERS
If you need offer your bird some pain relief after a sprain or strain, you can give her some baby aspirin. Never use Ibuprophen (Advil) or Acetominophin (Tylenol). These drugs are harmful to poultry. Buffered aspirin only. Aspirin can help to relieve inflammation, swelling and pain.

Large fowl of 5 to 7 pounds would be given 1/2 of a baby aspirin once a day or a 1/4 of an adult aspirin. You can break up the aspirin into small pieces and stuff them in raisins. The birds will never know they are being medicated.
these are from @TwoCrows

 

[Miss Lydia]

2.8 GIVING PAIN KILLERS
If you need offer your bird some pain relief after a sprain or strain, you can give her some baby aspirin. Never use Ibuprophen (Advil) or Acetominophin (Tylenol). These drugs are harmful to poultry. Buffered aspirin only. Aspirin can help to relieve inflammation, swelling and pain.

Large fowl of 5 to 7 pounds would be given 1/2 of a baby aspirin once a day or a 1/4 of an adult aspirin. You can break up the aspirin into small pieces and stuff them in raisins. The birds will never know they are being medicated.
these are from @TwoCrows

Occasionally a bird may sprain or strain a tendon while jumping or flying down from some high place. You will notice the bird limping however the bird has no open wounds anywhere along the leg up to the hip. Feel the foot and leg for heat and minor swelling. Generally just limping and heat are the only indication of a sprain or strain.

The best treatment is to keep the bird in a small cage for a couple of weeks or until they have healed. Those large wire dog crates work really well set up as hospital cages and separation units. Keep food and water close at hand so they do not have to go far. The less they are on their feet and legs, the faster they can heal.

If by chance the bird has broken their leg, (the leg is dangling off the bird) I would suggest taking the bird to a qualified Avian Vet first before trying to attempt fixing yourself. A vet can do an x-ray and know exactly the full extent of the break. However if taking the bird to a vet is not an option, you can either put the bird down or try and fix it yourself. I do suggest you never keep a bird alive that is not able to be treated or is in extreme pain. Always put them down in a humane manner.

You will need to make a split out of some stiff material like Popsicle sticks or a fly swatter. The leg will need to be set in the right position for proper healing. The leg will be wrapped up with vet wrap or some sort of sports type wrap around these splints. If there is open flesh and wounds, these will also need to be treated.

I have never done this, so I am going to leave you with a link here on BYC to a thread where someone has successfully done this.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/659231/how-to-treat-a-broken-leg
Also from @TwoCrows

I hope he can be helped but it may depend on what type of break he has?
https://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf