Drake Prolapse Amputation: Yea or Nay?

[boopsqueak]

I am beginning to wonder if he might have been pecked. Last night, we came out to find Flora the Cayuga a fluffy black-and-white ball of misery because she had been pecked near the eye, probably in a free-for-all over food. We put some eye drops in her eye, and she is now fine. Also, today, when we brought out some ham scraps for the chickens, one of them jumped several feet into the air to grab a piece I was holding when I wasn't looking!
If Bob was pecked, it might take a little while for the swelling to go down. Last summer, one of the chickens was pecked in the face, and though the peck mark was tiny, half of her face blew up and it took a few days for it to return to normal. If you looked at her from the front, her head was taller on one side! Luckily, it didn't seem to impact her ability to get around. If amputation is indeed required, I would prefer to do it if he was less swollen. Would scissors be able to cut through something that thick? I would be afraid of something going wrong and my not being able to make a clean cut! At any rate, I have been working on sharpening an old pair of scissors—making them razor sharp!
All things considered, however, Alligator Bob seems to be doing rather well. He bathes vigorously, and is eating normal food.
As for keeping drakes and chickens, I had always heard that the problem with keeping them together was that the drakes might injure the hens by trying to mate with them. We never had that problem with our drakes, as they tend to be less aggressive than drakes of some other breeds (Runners are supposed to be pretty wild, as are Anconas). They have a sufficient number of duck hens in the flock, and ignore the chickens. Sometimes Bob does annoy the chickens (pushing them out of the way, bopping them, or sneaking up behind them and neck-attacking them) but that is about the extent of it. The civil wars of their chick and duckling days are now over!

 

[Luv Ducks]

I am beginning to wonder if he might have been pecked. Last night, we came out to find Flora the Cayuga a fluffy black-and-white ball of misery because she had been pecked near the eye, probably in a free-for-all over food. We put some eye drops in her eye, and she is now fine. Also, today, when we brought out some ham scraps for the chickens, one of them jumped several feet into the air to grab a piece I was holding when I wasn't looking!
If Bob was pecked, it might take a little while for the swelling to go down. Last summer, one of the chickens was pecked in the face, and though the peck mark was tiny, half of her face blew up and it took a few days for it to return to normal. If you looked at her from the front, her head was taller on one side! Luckily, it didn't seem to impact her ability to get around. If amputation is indeed required, I would prefer to do it if he was less swollen. Would scissors be able to cut through something that thick? I would be afraid of something going wrong and my not being able to make a clean cut! At any rate, I have been working on sharpening an old pair of scissors—making them razor sharp!
All things considered, however, Alligator Bob seems to be doing rather well. He bathes vigorously, and is eating normal food.
As for keeping drakes and chickens, I had always heard that the problem with keeping them together was that the drakes might injure the hens by trying to mate with them. We never had that problem with our drakes, as they tend to be less aggressive than drakes of some other breeds (Runners are supposed to be pretty wild, as are Anconas). They have a sufficient number of duck hens in the flock, and ignore the chickens. Sometimes Bob does annoy the chickens (pushing them out of the way, bopping them, or sneaking up behind them and neck-attacking them) but that is about the extent of it. The civil wars of their chick and duckling days are now over!

My Mallard Drakes were terrible during mating season and I had to rehome all of them. So far I have not had a less aggressive drake with my 12 hens. When spring comes they have all been on the band wagon to do nothing but mate. I have a new drake that was born last August that is a snowy Mallard and I am praying that he is gentle with the girls. I have used only new sharp scissors and never tried to sharpen any so I am not sure how that would work out. You can give it time and see if it turns color or if it recedes. Hopefully it will be the later. My little Call Drake showed no signs of any problems at all and if the prolapse had not been noticed I would not have ever known he had a problem. Good luck with your decision.

 

[boopsqueak]

Oh, man! I'm glad we have well-behaved drakes! I hope your snowy Mallard will treat the girls well.
At this point, I'm thinking we might wait at least until tomorrow to see if anything changes with Bob. If the tissue starts to die, then it will be less painful to amputate it. If it recedes, great! When we checked him this evening, there was a small red dot that might be a peck mark.
I'm glad that we have an unfinished basement—today there was a pool party down there! The large brown duck in these pictures is Catriona. She was missing the drakes (and Magnolia) terribly and kept calling for them the whole time she was outside this afternoon. So we let her have a visit later on. She was delighted. She adores Bobbie. Bobbie merely likes her.

Bob and Catriona. When the basement inmates were put back in the brooders after their exercise time was over, poor Cat voiced her rage and disappointment loudly and in no uncertain terms!

 

[boopsqueak]

This evening, the swelling seems to have gone down a bit, but I'm not really sure. He seems to be in some discomfort, but he was active and lively otherwise.

