Female limping

[Anjseveland]

Hi all. I am new to this group. I currently have 6 ducks. 4 white layers(5 months) and 2 blue swedish(5 weeks). 3 of the white layers are males and 1 female. My question is: the female started laying eggs 2 weeks ago. She has been limping since she started laying. Her feet and legs are also hot. We have checked her feet and she does not have bumblefoot or wounds but we have been treating her with epsom salt soaks and vetericyn just incase we missed something. She started walking better after about a week. Then 2 days ago she started limping really bad again. Could she be getting hurt during mating? She has not been getting in the water with the males, so we have found the males mating in the yard with her. I know she is outnumbered and we need more females. That's why we got the 2 blue swedish but they are still too young. I just want to help her out. She is eating, drinking, playing, and laying fine. She is foraging like a pro. She is enjoying coming inside for her treatments too. We were just joking about her faking a limp to come in. Lol. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[sourland]

It is very likely that the drakes are injuring her. It is also possible that if she enters the water the drakes may inadvertently drown her while gang breeding. If she were mine I would separate her from the drakes and put her with the blue swedish. I would also strongly consider getting rid of two of the drakes.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

You need to separate her ASAP. Yes, they are overmating her. If possible give her a cage, like a dog crate, by the others so she isn’t lonely but has time to heal. You might also be able to put her with the younger blue Swedish with supervision. Either way she needs out of there. She is most likely being mated with all day and night. I lost a female because one male kept after her. I had two males and four females at the time. If I were you I would consider rehoming two of the drakes.

 

[Anjseveland]

Thank you. We will be giving her her own home space. We have been mingling the blue swedish with them so that we can integrate them very soon. Everything i read said they can be put with them more regular at 6 weeks. 1 more week to go. We don't want them mated with sooner than they should be so we have a seperate run for the blue swedish. We also have a dog crate so we will definitely give her a space of her own tomorrow. I never thought about using it. Thank you.

 

[416bigbore]

 

[Anjseveland]

Ok. So we seperated our female, Cheese, today and put her in the run with the Blue Swedish. Well this worked for most of the day but about 5 this evening she literally flew the coop. We have been told that these ducks can't fly long distances or height because of their size. None of the others have. Well she proved that wrong. She flew out of a 3 foot high fenced area to join the boys. Guess we will have to figure something else out.

 

[Isaac 0]

Ok. So we seperated our female, Cheese, today and put her in the run with the Blue Swedish. Well this worked for most of the day but about 5 this evening she literally flew the coop. We have been told that these ducks can't fly long distances or height because of their size. None of the others have. Well she proved that wrong. She flew out of a 3 foot high fenced area to join the boys. Guess we will have to figure something else out.

You could either clip her wings, or put some bird netting overtop the run.

 

[Anjseveland]

We actually have a large dog cage that I am pulling out for her to use. This way she has room but can't escape.