Duck not walking...now dead :(

[GracefulBantams]

About a week and a half ago...or maybe two weeks... I had a Swedish duck (hen) loose almost all use of her left leg. We used to raise Rouen ducks and they had a tendency to get a leg out of joint, but they would always get better on their own. Well, after a few days, this duck had not gotten noticeably better and still a drake (sometimes even two, at a time) would mount her, which we knew must not be helping her leg any!! So, I isolated her in an extra pen we had.
This evening, she was dead
Almost the whole time she was isolated, it was very cold. We had one snowfall a couple of days ago, and another one today. These "Oklahoma" birds are not used to that kind of weather, so I thought that might have contributed to her death, by maybe partially-freezing her

So what do you all think was wrong with her???

 

[countryboy]

i'm very sorry you lost duck gracefulbantams.

 

[GracefulBantams]

Thank you

Does anyone have ideas on what happened to her?

 

[lacyloo]

sorry about your ducky

 

[justusnak]

Awww, Im so sorry about your duck. If she was alone, and had nothing to cuddle into, could have been the cold.

 

[hencackle]

I have no experience with ducks, can't answer your question...just wanted to say, I'm sorry about your duck.

 

[GracefulBantams]

Lacyloo and Hencackle, thanks

Justusnak, she did not have anything/anyone to cuddle with, but she was in a fairly sheltered area. I do think you are right, though; it must have had something to do with the cold

 

[DuckLady]

I am very sorry about your duck.

If she was not walking, she was likely injured, possibly by over-mating. Waterfowl are very adept at hiding injury or illness. I pulled a pekin girl from under a pile of 4 drakes last year and the next morning she was dead. I figure the weight of the drakes injured her internally.

I will be separating my drakes soon. Spring is about here.

As for the cold, if she was sheltered, it was probably not that. As long as she had bedding and protection. Just for future, I always put a heat lamp near an injured animal (unless I have her in the house). Injury causes shock which in its turn causes chills.

It is really tricky to spot and diagnose a bird. They are good at hiding anything wrong until it is usually too late.

 

[WriterofWords]

The first thing you do when you have an injured animal is take them away from the others so they won't be injured. Then you make sure they have a shelter where they will be warm or cool depending on the temps. Call a vet if needed. My Pekin that gets eggbound and her legs become paralyzed moved into my son's bathtub if it is cold and she's watched closely. Never leave them with the idea they will get better on their own, it's like saying your child fell and "might" have broken a bone, but it will heal on it's own. The animals can't tell us exactly what is wrong or if it is serious so it's up to us as guardians to take care of them.

 

[Lunachick]

Sorry to hear about your poor little duck.