Do I have to tape angel wing?

[JulieNKC]

I think one of my anconas has angel wing. Does this just affect their ability to fly? I would rather not tape it if it doesn't hurt them, I'm afraid my chickens might peck at it if I try. I feed them 50/50 all purpose poultry and gamebird starter. I just got the anconas and pekins a few weeks ago, so don't know if what they ate before would affect them feathering out now or what. They get pes occasionaly, but only a bag every 3 days or so between 5 ducks and 12 chickens (who don't like the peas but will eat them if the ducks are just because). Other than that they are pretty shy so don't really get to many treats like the chickens.
So is it just cosmetic? Is there anything I should do?
Oops, forgot my pic, lol. Duck on the right, left wing.

 

[70%cocoa]

It looks like angel wing. If you want the wing to sit normally then you will need to tape it. But it is purely a cosmetic thing, although it will also prevent the bird from flying as well. If you do nothing it will not hurt the bird. The only risk with doing nothing is that the other birds might pick at the exposed pin feathers and later, as an adult, the wing may get caught on stuff because the feathers stick out - but that is pretty unlikely to be a real issue and you can clip the feathers if it does seem to be a problem (depends on how much it sticks out). Just keep an eye on whether or not the other birds are pecking at it - if they have plenty of room to run around in they are unlikely to show interest in the wing.

How old are your birds now? They don't need to be on a starter feed anymore - that's only for ducks up to a few weeks old. Switch to a grower feed - something with about 15 or 16% protein. Peas are very good for them as a treat and nutritious too.

 

[JulieNKC]

Not sure how old they are. The game bird food is starter/grower. I can switch them to just the all purpose poultry feed if that would be better for them. So I can feed them more peas? I didn't want to give them too many, but they are working great for getting my ducks to like me.

They have 2 fenced in acres they free range on during the day, so they get lots of bugs and greens too.

 

[70%cocoa]

If the feed has been developed for birds of this age and the protein level is not too high (too high is over 17% as a ball-park figure) then it should be fine. You are giving them other things too so that will cut the protein if the feed is high. If they are just getting their flight feathers now I'd say they are somewhere around 6 weeks old.

I go through a bag (a pound or 500grams) a day between 8 full grown ducks. Like you, I use the peas to get the ducks to move to where I want them, and as a taming tool. You are not overdoing it on the peas at the moment. They would probably be fine with more. Try varying it a bit with Chinese/Asian greens like bok choy (mine love that too).