Duck with leg injury help!

[Salley]

Hello everyone so I have a white layer duck that chases my son all over the house however my son is one and doesn't walk overly well and fell on my five day old duckling (ahhhhhh! Fortunately it wasn't full weight ) this is my first duck so I'm not sure if I should do anything for her...it seems to be maybe a little swollen by the knee? I don't really feel any intense heat but again I'm not sure I would be able to tell her little leg is so small. She is bearing weight on it but definitely favors the left. Any thoughts as to if it's a break or a sprain? Is she forever going to have a limp? Is there anything I can do for her to make her more comfortable or to help heal better?

 

[Amiga]

Thank you for bringing your question to the Duck Forum! How is she right now?

I will copy what I posted on the other forum so people who read this later will be up to date with our correspondence.

Make an Epsom salt compress. Two tablespoons Epsom salt in half a cup of warm water. Soak a clean cloth in that, wring it out about halfway, and wrap her leg and foot in the cloth, hold her for ten minutes if you can, longer if she's happy, and if you can only do it for five minutes, that is better than nothing.

Could be a sprain, or worse, but E.s. helps loads. I am a person who uses Traumeel, and I would put just a tiny dab on the joint, work it in well.

Also - Epsom salt is a laxative, do not let her eat or drink any of that.

A little closely supervised swim time in warm water deep enough to float in, for five to ten minutes, will help. If she doesn't float at all, then lower the water level to belly height and let her scoot around in the warmth - that should at least improve the circulation.

And keep watch - and keep us updated.

Ducklings can get into all kinds of trouble. The most innocent things are accidents waiting to happen. The learning curve is steep. I don't know if it is possible to avoid those gut-wrenching moments when we realize if we had only seen the danger in advance . . . .I have had them.

There are dozens of people here who, I believe, know what I am talking about and we are here to offer ideas and suggestions and stories of our own experiences.

Have you read this? https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711

 

[Salley]

I have read that article it's a great start! I've been a bit of a research junkie as my ducks are amazing. I feel like they are just like my kids the most innocuous things quickly become lethal I try my best but unfortunately the duckling just happened to be in huge wrong place at the wrong time and I feel awful. She's doing the same I didn't have any epsome salt I swear I had some but couldn't find it but did have some epsome salt paste I used on a horse abscess so I put that on and we hung out a bit and she attempted to pull apart the sleeve of my sweater then gave her a quick dip in some warm water. I did notice she has a little scratch on her I'm going to say knee (the one above the ankle) ? And maybe SLIGHT bruising but I still don't see much swelling...would there be any way to know for sure if it's broken?

 

[Amiga]

As far as I know, aside from just feeling it, and observing closely, if there were a hairline fracture that would be impossible to say without an X-ray, I think.

Now, a duckling's little bones are still pretty soft. So I truly doubt that kind of fracture would occur.

 

[Salley]

Do they put weight on it if it were broken or dislocated or something I know nothing about lol....do you think it could be the scratch and bruise that's casing her to limp?

 

[Amiga]

They might try to put weight on it. Those little duckies are tough when it comes to injury, and to hiding injury. Many of us get surprised because our ducks have hidden illness or injury until they are just about to expire.

I would go with what the docs call "trauma" which just means intense injury to the leg - as you can read on my signature, if we give them some help, ducks can recover from many serious problems. Just stick with it - some treatments are needed for days and weeks.

Oh, and if you are feeding chick starter, please get some niacin (plain capsules, not no-flush or timed release) and add 100 to 150 mg per gallon of drinking water for the next two months. Niacin is inexpensive here. Or, you could add a tablespoon of brewer's yeast - not baking yeast - to their food daily for a couple of months. Ducklings have a higher niacin need than chicks, and some ducklings are very sensitive to a deficiency. This could complicate her recovery.

 

[Salley]

I just checked her food and it says under the ingredients "niacin supplement" but under the guaranteed analysis it doesn't say anything about it...it's apparently for chicks ducklings and goslings....do you suppose she needs an additional supplement or that feed is fine

 

[Amiga]

Hard to say - B3, niacin, is water soluble so adding some extra ought not to be harmful. Perhaps someone else has some more precise references about this.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

My 5 week old runner was a little limpy today. She's been getting around ok, with just the slightest hitch in her giddyup... but I've noticed, and I can see that she is in pain. Twice I saw her fall down, as if her leg completely gave out. Once she was down, she didn't try hard to get back up until a few seconds had passed. Poor girl... I'm really not wanting this to get worse.

I've supplemented their water with a little extra niacin, hoping that may help in some way.

We are giving her a full inspection this evening, can anyone advise me on what to look for? I am intimidated by leg injuries because there's so many possible explanations for what's wrong.

My plan of attack right now is to check her foot thoroughly, and feel for heat up and down her leg. What else?

 

[Amiga]

I would feel both legs, try to compare how they feel when they move, especially at the joint. I might get her into a tub of lukewarm water and watch how each leg moves.

Tendons can be involved, or a minor infection in the joint, I suppose a hairline fracture in the bone somewhere - either leg bone or even higher up. Some of these things take a while to heal.

As far as pain goes, I wish there were a good resource for a benign painkiller, nonprescription. I just don't know of one. I believe the two I have heard of - prescription medications - are Rimadyl and Metacam.