 

[boopsqueak]

I'm sorry about not posting an update yesterday, I got a little sidetracked.
We found an avian specialist relatively close to us, and we are thinking of taking the Alligator in maybe tomorrow or Thursday. I looked at his penis the other day and it looks too weird for me to handle. The swelling extends into the vent, and I have no idea where I would cut it! It also seems to hurt him quite a bit if I touch it. There is still no necrosis forming yet, though, so I'm wondering if this is something antibiotics or a stronger anti-inflammatory could fix. I hope the whole penis doesn't have to be removed, because that can (but not always) cause pain and straining in the long run. I think that's usually done for more chronic cases, though, this may be infection-related. On another note, the place where I amputated before looks like it might be growing back, so I hope we can save it!
Poor Bobbie was pretty lethargic yesterday, but we gave him a shot of the Meloxicam and that did him a world of good! He got to go outside today, and ate a bit, flew a couple of times, and was very happy. He and Nelson were doing weird drake things all afternoon: swagger-puffing, wheezing and whistling, preening, and doing the "jackknife and zoom" routine (which is a much better name than "head-up-tail-up", which is birdwatchers' parlance). Call drakes must be very cute doing those things!
There were three, possibly four, hawks and a bald eagle flying uncomfortably close today. One of the hawks had his eye on our birds.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Be careful with the Hawks and Eagles close to your little Calls. Our neighbor had one pick up one of his chickens when he was only 6 feet away from it. He took off his shoe and thew it at it and it dropped it. He was lucky and it was a full sized chicken. I never knew they could do that even. I always watch mine when I let them out of the pen but lately with spring coming they have not been out as the hawks here are worse in the spring.

 

[boopsqueak]

Another delayed post, I'm sorry.
We tried contacting a couple of avian vets in the area. One is out of the office until next week, the other hasn't got back to me yet. I may end up skipping the vet route for Bob, at any rate.
I just can't believe how lively that little guy is. His prolapse looks terribly uncomfortable, yet it doesn't seem to bother him at all! I know birds hide their illnesses, but he was far more lethargic and miserable when this first started (pre-amputation) and when the prolapse looked a lot less ugly. The weather was nice today, and all the birds had a splendid time bathing, preening, and running around. His appetite continues to be very good.
I am still not comfortable with the idea of amputating. I tried to pull the penis out of the vent yesterday, and I couldn't really get any more out. I was wondering if this is the base I'm looking at?
At any rate, we decided to put him back on the Baytril, and use it straight this time, for a few days. I read on a duck rescue website that they use Baytril (for "at least" seven days, and only as a preventative in case of infection!) for treating penis prolapse. While I would never use such a strong antibiotic as a preventative, and probably not for a whole week, it seems like it would be helpful in this case, to say the least. Poor Bob didn't like its notoriously bitter taste, but was rewarded with lots of lettuce.
No more eagle sightings today. What a scary experience your neighbor had! I always shake my head when I hear people say things like "just walk around the yard for about five minutes before you let your chickens out, then you can let them free-range and the hawks will stay away." Trust me, hawks, especially the hawks around here, are not deterred by this! We don't have Call ducks, but we do have some bantam chickens as well as a rescue duck with only one eye who needs extra protection.

 

[boopsqueak]

Good news!
Bob is on his third shot (.1 ml.) of Baytril, and he's already showing signs of recovery. His penis is about half as swollen as it was before. Unfortunately, the tip might be drying out, hopefully it's only the outside.
The mighty alligator is suffering a side effect of Baytril, however. He's acting jittery and a little crabby. Bob is usually like that to a certain extent, but now more so. I recall his being sort of hyper when we first gave him Baytril water at the beginning of this infected prolapse adventure. But he probably feels so much better!

 

[Luv Ducks]

Another delayed post, I'm sorry.
We tried contacting a couple of avian vets in the area. One is out of the office until next week, the other hasn't got back to me yet. I may end up skipping the vet route for Bob, at any rate.
I just can't believe how lively that little guy is. His prolapse looks terribly uncomfortable, yet it doesn't seem to bother him at all! I know birds hide their illnesses, but he was far more lethargic and miserable when this first started (pre-amputation) and when the prolapse looked a lot less ugly. The weather was nice today, and all the birds had a splendid time bathing, preening, and running around. His appetite continues to be very good.
I am still not comfortable with the idea of amputating. I tried to pull the penis out of the vent yesterday, and I couldn't really get any more out. I was wondering if this is the base I'm looking at?
At any rate, we decided to put him back on the Baytril, and use it straight this time, for a few days. I read on a duck rescue website that they use Baytril (for "at least" seven days, and only as a preventative in case of infection!) for treating penis prolapse. While I would never use such a strong antibiotic as a preventative, and probably not for a whole week, it seems like it would be helpful in this case, to say the least. Poor Bob didn't like its notoriously bitter taste, but was rewarded with lots of lettuce.
No more eagle sightings today. What a scary experience your neighbor had! I always shake my head when I hear people say things like "just walk around the yard for about five minutes before you let your chickens out, then you can let them free-range and the hawks will stay away." Trust me, hawks, especially the hawks around here, are not deterred by this! We don't have Call ducks, but we do have some bantam chickens as well as a rescue duck with only one eye who needs extra protection.

A good friend of mine in South Carolina just told me a hawk came after one of her full sized ducks while she was walking them to their coop. She was feet away from it. I never knew they would even think of taking a full sized duck but I guess if hungry they will go after anything and not be afraid of humans.

 

[boopsqueak]

Poor Bob seems to be struggling today. He is also shivering a bit, as if he is in pain, and panting. (We noticed some of the panting yesterday). He is trying to retract his penis and pumping his tail, so that is probably causing some of the discomfort. He did seem very miserable the day before his prolapse receded the first time. The Baytril is probably making him jittery, as well. We gave him a little Meloxicam, to help him out.
I hope he feels better soon, and that we've been doing the right thing for him. I don't think the Baytril itself is making him feel bad, as I didn't see many side effects listed on PoultryDVM. But I hope that he is getting better, and the infection didn't spread.