Injured and potentially sick female duck :( need advice!

[tayjamieson]

Hello everybody!
I hope you all had a fun and safe 4th of July I meant to post this days ago but things got so busy and I feel bad because this duck of mine needs my full attention.

She has been not really able to walk around for going on 3-4 weeks I believe now. Within the last week it appears both of her legs are swollen and when she does walk she moves very slow and uses her wings for balance and support. I included photo's of her legs for you guys to see. I have been doing epsom salt baths for her because I've heard that helps with the pain and swelling, and she also is unable to get into the ponds on her own so I try to give her a bath as often as I can. Not sure if I need to do it daily or how often but I know ducks need to bathe. I also have let her stay outside with everyone else, but given the severity of her injuries I'm wondering if I should be keeping her in a brooding box so she doesn't/can't move around a lot to heal better. Also, one of our boys still tries to pick on her every now and then -_____- he is grounded.

I took before and after bath photo's of her face because before her bath just now her eye looked horrible but now it doesn't look as bad - i'm wondering if she is beginning to develop an eye infection due to not being able to access the duck ponds and stuff to rinse her face off. I usually bathe her daily, but unfortunately I was out of town this weekend so she missed a couple of days of baths :/

She also has a wound on the back of her neck I wanted to get some opinions on, I've seen this happen before and it healed on it's own but I'm not sure if this one is different. All of these injuries seem to be caused by the rough mating, I got rid of 5 drake's a couple weeks ago because they were being way too rough with our female ducks and the girls were running away/hiding.

So what do you guys think? Do you have any advice on how I can help her heal her legs? Is there anything wrong with her neck wound and eye based on the photo's? I appreciate any advice/opinions!! I just want to be sure I'm doing what I should be for her health and safety. Thank you all for reading my post!!

 

[Jpat]

She looks realy beat and sore

Can you post a picture of the bottoms of her feet?

i took in two hens from a "Too many drake" situation recently, Keeping her away from the males , providing good feed, Nutritional yeast and clean water will help greatly

 

[Jpat]

Whats your hen to drake ratio like?

 

[tayjamieson]

She looks realy beat and sore

Can you post a picture of the bottoms of her feet?

i took in two hens from a "Too many drake" situation recently, Keeping her away from the males , providing good feed, Nutritional yeast and clean water will help greatly

I have her laying next to me right now so I will try and take some photo's of the bottom of her feet!

We had a HUGE problem too and I had the boys and girls separated 24/7, now they are separated at night time only. Ever since we got rid of 5 of my drake's things have been a lot better. There is this one girl hen who hangs out with the 2 drake's we have currently and they seem to be entertained with her, she even sleeps with them at night and she is in perfect condition, but occasionally I see them picking on the other girls. No one has been injured yet by the current 2 so I haven't separated them again yet.

 

[tayjamieson]

Whats your hen to drake ratio like?

I have 5 girls and 2 male's now. Before I had 5 girls and 7 drake's! it wasn't by choice I just hatched them back in January and got almost all boys. I got 5 of them adopted by the same woman who adores pekin's, I was amazed when she wanted to take all 5 of the boys and asked her if she was planning to eat them and turns out she's vegan so I felt confident they were going to be happy and healthy.

 

[Jpat]

Ohyeah well hopefully quiet time to heal is all she needs

Like i seid a good duck feed and nutritional yeast makes a big difference too

@Miss Lydia can you add anything?

 

[tayjamieson]

Ohyeah well hopefully quiet time to heal is all she needs

Like i seid a good duck feed and nutritional yeast makes a big difference too

@Miss Lydia can you add anything?

I've heard of using nutritional yeast I'm just forgetting what it does, and I add it to her water right?! I will make sure I pick some up asap! Thank You for your feedback - here are the photo's of the bottom of her feet. Please ignore my boyfriend's dirty finger nails in the photo lol! He is working on a car engine today.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Being Pekin their legs seem to cause them problems. And then added it too it having 7 drakes climbing on top of you constantly just adds to it. The bottom of her feet look good the swelling in her legs is worrisome. But hopefully with rest and the rec @Jpat is giving you'll begin to see her improve, Rest is the key plus good nutrition. I love using Nutritional yeast I use it for myself too. It's full of the B vitamins that helps keep our birds healthy, legs especially. But when one already has a problem like you girl here, I'd go to TSC and pick up the Liquid B complex in the cattle dept. and begin her on it. 1 ml morning and night. Over something she really like to eat just enough she gobbles the whole thing down so she get full dose.
Some use chopped tomatoes, Meal worms, peas, water melon. That's up to you. The bottle of liquid B complex will say injectable but just peel off the foil and use a dropper or needleless syringe to draw out the liquid. Give it a week or more but hopefully you'll start seeing improvements pretty quick. We do this for ducklings and I can't see any reason why you shouldn't do this with your female, what her body doesn't need she'll just pee out. And Water therapy is very important the water helps to take pressure off the legs but keeps the muscles moving so try and get her in the tub or pool at least 1X a day always there to help her in an out.

 

[tayjamieson]

Being Pekin their legs seem to cause them problems. And then added it too it having 7 drakes climbing on top of you constantly just adds to it. The bottom of her feet look good the swelling in her legs is worrisome. But hopefully with rest and the rec @Jpat is giving you'll begin to see her improve, Rest is the key plus good nutrition. I love using Nutritional yeast I use it for myself too. It's full of the B vitamins that helps keep our birds healthy, legs especially. But when one already has a problem like you girl here, I'd go to TSC and pick up the Liquid B complex in the cattle dept. and begin her on it. 1 ml morning and night. Over something she really like to eat just enough she gobbles the whole thing down so she get full dose.
Some use chopped tomatoes, Meal worms, peas, water melon. That's up to you. The bottle of liquid B complex will say injectable but just peel off the foil and use a dropper or needleless syringe to draw out the liquid. Give it a week or more but hopefully you'll start seeing improvements pretty quick. We do this for ducklings and I can't see any reason why you shouldn't do this with your female, what her body doesn't need she'll just pee out. And Water therapy is very important the water helps to take pressure off the legs but keeps the muscles moving so try and get her in the tub or pool at least 1X a day always there to help her in an out.

yes this is perfect!!!! Thank you so much - and thank you for the no syringe trick that is really good to know. Last night I decided to keep her and 3 of the girls in a coop separated from the guys just to ensure none of the boys are bugging her so she will be able to relax as much as possible. I'll go get the b-vitamin liquid and nutritional yeast for my flock since it sound's well worth the purchase to keep everyone feeling good!

Thank you all so much!!! You are amazing.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sure hoping you start seeing improvements very soon