Help! Ducks foot fell off!!

[FernbergFarms]

Okay. I don’t let my ducks in their pool when it freezes. I got her out of the dirt (even though she really didn’t want to) and I put her in this tub with lots of towels to snuggle up in. She seemed pretty happy to be able to see her flock and get tucked in for bed. I borrowed this wound powder from someone and so I sprayed it on her foot twice. She acts like nothing happened but she is lying down a lot and she lets the boys just stand on her back. It’s weird. They just stand there doing nothing like standing on a rock..I’ve caught them doing this 3 times now. Maybe that’s why she was so dirty on her back. I think I’ll keep putting that wound powder on and keep her warm. Just winterized their house so it’s nice and warm now. She has been slow on her feet for a couple months now, and she even fell one time to the point I had to pick her up. Thought it was nothing since the next day she was waddling around like normal. Do you guys think she could be too big for her legs? Pekins do get pretty big quick and when she was a duckling she swayed back and forth pretty dramatically on her feet because she was big but now that she has grown I haven’t had any problems with her. So she’s just been a slow duck do you guys think that could be connected to her toe coming off? I haven’t found her toe anywhere either. Thought maybe it could’ve gotten stuck to metal while her foot was wet and it froze so she ripped it off but we don’t keep metal in the coop at all because we don’t want that to happen.. there is a bit of blood in there house tho so I’m not sure if it happened in there. Kinda looks like it. Just haven’t found the toe.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Can you separate her to keep an eye on her especiallyfor the next few days. It will help to gauge her condition and to see how how much she is eating and drinking. I've never seen a duck just stand on another duck's back and that could be why she has a dirty back. But, if they are all young, maybe they are just figuring things out - mating wise. How many drakes to ducks do you have?
Also, is there anything she could rip her toe on in the duck house? I have hardware cloth and my ducks have climbed it at times, but they are muscovy. So, they can climb. I check regularly to make sure there isn't any that is sharp. But, things happen and you just never know until it does.

 

[FernbergFarms]

So this will sound really bad and I’m aware of the ratio of drakes to hens I’m supposed to I have but at the moment I have 4 drakes and 2 hens. I know it’s awful! I bought lots of hens this spring and in the beginning of the spring I had 6 more hens and I had plans arranged to get rid of 2 drakes but the home I had arranged for them fell threw and she didnt want drakes threw the winter this year. And all of my hens kept getting taken. It wasn’t even at night either. They’d just disappear during the day. I found one of my broody hens in the woods killed by an animal. And the animals only wanted to take the hens. They only took one drake. So now I’m down to an awful ratio of hens to drakes, and I would separate them but they freak out and the drakes aren’t bad with breeding right now as they are in the spring. I have big plans for the ducks next year. The only thing I can think of that they could cut their foot on would be the chicken fencing ( one of our chickens cut their foot on the chicken wire once by climbing it) they do have a dirt floor, maybe they stepped on some rock or stump. But they don’t really have much to cut themselves on in their house. Also 3 of my drakes are over a year old and have fathered ducklings before and my runner drake is the same age as my pekin of 5 months.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy drake and my Runner drake both will stand on one of their females. My Muscovy sticks to his own females but my Runner likes to chase down the female Muscovy and stand on them. So when it starts the Runners get to have their own space outside.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You def need to keep her and your other female separated from the drakes for now. Keeping the 2 females together will help the one who is injured so she won't be lonely.

Here is where to buy Baytril
https://allbirdproducts.com/products/enrofloxacin-10
Or if you can get her to a vet then they can treat and also give meds.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

So this will sound really bad and I’m aware of the ratio of drakes to hens I’m supposed to I have but at the moment I have 4 drakes and 2 hens. I know it’s awful! I bought lots of hens this spring and in the beginning of the spring I had 6 more hens and I had plans arranged to get rid of 2 drakes but the home I had arranged for them fell threw and she didnt want drakes threw the winter this year. And all of my hens kept getting taken. It wasn’t even at night either. They’d just disappear during the day. I found one of my broody hens in the woods killed by an animal. And the animals only wanted to take the hens. They only took one drake. So now I’m down to an awful ratio of hens to drakes, and I would separate them but they freak out and the drakes aren’t bad with breeding right now as they are in the spring. I have big plans for the ducks next year. The only thing I can think of that they could cut their foot on would be the chicken fencing ( one of our chickens cut their foot on the chicken wire once by climbing it) they do have a dirt floor, maybe they stepped on some rock or stump. But they don’t really have much to cut themselves on in their house. Also 3 of my drakes are over a year old and have fathered ducklings before and my runner drake is the same age as my pekin of 5 months.

I know the feeling of having too many drakes and having a predator take the hens only. I think its because they are smaller and easier to hang on to. Plus, when it happened here, I saw on camera the first time the fox came my main muscovy drake made himself look bigger by standing tall and making his weird drake noises. I don't think the fox wanted to mess with him. I told my husband, he wasn't protecting the hens - it was all about self preservation. Funny, but true and sad.
With my extra drakes, I set up a separate area in the run with a small coop. They have plenty of space and don't cause issues. Could you do something like that? It seems nobody wants drakes. I had someone say they wanted mine - we went back and forth for a few days. Then, I never heard from them again. I thought about making them into dinner - but then I can't commit to it and with the new set up, they are just pets like the rest of my ducks since I can't even eat duck eggs.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

My Muscovy drake and my Runner drake both will stand on one of their females. My Muscovy sticks to his own females but my Runner likes to chase down the female Muscovy and stand on them. So when it starts the Runners get to have their own space outside.

Interesting. My muscovy drake only mates - doesn't stand except to get on board.

 

[FernbergFarms]

Ya, my ducks are pets right now too because the girls haven’t even started laying yet. So I can’t bring myself to make mine to dinner. We are planning on making a new coop/ modifying their house now to make it more safe for the hens in the spring.

 

[FernbergFarms]

This is what she’s looking like right now. It isn’t bleeding and I can’t see her bone right now because the wound is like black. Not sure if it’s dirt or dried blood. I was putting wound pounder on it and I think it helped. I’m keeping her in this tub at night with towels still so she isn’t laying in there house with the rest of the ducks and she has been doing really good about staying in it all night. Is there such a thing as like a silicone duck foot? Like something I could slip over her foot right now so she could get more balance?

sorry this isn’t a great picture.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Letting her walk around outside with an open would is asking for infection. She should be kept on old clean towels inside So she doesn't get any more bacteria in there. Let her soak real good in a warm bath so what ever is on the foot washes off so you can get a good view of it and a really good picture.
Nice thing about towels is they can be taken up shook out and wash and reused
You can order duck shoes online Crazy K farm carries them. I would put anything like that on her foot though until healed because if your going to let her wander around outside dirt can still get in the shoes and into the wound.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wrapping-feet.1255043/