Duck attacked by a raccoon

[Martrnn]

It just means you don't eat the eggs that the bird lays for a certain amount of time. But, that doesn't have any affect on your duckling since its definitely not laying eggs.

Ahh I got it. Thanks

Make sure you feed it along the side and not down its throat unless tube feeding.
Look here:
Post in thread 'Aspiration...' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/aspiration.99966/post-16362535

Yes I saw this but I haven’t been putting down it’s throat. I just squirt it on his tongue and he eats it by himself after.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

It sounds like you are doing a great job!

 

[Martrnn]

It sounds like you are doing a great job!

Thanks. I hope so too. However he still isn’t very active. He sleeps most of the day. He’s not more active than yesterday but he’s also not less active. Is this normal considering it’s almost been 4 days since he’s been injured?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Thanks. I hope so too. However he still isn’t very active. He sleeps most of the day. He’s not more active than yesterday but he’s also not less active. Is this normal considering it’s almost been 4 days since he’s been injured?

I wish I knew. I've not had an injury like this. One of my hens came to me with a tear across her chest hidden by feathers. The house I got her from had a dog that liked to "play" with the chickens. I didn't know she had the tear until I was checking her at home for parasites. It was not as bad as your duckling, but I still was never sure if what I was doing was helping until it started healing.
I would say considering what he's been through, he's doing well. As long as there is improvement, there is hope. I wish you could take him to the vet. They would be able to reassure you as to what you've done and advise on the neck issue.

 

[Martrnn]

I wish I knew. I've not had an injury like this. One of my hens came to me with a tear across her chest hidden by feathers. The house I got her from had a dog that liked to "play" with the chickens. I didn't know she had the tear until I was checking her at home for parasites. It was not as bad as your duckling, but I still was never sure if what I was doing was helping until it started healing.
I would say considering what he's been through, he's doing well. As long as there is improvement, there is hope. I wish you could take him to the vet. They would be able to reassure you as to what you've done and advise on the neck issue.

If I could I would’ve taken to a vet from the beginning but I’m only a teenager with no money. I’ll ask my parents and see how they feel about it first. If not, I might have a few friends that have some connections. For now I just hope he will recover smoothly.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

You're pretty mature and you're at least taking the advice offered. I'm sure if you talked to your parents and let them know what all you've done to care for the duckling, they might be more open to taking the duckling to the vet. You just never know.

 

[Martrnn]

You're pretty mature and you're at least taking the advice offered. I'm sure if you talked to your parents and let them know what all you've done to care for the duckling, they might be more open to taking the duckling to the vet. You just never know.

Thanks. I’ll see what they think

 

[Quatie]

If his wounds are not showing signs of pus or no signs of fever, he unlikely doesn't have a bacterial infection. You can still treat him with an antibiotic if you choose to. I personally would wait unless I saw another reason to, but caution can't hurt.

While it is great that he ate 4ml of food, that is really not nearly enough food. If you can't take him into a vet and have not seen any improvement in him, I personally would tube feed him. Your duck should be eating around 30ml of food twice a day right now, and potentially more over time. Lack of nutrients can prevent his neck from healing. Even without a neck injury, they can lose the ability to hold up their head. With your ducks injuries, it is going to be hard to see the major signs that something needs to be done.

I would also only feed him mushed pellets right now. Sick ducks need balanced nutrition to really help them through injuries like this.

Also why are you putting in egg shells? At his age, high calcium levels can be detrimental to his development.

You are otherwise doing very well caring for your duck. Dealing with severe injuries for the first time is difficult for any duck owner.

 

[Martrnn]

If his wounds are not showing signs of pus or no signs of fever, he unlikely doesn't have a bacterial infection. You can still treat him with an antibiotic if you choose to. I personally would wait unless I saw another reason to, but caution can't hurt.

While it is great that he ate 4ml of food, that is really not nearly enough food. If you can't take him into a vet and have not seen any improvement in him, I personally would tube feed him. Your duck should be eating around 30ml of food twice a day right now, and potentially more over time. Lack of nutrients can prevent his neck from healing. Even without a neck injury, they can lose the ability to hold up their head. With your ducks injuries, it is going to be hard to see the major signs that something needs to be done.

I would also only feed him mushed pellets right now. Sick ducks need balanced nutrition to really help them through injuries like this.

Also why are you putting in egg shells? At his age, high calcium levels can be detrimental to his development.

You are otherwise doing very well caring for your duck. Dealing with severe injuries for the first time is difficult for any duck owner.

I was able to bump it up to 15ml. I didn’t have much time today but tomorrow I will try to feed him at least 50ml. There is no pus on his injuries but his eye does have this weird liquid. I run a saline solution over it everyday and it does seem to be working. Also I did not know that egg shells would be bad for him. However the eggshells did not fully crush so I used a colander to remove it all. Will that affect him heavily?

 

[Quatie]

I was able to bump it up to 15ml. I didn’t have much time today but tomorrow I will try to feed him at least 50ml. There is no pus on his injuries but his eye does have this weird liquid. I run a saline solution over it everyday and it does seem to be working. Also I did not know that egg shells would be bad for him. However the eggshells did not fully crush so I used a colander to remove it all. Will that affect him heavily?

If you have only done the eggs shells a few times, it should be perfectly fine. It is more consistent high levels of calcium that can be detrimental. Even female ducks can't have high levels of calcium till they start to lay eggs, which is around 28 weeks in Muscovy.

His eye may be producing more fluid out of it's tear duct to clean the eye. That's great that your are keeping up with the saline, it should help a lot keeping it cleaned out. You can put some Neosporin without pain med on it to help or get some terramycin, which is the best antibiotic for an eye injury.

That is good you were able to get more food in him. Just make sure he is drinking just as much.