Duckling with birth defect (looks like scoliosis)

[casportpony]

I believe it was @learycow that had a Muscovy like this lil one.

Did she have one with the neck, back, and leg issue?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think it was just neck but can’t remember for sure. Sorry.

 

[casportpony]

I think it was just neck but can’t remember for sure. Sorry.

Okay.

 

[MarlyMonster]

After almost 4 full days with the hobbles I’m giving him a break for a few hours and he seems to be holding up okay! He can stand without them and get around a little. It’s not his body deformity that’s giving him the problems but his legs, so if anyone had any suggestions on how to keep those straight I’m all ears!

I feel like I need some way to keep them pointed forward as opposed to just keeping them together cuz he rotates his left one out a lot

 

[Miss Lydia]

The hobbles are helping right if they are maybe just keep using them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you think this if from him being in the egg so long, problem with temps or humidity?

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

So I had a duckling that suddenly could not use one leg; I don't know if she was stepped on or what...but it was a semi-paralysis. The thing that helped the most was swim therapy. Every day I would let her swim in the tub for an hour or so, twice a day. In between swims, I taped the foot spread flat with a short piece of a popsicle stick and ductape (the irony was not lost on me), and made a splint for the leg that kept the foot from rotating out. Her leg was small so I used a soda straw cut lengthwise and opened, with the bendy part over the back of her hock, and wrapped it with gauze and vetwrap or ductape to keep it firm (taping over the gauze, not the skin). It took 2 weeks or so but she eventually built strength enough with the swimming that she gets around fine now. The splint gave her support to bear weight. At first, she only swam with one foot, the other did nothing (so she went in circles) but over time she used it more and more.

 

[MarlyMonster]

The hobbles are helping right if they are maybe just keep using them.

Do you think this if from him being in the egg so long, problem with temps or humidity?

I’m not really sure, the temp was pretty steady and humidity, while a bit low, hung around 50% with some fluctuations up but never down. His egg was a double but only he developed, and he was the mirrored twin being upside down. He popped on day 34 I believe so I left him 24 hours and helped him out the next day. I peeled away a large part but let him kick free himself. He seemed fine at first but as he got older he got more deformed. Then he slipped once big time (around 2 weeks) and I think that made his leg worse. I’ve been trying to help him ever since

 

[MarlyMonster]

So I had a duckling that suddenly could not use one leg; I don't know if she was stepped on or what...but it was a semi-paralysis. The thing that helped the most was swim therapy. Every day I would let her swim in the tub for an hour or so, twice a day. In between swims, I taped the foot spread flat with a short piece of a popsicle stick and ductape (the irony was not lost on me), and made a splint for the leg that kept the foot from rotating out. Her leg was small so I used a soda straw cut lengthwise and opened, with the bendy part over the back of her hock, and wrapped it with gauze and vetwrap or ductape to keep it firm (taping over the gauze, not the skin). It took 2 weeks or so but she eventually built strength enough with the swimming that she gets around fine now. The splint gave her support to bear weight. At first, she only swam with one foot, the other did nothing (so she went in circles) but over time she used it more and more.

Glad your baby ended up being okay!

Tony doesn’t so much have paralysis as just a crooked built. His leg rotation also starts at his hip so I don’t think I can tape anything to straighten it cuz it’s so high up. The hobbles are helping so far and I was considering adding a second pair a little lower down, between his knees and ankles, but I’m afraid that’ll just make him fall or maybe do more damage to the leg

 

[learycow]

Yes I did! Quasimoto!
He hatched with severe wry neck (I think it was actually a growing deformity, not actual wry neck). It progressively got worse with age to the point where his head almost dragged on the ground. And he passed at about 10 months old from natural causes (assuming there was more wrong with him that we couldn't see on the outside. I couldn't bring myself to necropsy him after he passed).

Be sure to supplement vitamins and be sure his food and water is close by and where he can reach. That way he doesn't go without food or water simply because of his deformity.