Cracked bill

[BelovedBirds]

Dougie cracked her bill today, I dont know how and thats what concerns me the most. I went out to check on her and she looked like this, also she had a few drops of blood on her neck feathers and one leg. I believe this is all from her beak as I found no other injuries after looking thoroughly.
The worst part is that 10 minutes after I noticed this, I saw a RAT in my duck pen, WITH the ducks in. I thought my pen was pretty predator proof and yesterday i even added heavy big concrete slabs over the mesh skirt all the way around the pen. I think there must be some kind of gap or weakened mesh where the rat got in, I will be going through everything with a fine tooth pick, and fixing whatever was wrong.
My main question is could a rat have done this to Dougie? Seems an awful coincidence to have the two issues arise not only on the same day but within the same hour. After seeing the rat, I obviously terrified it away, I waited out of sight and it came immediately back. Humane rat trap is on the way. But is that the culprit or did she just bash her bill on something?

Also Im wondering what I can do for my poor girl, AVC in the water? I have this type, how much should I put in a half gallon water bucket?
Anything else I should be doing?
@Miss Lydia @Quatie

 

[Anime2lover]

@casportpony

Any advice here?

 

[Quatie]

Poor thing. Mostly you want to keep it clean and keep an eye on it for any infection. You can put some bacitracin on it to help prevent a bacterial infection. Most of the time these cracks heal fairly well.

It is definitely possible for a rat to have done this. They do have a very strong bite. It is also possible she panicked and got caught on something.

Rats tunnel really well. Unless you have a slab floor, they are pretty hard to keep out. Also if their head can fit, the rest of their body can go through the hole as well.

 

[ruthhope]

Dougie cracked her bill today, I dont know how and thats what concerns me the most. I went out to check on her and she looked like this, also she had a few drops of blood on her neck feathers and one leg. I believe this is all from her beak as I found no other injuries after looking thoroughly.
The worst part is that 10 minutes after I noticed this, I saw a RAT in my duck pen, WITH the ducks in. I thought my pen was pretty predator proof and yesterday i even added heavy big concrete slabs over the mesh skirt all the way around the pen. I think there must be some kind of gap or weakened mesh where the rat got in, I will be going through everything with a fine tooth pick, and fixing whatever was wrong.
My main question is could a rat have done this to Dougie? Seems an awful coincidence to have the two issues arise not only on the same day but within the same hour. After seeing the rat, I obviously terrified it away, I waited out of sight and it came immediately back. Humane rat trap is on the way. But is that the culprit or did she just bash her bill on something?

Also Im wondering what I can do for my poor girl, AVC in the water? I have this type, how much should I put in a half gallon water bucket?
Anything else I should be doing?
@Miss Lydia @Quatie

Poor Dougie.

I don't know how that bill injury occured. I would have thought that there would be puncture wounds with a rat bite. But I don't know that I am only speculating
The bill will heal up. Be assured of that. You might clean it up by swabbing it with saline water. Then keep Dougie close by and with only clean drinking water in a deep container for a few days as shared kiddie pools and the like get too dirty too quickly. With lots of clean drinking water [with or without ACV] that bill will heal.

With injuries and eye infections and the like, I keep my ducks in a dogcrate in the house for a couple of days until the infection or wound is healing. That way I can be sure how much the duck is eating and that the wound is getting better.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Poor thing. Mostly you want to keep it clean and keep an eye on it for any infection. You can put some bacitracin on it to help prevent a bacterial infection. Most of the time these cracks heal fairly well.

It is definitely possible for a rat to have done this. They do have a very strong bite. It is also possible she panicked and got caught on something.

Rats tunnel really well. Unless you have a slab floor, they are pretty hard to keep out. Also if their head can fit, the rest of their body can go through the hole as well.

Thanks for the reply!
she's such an angel, sat quietly on my lap while I put it on her. I can see it hurts her, but she's being very good. I'll keep an extra close eye on her for the next few days and make sure its healing okay

 

[BelovedBirds]

Poor Dougie.

I don't know how that bill injury occured. I would have thought that there would be puncture wounds with a rat bite. But I don't know that I am only speculating
The bill will heal up. Be assured of that. You might clean it up by swabbing it with saline water. Then keep Dougie close by and with only clean drinking water in a deep container for a few days as shared kiddie pools and the like get too dirty too quickly. With lots of clean drinking water [with or without ACV] that bill will heal.

With injuries and eye infections and the like, I keep my ducks in a dogcrate in the house for a couple of days until the infection or wound is healing. That way I can be sure how much the duck is eating and that the wound is getting better.

I thought the same, and she'll be staying inside with her sister for a couple days, they still have their old indoor pen which is nice and big but will keep them close and mean I can ensure the water stays clean throughout the day. I figured this would also give me a chance to trap the rat/figure out how its getting in so that I can be confident of their safety.
I dont see any puncture wounds, and I checked the underside of her bill too- but it wouldnt surprise me if she got spooked by the rat and then bashed herself on the corner of their house or something like that upon running away.
Thanks for your reassurance! I'm still learning with my girls and days like this I feel like a pretty terrible duck mum!

