Duck, dislocated hip,

[BitterAcres]

I have a Peking-Ruoen cross with a dislocated right hip. (19 days or a bit less)
Last night, between 10:00 PM and this morning at 9:00 AM the duckling wedged himself between the hardware cloth (and lathe) and a five-gallon waterer. His right wing and leg were submerged for an unknown period of time (draining heat and energy from the bird). He self-dislocated attempting escape from his wedging. I think he is in shock or fear with the trembling. His right hip is clearly dislocated and the foot is now collapsed/curled. He can 'move' but with great effort. Are there any methods for resetting this joint?

If he continues to take food and water then there is a chance. But the usual coarse tends to be the final option.

 

[BitterAcres]

Well, one of the other ducks must have a Doctorate or at least EMT training... The wedged duckling walks. I felt the dislocation it was out of joint. He would not draw his leg up under him. I'm having a hard time picking him out from the rest of the flock.
All of them are able to eat and drink and transverse seven feet to the corner.

Any speculation on treatment of a dislocated leg would still be appreciated.

Will keep him under observation.

 

[FluffyButtBabies]

Can you take him to a vet? Often they know how to pop a joint right back in.

 

[BitterAcres]

Can you take him to a vet? Often they know how to pop a joint right back in.

A vet isn't really in the cards for him; as he is part of my meat bird flock.
I've observed him eating and drinking (pretty sure, I have the right bird) looks like he has a slight limp. A bit less active than his peers but is the early hatch group so has a five day head start on the other 66%. Which should prevent him from falling to the bottom of the pecking order.

I tried to pop it back in initially; but he returned to the sprawled partial prone. But don't think I helped. Put him back in the mobile pen and started researching. I've only found a bit that actually applies to duck anatomy. But at this point the self or kin fixed; I believe I would be causing more harm than good.

 

[FluffyButtBabies]

Yea, there really isn't much you can do. Sorry to hear about it! If you really want to be extra, you can ice it and wait a day or two for the swelling to go down. Then you can try rotating it back in once more. But like you said, it might only worsen the issue. So sorry it turned out like that!

 

[Isaac 0]

Welcome to BYC.

This happened to someone else duck just the other day. The problem is birds hips are fairly strong and actually end up breaking before dislocating, in which surgical intervention or amputation would be required. A vet would be your best option here.

If you can't take her to a vet, you could try splinting the hip, but if it is indeed a hip fracture or dislocation the prognosis would be poor. If you want to give it a try you can read this link.

https://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf

Something else I wanted to mention is the definite early signs of Bumblefoot on her footpads, as, at her age, there has to be some obvious incorrect management practices at play for it to be occurring this early.

I would be surprised if the rest of your flock isn't showing cracking of the feet.

 

[BitterAcres]

Yea, there really isn't much you can do. Sorry to hear about it! If you really want to be extra, you can ice it and wait a day or two for the swelling to go down. Then you can try rotating it back in once more. But like you said, it might only worsen the issue. So sorry it turned out like that!

Thanks for the reply. I hadnot considered ice. I was worried about being in the water for 0-12 hours might burnt up too much energy keeping warm. But it looks like it self fixed. No noticeable injury 2.5 days later.

 

[BitterAcres]

Welcome to BYC.

This happened to someone else duck just the other day. The problem is birds hips are fairly strong and actually end up breaking before dislocating, in which surgical intervention or amputation would be required. A vet would be your best option here.

If you can't take her to a vet, you could try splinting the hip, but if it is indeed a hip fracture or dislocation the prognosis would be poor. If you want to give it a try you can read this link.

https://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf

Something else I wanted to mention is the definite early signs of Bumblefoot on her footpads, as, at her age, there has to be some obvious incorrect management practices at play for it to be occurring this early.

I would be surprised if the rest of your flock isn't showing cracking of the feet.

I saw a post in regard to splinting a limb. I haven't yet had to deal with that type of injury. I've dealt with niacin deficencies and a few underdeveloped chicks. If they continue to take food and water usually we can manage.

The local vets have expertise in cat, dog, and ruminants and not much experience with poultry or waterfowl.

I pulled the splinting manual and read over it, thank you for the resource.

I don't think I'm seeing bumble foot on this batch of ducks. (I've seen it prior in chickens, roosts were too high.) Our Peking-Rouen crosses tend to be mostly black with white acents and (upto) three color feet. Their foot patterns help us with early identification as their feathers change a bit as pass through four stages of plumage.

These ducks are in what I call a meatbird cage, it is a open bottomed hardware cloth sided moved daily. They are on grass (granted we are in a drought. (One inch of the average four has fallen this month and ground conditions are getting a bit rough until we get more rain.) They tend to create a manure pack where they sleep and a small mud hole extending around the 5 gallon waterer during the night. They are moved each morning around 9AM before I release the ducks (layers), guineas, and turkeys. The laying flocks free range over several acres. The meat birds will gain some more freedom once they are of a size that is cat proof; and won't escape the 2x4 wire.

I don't see any cracking, discharge, or scabbing from the foot. These birds are within the garden fence which is untouched by the other flocks (for about a year). The foot was in the waterer for a 0-12 hours. Do ducks get bathtub wrinkles on their feet? I think water for an extended period might be an irritant.

Now that I've dug up some 'pre-bumblefoot' pictures of duck feet; that is a maybe... Looks like I'll be making 11 ducks unhappy tomorrow by inverting them.

Butchered a few Guineas today; and making the comparison of musculature and bones. I still think it was out of joint. (Yes, I know guineas are a bit alien comparing them to waterfowl. It was their time; the flock needed balancing to reduce stress.)

Thanks for the information Isaac.