Hello, I am a newbie. So glad this forum is here, because I need all the help I can get. Here's the story.
A couple of years ago, two female pekins and another brown duck showed up at the farm pond across the road from us. Very friendly little ducks, would come up to the house for a handful of corn about once a day. I stopped stopped someone who had stopped and was feeding them, and they said that a neighbor up the road had given one of their kids one of the ducks for Easter. I assume the pekins came from there, also, but I don't know. I can't call them because they have changed their number and both of them are having very significant health issues. I talked to other neighbors, and no one knew where the ducks came from, including the neighbor whose pond the ducks are in.
So, about six months ago, the little brown duck disappeared. We have coyotes and foxes around here, and I feared the worst. A few weeks ago, the small female pekin disappeared. The other pekin got very attached to my 13-year-old boy, and walked the property with him everyday. She "crawled" up here one day, and could not walk. I contacted an online avian vet, who said to bring her in because the coyotes would get her. When I went back out, she had made her way back to the pond. Day before yesterday, she was shoving herself back up our way (poor girl!) and we got her and I drove over an hour yesterday to an avian vet (yes, I am nuts).
The vet examined her and took x-rays. The first thing she noticed was that her wings had been severely clipped (you can tell I am not educated about birds, I had no idea). The x-ray revealed horrible arthritis in one hip and a knee problem on the same side. On top of that, she is "with egg" which may be making it even harder for her to walk with that leg. The vet said it looked like an old injury, almost like she had been kicked and the hip shattered. : (
I told her she had taken a fall off our retaining wall once. She said that it was because her wings were clipped and they don't balance well and also expect to be able to soften their fall and can't because of their wings. She didn't think that is what caused her hip problem, though.
She also said if she gets better that she cannot go back to the pond, so we have to set a handicapped ramp up to tub so she can get some exercise. We took her out of her cage yesterday and put her in the water for a while yesterday. She is on Metacam and calcium supplements once a day. She goes back to the vet in four weeks.
Keep your fingers crossed for this little duck. We call her Daffodil. Any advice is appreciated. We have duck feed for her. Right now she seems content to be in the house in the cage (but I think she is broody, so that helps).
When I get near her, she "snorts" at me...breathes heavily through her nostrils. She was an angel to the vet and her assistant yesterday...makes me feel like she doesn't like me. ; ) I'm putting her outside in her cage as soon as it warms up a little to 55...she doesn't want me to take her out to clean her cage this morning, so I will wait until the kids get home to help.
Again, thanks for listening, and any advice appreciated!
A couple of years ago, two female pekins and another brown duck showed up at the farm pond across the road from us. Very friendly little ducks, would come up to the house for a handful of corn about once a day. I stopped stopped someone who had stopped and was feeding them, and they said that a neighbor up the road had given one of their kids one of the ducks for Easter. I assume the pekins came from there, also, but I don't know. I can't call them because they have changed their number and both of them are having very significant health issues. I talked to other neighbors, and no one knew where the ducks came from, including the neighbor whose pond the ducks are in.
So, about six months ago, the little brown duck disappeared. We have coyotes and foxes around here, and I feared the worst. A few weeks ago, the small female pekin disappeared. The other pekin got very attached to my 13-year-old boy, and walked the property with him everyday. She "crawled" up here one day, and could not walk. I contacted an online avian vet, who said to bring her in because the coyotes would get her. When I went back out, she had made her way back to the pond. Day before yesterday, she was shoving herself back up our way (poor girl!) and we got her and I drove over an hour yesterday to an avian vet (yes, I am nuts).
The vet examined her and took x-rays. The first thing she noticed was that her wings had been severely clipped (you can tell I am not educated about birds, I had no idea). The x-ray revealed horrible arthritis in one hip and a knee problem on the same side. On top of that, she is "with egg" which may be making it even harder for her to walk with that leg. The vet said it looked like an old injury, almost like she had been kicked and the hip shattered. : (
I told her she had taken a fall off our retaining wall once. She said that it was because her wings were clipped and they don't balance well and also expect to be able to soften their fall and can't because of their wings. She didn't think that is what caused her hip problem, though.
She also said if she gets better that she cannot go back to the pond, so we have to set a handicapped ramp up to tub so she can get some exercise. We took her out of her cage yesterday and put her in the water for a while yesterday. She is on Metacam and calcium supplements once a day. She goes back to the vet in four weeks.
Keep your fingers crossed for this little duck. We call her Daffodil. Any advice is appreciated. We have duck feed for her. Right now she seems content to be in the house in the cage (but I think she is broody, so that helps).
When I get near her, she "snorts" at me...breathes heavily through her nostrils. She was an angel to the vet and her assistant yesterday...makes me feel like she doesn't like me. ; ) I'm putting her outside in her cage as soon as it warms up a little to 55...she doesn't want me to take her out to clean her cage this morning, so I will wait until the kids get home to help.
Again, thanks for listening, and any advice appreciated!