 

[ruthhope]

Dougie cracked her bill today, I dont know how and thats what concerns me the most. I went out to check on her and she looked like this, also she had a few drops of blood on her neck feathers and one leg. I believe this is all from her beak as I found no other injuries after looking thoroughly.
The worst part is that 10 minutes after I noticed this, I saw a RAT in my duck pen, WITH the ducks in. I thought my pen was pretty predator proof and yesterday i even added heavy big concrete slabs over the mesh skirt all the way around the pen. I think there must be some kind of gap or weakened mesh where the rat got in, I will be going through everything with a fine tooth pick, and fixing whatever was wrong.
My main question is could a rat have done this to Dougie? Seems an awful coincidence to have the two issues arise not only on the same day but within the same hour. After seeing the rat, I obviously terrified it away, I waited out of sight and it came immediately back. Humane rat trap is on the way. But is that the culprit or did she just bash her bill on something?

Also Im wondering what I can do for my poor girl, AVC in the water? I have this type, how much should I put in a half gallon water bucket?
Anything else I should be doing?
@Miss Lydia @Quatie

I just rat proofed my duck coop as I have had a rat running round. The first rat that got into the coop -- likely through the open door during the day -- was killed by one of my muscovy. The second rat I saw going into the coop during the day when I was leaving food in the coop for the ducks and leaving the door open. So I no longer leave the door open during the day.

My coop has half inch hardware cloth underneath it but only had one inch wire for the sides. I have added half inch hardware cloth over the sides to 4 feet height. The door is well fitted and so there is no way a rat can now get in there except when the door is open.

Can you ensure that you have half inch hardware cloth under your coop [unless it has a sold slab floor] and round the sides? Can you ensure that there are no gaps round the door?

 

[ruthhope]

I thought the same, and she'll be staying inside with her sister for a couple days, they still have their old indoor pen which is nice and big but will keep them close and mean I can ensure the water stays clean throughout the day. I figured this would also give me a chance to trap the rat/figure out how its getting in so that I can be confident of their safety.
I dont see any puncture wounds, and I checked the underside of her bill too- but it wouldnt surprise me if she got spooked by the rat and then bashed herself on the corner of their house or something like that upon running away.
Thanks for your reassurance! I'm still learning with my girls and days like this I feel like a pretty terrible duck mum!

Not a terrible duck mum!! Out in the wild ducks injure themselves. We can't keep them cocooned!! I agree that she likely hit her bill against something hard.

I have had no luck trapping rats near my coop. My husband has occasionally put out a snap rat trap but it is difficult to place it where it will not hit other wildlife in the back yard. It worked when we had rats in our shed where there were no anxieties about other wildlife. Plus the rats round here seem to be out during the day and I cannot have a snap rat trap out while the ducks are free ranging. My neighbour made a "live trap" using an upright glass tank and white plumbing pipe. I had to put peanut butter inside the pipe to entice the rats to run in the pipe and then fall down into the tank. I didn't catch any!

So I am working on reducing rat food availability by keeping the coop closed during the day and feeding the ducks on my patio. I then had a rat coming up onto the patio. When I changed over to serving ducky soup -- pellets dissolved in water so that the top layer is very liquid -- the rats stopped coming. The ducks like ducky soup and get the food up from the bottom, but the rats aren't interested in the watery top layer. That works well until one of the big feet stands on the bowl and tips it over. The sludge rapidly dries out and would then be attractive to the rats. So far, I have seen the upset and been able to dash out and clean it up and hose the patio down

 

[BelovedBirds]

I just rat proofed my duck coop as I have had a rat running round. The first rat that got into the coop -- likely through the open door during the day -- was killed by one of my muscovy. The second rat I saw going into the coop during the day when I was leaving food in the coop for the ducks and leaving the door open. So I no longer leave the door open during the day.

My coop has half inch hardware cloth underneath it but only had one inch wire for the sides. I have added half inch hardware cloth over the sides to 4 feet height. The door is well fitted and so there is no way a rat can now get in there except when the door is open.

Can you ensure that you have half inch hardware cloth under your coop [unless it has a sold slab floor] and round the sides? Can you ensure that there are no gaps round the door?

The pen has wire around it, I think less than an inch, but seemingly still not fine enough- I'm going to the store tomorrow morning to get finer mesh, so I can put it all the way around the sides so that should be okay- I'm pretty certain after having a little dig around that it got in under the door somehow, Theres a slight gap between the bottom of the door and the rail and mesh going underneath, not sure how I'm going to fix that, but I'll make sure its entirely secure before they go back out. I dont want to risk anything.
I guess sometimes it takes an experience like yours or mine to show us the weaknesses in our housing!
At least I know now so that nothing more serious happens.
I always like to be as considerate to nature as I can be, but I cant lie, I'd feel better having a muscovy like yours around! I think my dogs had kept the rats away for months, but Ive recently put a wire barrier up to keep them from this side of the yard- I suppose that didn't help.

 

[Quatie]

If you are going to get rid of rats, I have had success with live traps. And sadly you do have rats, not one. We kill them after we trap them. The snap traps are too easy for them to avoid or learn not to go near them. You may not catch the adults though. They are very smart. I am not as big of a fan of poison because they go and die somewhere you don't want them to. Plus you have a poisoned animal something else could eat or your birds potentially too.