Hard decision

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I am facing a hard decision.... One of my Pekin ladies has a hurt foot- I can't tell if she has her hip out of socket or if something else is wrong. I thought I was going to have to cull her last week but of course waited for my hubby to come home and he stated "if she isn't better by the weekend". She can hobble to the food and the water but the roosters are picking on her as well. So they are not helping her. Today I decided she wasn't going outside to take her bath like the rest of the ducks and brought her in for a spa day... She got to have a quick bath (because of the kids I could only be dedicated in there for 5-10 min) and then drying in there. I have her under a heat lamp and have held her a few times.


She can stand on this leg but you can tell that she is hurt. Is there anything that I haven't thought to do with this ducky? I don't think there is a break. Do you think with TLC she will be ok? Can they learn to live with only one leg to stand on? Or do I just need to throw in the towel and cull her?


Thanks.

 

[duckyfromoz]

As much as I hate to say it... A duck that has lived a normal life- and then has become injured doesnt always cope well. A duck that has to continually hop will eventually have issues with the one good leg. The webbing on the good leg can shrink from them not walking properly as well.

I hope for your duck- that a few days is all she needs to recover-But I would give her two weeks to see how she goes. Keeping her segregated and as immobile as possible - but still allowing her to have some excercise would help aid recovery if there is to be any from the injury.

 

[desertdarlene]

It's too bad that you don't know if it's a dislocated hip or something like that. I've seen a lot of wild ducks do fine with missing feet and parts of legs, but they just walk around on their stumps and don't seem in pain. Does it hurt when you handle her hip area or thighs? Can you move her leg around without her crying out in pain?

 

[ugly ducky]

Don't give up on her just yet. This spring, I bought some East Indies from some people at a swap, and one had her leg caught under the wire of the bottom of the cage. When we got her out, she couldn't use the leg at all. The guy told me I could have her if I wanted to mess with her. So, I brought her home, and put her in a small pen with some duckilings. I checked her leg over real good, but couldn't find anything broken, so I just gave her some quiet time in with the babies. It took about 3 weeks before she could use the leg, and still limped a lot, but at that point, I put her out with the older ducks, and after a couple more weeks, she was walking normally. Now, I can't even pick her out from the others. So, unless your duck seems to be in a lot of pain, I'd just give her some time and isolate her so she doesn't get picked on. Hopefully she'll come along ok. Good luck!

 

[FunnyBunnies12]

I have a female Rouen who was born with a birth defect and hops on 1 leg, the other leg was born fully formed but tucked up like a flamingo holding it's leg up and she does fine. So she very well could do well on it's leg, but I agree with ugly ducky, give her TLC and R&R. Is there any vet that could help determine what could be wrong without getting to pricey?

 

[Mom 2em All]

My oldest chicken started limping early in the summer- and it was bad. She would just sit in one place for long periods of time, and then when she would walk it was with a very obvious painful limp. I really didnt expect her to recover. It lasted for an entire month, but then she began to improve little by little.
She is perfectly fine now.

Of course, her injury and your ducks injury could be totally different, but I wanted to tell you anyhow just so you know that sometimes it just takes time.

Good luck.

 

[Omniskies]

It will easily take a month of rest before she is better, but she _can_ get better. It's just a matter of whether you are capable of putting in the time and energy of keeping her penned up so the others won't pick on her.

We had an Ancona that we got that couldn't walk. You could tell the leg was hurting, because whenever he would stand he would try to balance himself on one leg, teeter, collapse, and then use his wings as prehistoric arms to push himself around.

We isolated him to a very small cage that was mostly covered to give him shelter. His food and water were nearby at all times. It took him two weeks before he would bother standing around, then another couple of weeks before we could let him out.

After a few months he made a complete recovery.

What you need to remember is that if this is a muscle wound, it takes muscles a long, long time to heal. Even in people you're looking at months of recovery. It will take weeks before you can even come close to assuming that nothing can be done. So if you do want to give her the chance to get well, you will have to invest at least that much time. Some people have the time and space to do that; others don't.

 

[lone oak]

this past spring we had a goose that had a hurt leg that just flopped to the side. i wrapped a piece of fabric around him snugly so his feet were under him and wrapped, then placed him in a large plastic container with water and food where he could eat and drink without getting up and kept him in the house near me, after a couple of days i started letting him swim in the tub for a few min at a time and back to being wrapped where he had to lay and rest. was a lot of cleaning and a lot of wrapping and rewrapping but after a week he started useing his leg while swimming and after two weeks he could stand and walk normal. for a few weeks the hurt leg looked smaller but today he is normal.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

Thanks everyone- I have put her into ducky hospital - dog crate in the basement and will give her TLC for a week or two to see if she looks better after that time. I would keep her in the barn with the rest but she had figured out how to get stuck under the door to try and get to her friends and the chickens could still fly to get into her cage.

I have a feeling I will be working on a breeding cage in the barn very soon so that she can be outside with another duck while she gets better.


She is not too happy to be without her friends and not too happy to cuddle with me. So we will see how long before she is quacking up a storm downstairs. She seemed to settle down last night though.

 

[pirtykitty]

Warm soaks in tub will help... also get some durvet vitamins and electrolytes and put in her drinking water.. 1/4 teaspoon to a gallon of water.. change daily... that will help too. If you are on face book there is a Dr.. Scott Echols who is an avain vet.. You also might try asking him...