Duck leg injury

[mraew]

I'm trying to figure out what could be wrong with my duck's leg and if she will heal on her own. She is about a year old.

I noticed last week that she was limping, favoring one leg. This lasted for a day or two, and I kept her in the pen so she wouldn't make it worse by running around in the yard. But then on the third day she couldn't walk at all, or even stand up on one leg. I'm assuming over-use of her good leg caused this. She stayed like this for about two days, but then started using her good leg again. Now she can get around with a pathetic hobble/hopping motion, using mostly just her good leg and putting very little if any weight on her bad one. This is an improvement from the last few days, but still worse than those first two days when she was just limping. In the last couple days, she has improved to where she will put some weight on her bad leg if she's standing still. She mostly stays up on her "toes," or forefront of the foot when she puts the weight on it. Sometimes she will relax the foot and put the "heel" down as well.

Visually, I can see nothing wrong with her leg, foot, or bottom of her foot. My thought has been that since she was only limping at first, and then it got worse, and now starting to improve again, that it's probably just a sprain, since I don't think a break or something more serious would progress in this way. However, it's going on at least a week now, which is the longest I've ever had a duck who had a limping problem of any kind.

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks!

 

[chickensioux]

Welcome and sorry you are having this problem. You said you can't see anything wrong with leg, have you felt all up and down her leg? Could there be a break perhaps in the thigh bone. Usually if they are limping it is not a break or a serious one. If it is broken they usually don't use it at all. I would confine her to a small crate if possible. Do not let her walk much at all. If you can, keep her in the house and let her swim in the bathtub, in warm water for therapy. I had a duck do this during the winter and I brought him in the house for about a week and gave him therapy swims daily. It took about a week and then he was fine. Do you have a male duck? Sometimes (since its spring) they tend to get al little rough, I am dealing with that now.
Keep us posted and good luck!

 

[saladin]

You most often see leg injuries in waterfowl (especially the heavy breeds) if they have been chased. Most often if left alone they do seem to heal on their own as waterfowl are very resilient. saladin

 

[mraew]

Thanks for the advice. Right now I just have her in the regular pen, but she only moves when necessary, so I haven't confined her yet. Maybe I should - she does move around to get away from me when I give them their food and water in the morning. I don't have a drake, although the girls (four of them) have been known to climb on each other's backs and all that asserting their dominance thing. Could have happened that way. The good thing is that they haven't picked on her for being injured. They're all cuddled up together in a bunch right now.
Thanks again, and I'll update.

 

[DallasAndJesse]

Im having the same issue with my 3 week old mallard. He is improving slightly,he is now beginning to use his leg whereas before he wouldnt even move it. Im still skeptical about when he will be able to walk again.

 

[2dancingrats]

Had a similar problem with a young goose. He slipped when running in the mud. He went from limping to unable to walk at all and I had to carry him around and bring him water. I finally took him to the vet who determined that he had a "soft tissue" injury. The vet prescribed an anti-inflamatory for him and recommended that I put him into the pool every chance I got. I had been reluctant to do it because I was afraid he would injure himself further trying to get out. Turned out he loved it and wanted to stay in. Putting him in water relieved the pressure on his leg. He slowly healed. That was 3 years ago, and he's been great since then. The vet was very expensive (about $160.00) but I would strongly recommend the pool treatment as a starting point. Good luck. I hope your duck is much better soon.

 

[DallasAndJesse]

He's already walking better and is beginning to use the leg again. He is still not putting muh weight on it. I love my baby but I am a college student and sending him to the vet would be out of the question.

 

[Carol_af]

Just a thought - lameness is not only caused by leg or foot injuries, sometimes it can be toxins from a worm or bacterial infestation.

Some of my ducks occasionally go lame, starting out with a limp, then if not caught quickly enough, difficulty standing on either leg. Carefull observation of their activities has show me that they will dabble in any water they find, not just the clean water I put out for them. They will dabble in the bucket under the worm farm if they can get to it, and during heavy rains they dabble all around the septic leach field. So, if you have ruled out any injury, I would tend to think along these lines.

If left untreated a limping duck can rapidly go lame and be unable to walk at all, and may become very sick as a result of toxins in their body. I use garlic as a treatment and preventative measure. Garlic has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and vermifuge (worm-killing) properties, so it will treat a worm infestation or any bacterial infection they may have picked up. I regularly feed the flock garlic every few months, and at the first sign of a limp I immediately treat the entire flock, as well as concentrating attention upon the limping bird.

The best method I have found is to crush three to four cloves of garlic into their favourite food, possibly a wet mash, or blend up some carrot, tomato and greens - lettuce or cabbage, add the garlic and serve it as a special treat. Isolate the limping bird and add garlic to everything you feed him/her. Isolation is important not only to prevent spread of infection but also to prevent the others from stealing his/her food. It is important to dose the bird quickly and often, thereby concentrating the amount of garlic the sick bird receives. If caught at the first sign of a limp I have found this to prevent the bird from further going lame or becoming seriously ill.

I had one little bird that was so sick I was convinced she would die - she couldn't even lift her head. She had dabbled in the septic field during flooding. I treated her with high doses of garlic in blended tomato, fed her plain yoghurt thinned with water and added skim milk powder to her wheaten mash each day (for nutrition and energy). I had to hand feed her and did not expect her to live. She recovered in about a week and is today waddling about the yard, happy and healthy, with the rest of the flock.

Hope this helps.

 

[limpychick]

I agree with the advice you have been given so far. She really should be in a small crate. I had a duck limping slightly and put her in a crate for a little while to limit her walking. I also have a barn, so after about a week I confined her to a stall so she could walk around a little, but not a lot and no one could bother her. Also had a runner who had gotten stepped on by one of the horses, his foot was broken right where it connected to his leg. I didn't think that was a good place for a break, but took a chance and splinted it and confined him to a crate. then the stall after about 3-4 weeks, then after 6 all together he was fine, ran around here like all the others. If it is not toxins (toxin advice is great) and you see no injury, it probably is a sprain or strain and rest is the best thing.

 

[DallasAndJesse]

My ducklings ate bits of wasps that had been killed and sprayed with poison a few minutes ago, and I'm scared it could affect them. The wasps have dried out and have been dead a few weeks probably.