Curled up duck foot

[rlhbond]

My 3 day old blue cayuga had been doing fine. This morning there were no problems but this afternnon he was lame. His right foot is curled up and he is not able to walk on it. I could not find an obvious broken bone. When I move the foot it does not seem to distress him. I splinted it. Any idea what could cause this other than a broken bone?

 

[headred]

I just had a 5 week old Khaki get a lame foot. Seems like she hobbled around for a couple of days, sat in a corner a lot, and today is walking around, still a little hobbly. What I have read says to confine them if possible and they should be able to heal. I think they can be hurt easily, even running too fast or getting somewhat trampled by others. I am on the watch, wait and see what happens mentality right now. Good luck!

 

[rlhbond]

Thanks for the advice Headred. I think I'll take a wait and see approach also. I'd hate to put him down.

 

[dichotomymom]

THis happened with one of my chicks last year. I took a bandaid, spread his foot out properly, put the "cloth" part of it on the bottom, taped it for a few wks and he was cured.

 

[rlhbond]

That's encouraging. Thanks for the reply and feeback. I'll give the little guy a chance and see how he does.

 

[rlhbond]

UPDATE: We splinted the ducklings foot using a piece of a tongue depressor and self adhesive wrap. He had his foot out of the splint within 24 hrs with the first two splints. On day 3 we switched to plastic surgical tape and 1/2 a tongue depressor. We splayed the webbed foot and taped it to the depreesor. We left it on for 3 days and took it off to let him swim with the other ducks. His foot was no longer curled up and he was able to weight-bear. He still limps but he gets around much better. Looks like he is going to make it.

 

[dichotomymom]

YAY!!!!!