Duckling with bent wings

[ruth]

Just noticed one of the ducklings, approx. 3 weeks old, has both wings coming straight out from body at 90 degree angle. If I described that correctly. In other words when seen from behind the wings seem to be bent out from body instead of lying flat against it. They are just getting their wing feathers and most are still more like bare quills but I've never seen anything like this. Is there something I can do and what causes this? The wings aren't drooping down they are seemingly bent straight out from body. I tried to catch the little bugger for a better look but no such luck. I'll try again tomorrow when they are outside but it was upsetting everyone in hen house when I tried tonight.

 

[dlhunicorn]

... a pic would be most helpful.

 

[Katy]

It sounds like he's got angel wing. I've never done it, but it can be corrected by taping the wing in the correct position. I'd google "angel wing" and see what you can find out on how to do it.

 

[ruth]

I'll try to get a pic tomorrow. Just noticed it tonight and they are so skittish - won't let me near them and they stay in packs.

 

[Cara]

I have a goose like that. I vet-wrapped her wing to her body for ten days, and on removing the bandage it looked good, but has again continued to grow outwards. I'm worried it will get broken by the rest of the flock.

 

[ruth]

I did just do some research on angel wing and found some sites with pics. That's what it is. Wings are growing out perpendicular to body. Didn't notice it yesterday. A lot of articles says it could be from too high protein - or could be genetic. Before getting ducks I read many articles and still have a book and an article that said they need 22-23% protein. Nothing came with protein that high so I found a layer pellet that has 20% and that's what I have been feeding them - plus scratch and grains - and they are on grass. All this time I've been worried I wasn't getting them enough protein and now everything I'm reading says 17% protein.

I'll have to catch the little guy tomorrow and try taping the wings and I'll certainly cut out the high protein layer feed.

 

[Dodgegal79]

I would cut the layer anyways for ducks. I know layer usually has added calcium and growing ducks don't need that much, it can be very harmful too them.

 

[PoultryPedia]

The too-much-protein theory seems plausible to me. I had some chicks whose wingtips twisted to varying degrees at that age. I wondered if it was a new local feed I was trying, and experimentation in feeding 2 different types to later chicks seemed to confirm this.
None of the chicks had long-term effects that I could see; wings straightened out within another week and a half to 2 weeks (even the ones who ate the problematic feed their entire 'chickhoods').