Duck reluctant to fully weight bear

[Quackless]

Please bear with me as I am new to duck ownership and having already spent several hundred pounds on taking one of my other girls to the vets (unrelated to this issue) I am seeing how much I can treat at home.

One of my four month old runner ducks has been getting progressively worse for not fully weight bearing on one leg. I noticed it around two weeks ago that she was not putting her heel to the ground when standing around. Looking back at some videos, it’s maybe been happening for three weeks, more subtly. She now is limping and won’t put the back of her foot down at all, but the front she will, as if she is on her tip toes. She sits down a lot in the coop to rest.

She is eating, drinking, toileting normally. She loves being in the pond - always has but I imagine it’s some respite currently. She is quite a tall, big duck but not overweight. All the other ducks are fine and not showing any similar signs. No one is laying yet. They are a small flock of all girls the same age.

They are on a deep, dry bed of straw pellets (lightly soaked so more of a crumble) with thick straw ontop. Cleaned daily and topped up with straw. They eat duck specific food with niacin in and have lots of access to greenery, are fed peas daily alongside other green treats.

I originally thought she had tweaked herself getting in and out of the pond as when they are excited they zoom in and out of it, often tumbling over.

So far I have:

- Checked the foot thoroughly for cuts, bruises, swelling, bumble foot with no sign
- Palpated all over but cannot find a sore spot and don’t believe anything is broken

After getting to this conclusion I then:
- Rested her for a week by keeping them in a 8ft x 4ft area. Unfortunately I couldn’t rest her by herself as I originally separated them and she would not settle (panicking, mouth breathing) , neither would the rest of the girls who, for want of a better term, ran around like headless chickens and exhausted themselves
- Given meloxicam at the correct dose BID
- Started everyone on brewers yeast added to their food

The last few days I have allowed them out to free range for a few hours a day. And she has gone drastically downhill, so this morning I will be resting and giving pain relief again. I stopped the pain relief before letting her out again as I wanted her to feel and manage any pain I.e not feel great on the pain relief and go over doing it.

Any advice please?

 

[Goosebaby]

Please bear with me as I am new to duck ownership and having already spent several hundred pounds on taking one of my other girls to the vets (unrelated to this issue) I am seeing how much I can treat at home.

One of my four month old runner ducks has been getting progressively worse for not fully weight bearing on one leg. I noticed it around two weeks ago that she was not putting her heel to the ground when standing around. Looking back at some videos, it’s maybe been happening for three weeks, more subtly. She now is limping and won’t put the back of her foot down at all, but the front she will, as if she is on her tip toes. She sits down a lot in the coop to rest.

She is eating, drinking, toileting normally. She loves being in the pond - always has but I imagine it’s some respite currently. She is quite a tall, big duck but not overweight. All the other ducks are fine and not showing any similar signs. No one is laying yet. They are a small flock of all girls the same age.

They are on a deep, dry bed of straw pellets (lightly soaked so more of a crumble) with thick straw ontop. Cleaned daily and topped up with straw. They eat duck specific food with niacin in and have lots of access to greenery, are fed peas daily alongside other green treats.

I originally thought she had tweaked herself getting in and out of the pond as when they are excited they zoom in and out of it, often tumbling over.

So far I have:

- Checked the foot thoroughly for cuts, bruises, swelling, bumble foot with no sign
- Palpated all over but cannot find a sore spot and don’t believe anything is broken

After getting to this conclusion I then:
- Rested her for a week by keeping them in a 8ft x 4ft area. Unfortunately I couldn’t rest her by herself as I originally separated them and she would not settle (panicking, mouth breathing) , neither would the rest of the girls who, for want of a better term, ran around like headless chickens and exhausted themselves
- Given meloxicam at the correct dose BID
- Started everyone on brewers yeast added to their food

The last few days I have allowed them out to free range for a few hours a day. And she has gone drastically downhill, so this morning I will be resting and giving pain relief again. I stopped the pain relief before letting her out again as I wanted her to feel and manage any pain I.e not feel great on the pain relief and go over doing it.

Any advice please?

Could you post some pictures of the foot in question, including the bottom?

 

[Quackless]

Could you post some pictures of the foot in question, including the bottom?

I will get some in the morning. Thankyou for responding

 

[Quackless]

Sorry for the delay, had a lot going on here. She’s the same she was a few days ago and here’s photos of the foot.

Tried my best alone whilst holding her!

 

[Goosebaby]

Sorry for the delay, had a lot going on here. She’s the same she was a few days ago and here’s photos of the foot.

Tried my best alone whilst holding her!

View attachment 4292669
View attachment 4292670

Let me guess, it’s winter where you are and it’s been a wet one?

Pour hydrogen peroxide on the bottom of the feet twice a day for a week to two weeks until it goes away. After each application make sure she sits somewhere clean and dry where her feet can fully dry out.

The rough slightly inflamed patches on the bottom of her feet are the beginnings of footpad dermatitis, or as I like to call it “avian trenchfoot.”



It’s seen most often in overcrowded factory farms as a result of ammonia scalding but it’s also caused from being on constantly damp ground with a high bacteria load. If their feet don’t have a chance to dry out the bacteria doesn’t die off and starts causing problems.
I live in the north side of a hill above a creek so the ground where I am is slimy and damp for months every winter, I have at least one case every year, hydrogen peroxide treats it best.

Some birds can be more prone to developing it and some are more sensitive to the pain than others.

It’s usually a good idea to clean out the bedding in their area and/ or move them to a different run or pasture if possible so the ground can rest.

 

[Quackless]

Let me guess, it’s winter where you are and it’s been a wet one?

Pour hydrogen peroxide on the bottom of the feet twice a day for a week to two weeks until it goes away. After each application make sure she sits somewhere clean and dry where her feet can fully dry out.

The rough slightly inflamed patches on the bottom of her feet are the beginnings of footpad dermatitis, or as I like to call it “avian trenchfoot.”

View attachment 4292964

It’s seen most often in overcrowded factory farms as a result of ammonia scalding but it’s also caused from being on constantly damp ground with a high bacteria load. If their feet don’t have a chance to dry out the bacteria doesn’t die off and starts causing problems.
I live in the north side of a hill above a creek so the ground where I am is slimy and damp for months every winter, I have at least one case every year, hydrogen peroxide treats it best.

Some birds can be more prone to developing it and some are more sensitive to the pain than others.

It’s usually a good idea to clean out the bedding in their area and/ or move them to a different run or pasture if possible so the ground can rest.

Thankyou so much for the comprehensive answer. Yes it is winter and has been wet so their free range area is always damp, although there is still grass (at the moment!).

I shall try the soaking. I do have some antibiotics, is it worth doing a course?

Their coop is very clean, I spot clean in the mornings then fully muck out the top area in the evenings, removing the top layer, droppings and any damp before putting down fresh straw. So hopefully having that dry area will help her.

Is this different to the beginnings of bumble foot?