Duck with hurt foot! :(

[glloyd203]

My eight week old ducks have been free ranging with their mom and dad for a couple weeks now and just yesterday the mom took them down to our creek for the first time, which involves traveling down a somewhat steep embankment. When I went down in the evening to make sure they made it back up safely, they did, but one was huddled against a bush lying down looking miserable. Went to get her and she tried to run and I saw that she was limping so badly it was like her foot didn't work. I finally caught her and she is having a couple days of rest in my bathtub. I felt her foot and one toe seems swollen and also the underside of the center of the foot, where the toes come out from (sorry idk the word!). I didn't want to get a pic since I don't want to handle her and upset her but it honestly doesn't look like much anyway. I was just reading about bumblefoot but it seems like that is usually caused first by an abrasion? And she does not have that. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has seen a duck get an injury like this and if there's any possibility of it healing up with a few days of sitting staying off of it. Being that it's about to be a long weekend, I have no hope of seeing a vet for several days, but we don't have many good avian vets in my area anyway

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

I would definitely do what you're doing to try keep her off her foot and lessen moving around. I'd also give her some B-complex to help heal it faster. If you have the pills, she could have a whole one, once a day, until she's healed up. I use the drops and give mine a whole dropper which is the adult dosage. It's got niacin in it (B3) that'll help her as well.

I would think this should only take a couple of days for her to heal her foot if it's just sore. If sprained, it could take a couple of weeks.