Help me with my Crippled duck

[QuakerMom23]

Hello! I am new here. I have 5 pekin ducks born around March 2013. They were all doing well until almost full grown and we started noticing one female didn't want to leave the pond and would call for the others to come back when they all would start heading for their coop at night. She was having trouble walking. It looks like she was bow legged. We have never really figured out where the problem is. We carry her up to coop and she lays flat and hides under the feeder box. She eats and drinks and is laying eggs with the other 2 females. The male ducks jump on her first when they can. It makes me so mad!! They pick on here I think because she's lame. We feed them whats recommended and all seem healthy but not overweight. Well, for a heavy duck breed that is. She does love the water though and seems just find while in the water. She is getting dull feathers and they don't look clean. We feel so bad for her and are at a loss on what to do. Can she be healed? No, we aren't giving any vitamins. I just read here about the niacin and are going to try that but is that gonna help her now? Should we (gulp) put her out of her misery?

Another question, it's just now getting cold here and though they have a nice sturdy, hay filled shelter that we have tried to keep out drafts, can they handle the cold? We live in south Virginia. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[fried green eggs]

Hi

,
Sorry to hear about your little duck. I don't know if this will help but you might want to read through this link as it for leg problems in poultry. https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry
Good Luck

 

[Pyxis]

I'd definitely try the niacin and see if there's any improvement. If she's getting around and still eating and drinking and you don't mind helping her out when necessary I don't see any reason that you'd have to put her down even if her legs don't fix themselves. If possible you might want to separate the drakes from her for a while if they're very aggressively mating her, just to give her a break.

And ducks do quite well in the cold. I live in Vermont and my ducks are out all winter, playing in the snow. When it gets deep enough they 'swim' in it. Yours will use the pond all winter if you keep it open for them and clear the ice away. They are remarkably cold hardy.