Hi everyone, It's been a while since I made a post but my wife and I bought our chickens and ducks last year and on the whole everything is going well and we have had some egg production from everybody!!! The problem we have is this: We bought 2 ducks Miki a black Swedish and Niki an Appleyard unfortunately Niki has bumble foot on one pad causing her to walk with a limp. The breeder who sold them to us said she just had picked up a bruise knocked £5 off the price and told us it would heal up soon, we didn't know any better. Since then a neighbour diagnosed what it was but the vet we took her to said if he went in to remove it chances are he'd only make things worse and if she fed OK and laid OK then she would be happy enough which she is. Unfortunately Miki is quite the dominating feather pecking one. And it's not just one or two feathers she really will go for Niki especially down the flanks until she becomes quite bald, as well as jumping on her back as an apparent act of lesbianism. We've added protein to their feed and separated Miki and Niki on more than one occasion as advised but all to no avail. Most recently leaving Niki with our two hens which she was quite happy waddling about with her limp. Whilst forking out £300+ for Miki to have her own private pen but all this did was leave Miki feeling lonely and she stopped laying. (On one occasion we did have to put her back in with rest of the girls whilst the new pen became like a Star Trek sick bay for one of our hens suffering with Coccidiosis but she recovered Miki started the bullying again so we stuck her back in the pen again). The point being we've tried the traditional separation for a few weeks (or even more recently, months) and had no success as well as other recommendations. I don't want to sell or neck either bird their both good layers with wonderful characters. Would I be better off buying a new duck male or female adding it to the group as a whole or separating Miki again and putting the new bird in with her in the new pen. We would gratefully appreciate anyone taking the time to answer. Tom and Ali.
Hi, Tom / Ali and welcome to BYC. I know squat about ducks, so I'd say your best place to post your question in the duck forum - https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks Good luck CT
Greetings, fluffchucker, and ! Pleased you joined our community! I agree with the advice of CTKen - the ducks people really know their quackers! Best of luck to you and your ducks!
I haven't any experience with ducks but I have had chickens with bumble foot and it does not clear up on it's own. If you use the search box for bumble foot, you'll find numerous posts on how to treat it (I went the surgical route myself and it wasn't as tough to do as I feared). Best of luck to you, thanks for joining us.
Welcome to BYC! Sorry to hear about your duck problems. Getting another duck or two might help get Miki's attention off Niki. I don't really know enough about ducks to be able to help, unfortunately, but the good people over at the Ducks forum should. Mounting is a common act that shows dominance in animals of both genders. Glad you joined us!
I agree with NFC - bumble foot can be treated . Maybe your vet isn't that eager or knowledgeable to do so. Please check out "Bumble foot " by putting the name in the search box, there should be a lot of information to go over. She is probably getting attacked because she is showing a disability. Birds often peck and try to kill those that are not UP to Par. When she recovers fully, she should be able to integrate with the flock. If Miki still delights in tormenting her, I would either rehome her, or put her in a separate pen.
