Healing Leg Injuries

[Cowetaducksandchicks]

Hi, we recently got ducklings for the first time and have loved watching them grow up, we’re kind of learning as we go. Earlier today while the ducks were wading in our pond I hear I few frantic screams and a lot of splashing, I went over and saw one of our ducks struggling to get out of the water, I went to help it out thinking it was caught on fishing line or something only to find a decent size snapping turtle latched on to its foot. The turtle hung on long after I pulled the duck on shore (I happened to be target shooting while this happened so needless to say, this particular turtle won’t be messing with our ducks anymore). At first the duck seemed fine, just a little blood and maybe a slight limp, but I’ve pretty much been sitting with them the rest of the afternoon and I haven’t seen it put any weight on that leg since. I ran my hand down it’s leg and didn’t notice any obvious breaks, just a cut. Does anyone have any tips for healing that leg? Should I keep it confined to the coop for a few days? I’ve noticed another one of our ducks has developed a pretty good limp the past couple of days, so I’m wondering if the same thing happened to it. I’m going to be making a turtle trap over the next few days (I need to thin out the population anyways). The ducks are approximately 6-week old peckings.
Thanks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Boy thank goodness you were close they will pull your ducks under an drown them then feast on them. Please keep your ducks out until you have Rid your pond of them. As for the leg there maybe a sprain how bad is the cut? Did you clean it good? I’d give your duck a couple days to recover maybe have a buddy with it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How's the duckling today?

 

[Cowetaducksandchicks]

It seems to be doing ok, when I went to their coop this morning it was standing on both legs. I didn’t actually go in their coop so it didn’t walk around for me to see if it was still limping, but even last night when I went to check on them it was moving around pretty well (with a limp of course).

 

[nao57]

Hey there!

Hope it works out.

Maybe you can put up a pick?

Technically it could be possible to stitch the cut if it looks bad.

One of the challenges with animals however is that they can't stop moving around to live like humans can. This is why people have a hard time stitching horse cuts shut...because they can't stop moving they will keep ripping it open.

That doesn't mean you can't get them to heal. Its just you have to be more creative with trying to create ways of keeping them as immobile as possible during the first few days of the injuries. (And if a herd animal is alone it will panic also...if isolated.)

Now one thing to consider is that ducks like other birds have hollow bones. So you maybe want to be double sure there isn't a bone break. If there is ...its sad to say that it may probably not be recover well.

But some people post videos of recovered from injuries type of ducks sometimes. So it is possible. And its also more than likely your duckling may have a limp for possibly the rest of its life. But it still could be an interesting duck.

It would be hard to know better how to treat this without knowing how big/bad the cut is.

One of the old school vet sprays was this old yellow aerosol sprays they used to use on animals that would help keep it clean and free of flies and germs. But I forgot what its called. But an issue with this kind of wound spray also is that ducks are always getting wet, so it might just make a mess. And it wouldn't do any good if your duckling keeps getting wet.

How deep is the cut also, not just how long? And has it penetrated through the tendons?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good to hear. If you want to see what a snapping turtle can do
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sad-news.1386194/page-3#post-22771793

or go to you tube I was given a video of a snapping turtle drowning an adult duck I can't imagine standing and watching and not doing anything to help.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Just checking in to see how your bird is doing. Updates to these type of threads are quite useful for people in the future experiencing the same problem.