Duck foot fustration!

[duckcrazy]

I have 3 Pekins about 4 years old . One had bramble foot and cost me an absurd amount of $ with vet and antibiotics to heal --she is fine.

My other 2 ducks now have severe limps and have several of these callouses or what appears to be Bramble foot callouses . I just don't understand it, nor can I afford to have them removed every time they occur. The terrain here is no different then any other yard or farm. They sleep on clean hay. They have a clean pool. They have soft grass to walk on during the day. They have a good diet (flock raiser) mixed with egg laying pellets, and corn & seeds in the winter, plus fresh veggies.

I have 2 more ducks that I got in April, Runner and Khaki, who are lighter ducks and walking fine, but I do see the start of callouses or pads on their feet also. What is going on?

Is it that the Pekins are a heavier duck? Perhaps they didn't get the niacin levels as ducklings being my first group so now their feet are more susceptible? Are some ducks more prone to having calluses and bramble foot? Is some callusing normal and does not always end up infected?
Do lame ducks with reoccurring brambles need to be put down because they are in pain?

Perhaps I should have stuck to rubber duckies!

 

[Amiga]

Duckcrazy, you are on the right track, but no, I don't think they need to be destroyed because they are having foot troubles right now.

If there are brambles around, perhaps you can use temporary fence to keep the ducks away from them. Some thistles are really mean, so you might try to get rid of them if they are in the duck area.

If it is an early case of bumblefoot, slather the bottoms and tops of their feet, and smear a little up the leg, of triple antibiotic without pain killer. Do that twice a day the first three or four days, and then keep it up for a couple of weeks. This is a pain in the neck, and it is a much less expensive pain in the neck than vet trips and surgery for more advanced cases. By the way, I have found that sometimes bumblefoot makes the rounds in my flock. Patient treatment has always enabled us to get through it and then it may be months before another outbreak. It just seems to run through a flock sometimes, possibly because of a very high bacterial load in the environment. The bacterium that causes it is everywhere (causes pimples, too).

Another thing that really really helps lameness is Epsom salts compresses. Yes, more inconvenience, but very good for the duck, and therefore, you.

(Gotta take care of yourself, too, 'cause who will clean the pool if you're not around???

)

Es is a laxative, so I don't just put in the swim water (oh, mercy, no). It is also inexpensive, by the way, so stock up!

I do compresses this way

get a shallow dish (nonbreakable is best, but I use ceramic with no problems)
Put a couple of heaping tablespoons of Epsom salts in it
Add a quarter to a half cup of very warm water to dissolve Es
Get a large paper towel or very clean rag and soak it in the water
(you may need assistance for this) hold the duck in a comfortable position for the two of you and wrap the foot and the leg in the towel or rag and hold it there for as long as you both can stand it, which may be three minutes or five. But any amount of time is better than not doing this.

Finish with a slather of antibiotic ointment.

I have done this with my buff, and her leg healed pretty quickly.

 

[clbarley]

I will have to sympathize with you duckcrazy! I have 8 Khaki Campbells and right now we are treating two for what we think is bumblefoot on one and a blackberry thorn turned into infecting into the other. I will be the first to admit it is a pain in the butt.....my girls HATE the be restricted! So soaking feet becomes a fun activity.

We did not have money to take our girls to the vet so I just did massive research on how to treat them at home on my own. We soak twice a day in a Epsom Salt bath, then in Betadine. After the soaks we spray on Vetericyn and rub on antibiotic ointment. It really does work, we notices a different in 2 days. So we are hoping a couple weeks of this will clear her up!

I have read its probably our land that is causing this. We have rocks everywhere and they run around like chickens with their heads cut off so naturally there little feet are going to get cut!

 

[duckcrazy]

Thank you all for responding! I'm going to go out right now and start soaking their feet. I'm so glad i'm not the only one that wrestles with this problem. Lots of good suggestions.

 

[clbarley]

Here is my girl with her little booties on



After a soak and ointment put on her!

 

[duckcrazy]

Did you make these booties? If so can you tell me how you did it? If not, where can I get some?

 

[clbarley]

no the yellow booties I ordered from here https://www.etsy.com/transaction/92422920 but to be completely honest the only time she wears them is if she is going out side and her feet are wrapped. Otherwise I just wrap her in vet wrap!!

 

[duckcrazy]

Thanks, I just took a look at the site and I'm going to order a couple for the girls.