Injured Duck Foot

[SometimesCraftr]

I have a year old Khaki Campbell with an injured foot/leg. I'm not sure what happened, but i'm assuming the goose went after her and she sprained it running. Her left foot is swollen, but not the leg. As far as I can tell it's not broken, but she really can't support herself on it for more than a brief second. I have her in the garage in a kiddie pool with food and water and she does manage to get to and from that. I'm not sure why she doesn't just lay by it. I gave her an Epsom salt bath a few times, but she drank the water and I didn't realize that would give her poop-issues. I use it with my goose when she injures her foot, and she takes an occasional sip and it never seems to change her poop. The last few baths for the duck have been just warm water. I'm doing those twice a day right now, and bring her inside the house at night where it's warmer.

I've searched the boards, but i'd like some reassurance. I don't have a avian vet in the area, so that isn't an option at this point. She seems to be eating a little, and is drinking her water. She's preening during and after her baths. Her poop is a interesting shade of green right now, but I think that may be due to the Epsom salt. She's taking warm soaks in the bathtub twice a day and I dry and spray her foot with Vetericyn Wound & Skin Care afterward, just to be sure we ward off any infection that could possibly be going on . I certainly don't want to over medicate, but I also don't want to miss anything. I do not think she has bumble foot. There are no black spots, but the pad where bumble is usually present is swollen as well. The swelling is mostly in her outer two "toes" on her foot. I can touch it and feel around without her trying to bite me. It is warm when I feel it, but she lays on it and I don't feel it's any warmer than it should be.

I have read about Epsom salt wraps, but I don't have any wrap at the moment. Its on my shopping list, although trying to do that myself is going to be fun. Any other advice, or things i've missed?

In the photo below you can see the foot is swollen on the middle "toe" and the outside one. The inner one seems to be okay, or only slightly swollen. I'm sorry I don't have a better photo of her foot. It's hard to hold her and take a photo of it. She doesn't like to be held.

 

[Ameraucanas]

No clue, sorry.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@SometimesCraftr When I have to soak a duck or goose or chickens foot I use a small gallon bucket put the ES and warm water in and stick both legs and feet into the bucket and hold them to soak this way they can't get out and cannot drink the water. really ES would be the best treatment since it helps with swelling and inflammation [soaks or wraps] and for wraps all you have to use is a small hand towel just let it sit in the warm water then wring out just till it isn't dropping then wrap the foot for at least 5 min you can also take a large towel and wrap the duck in it so she can't fight being held. I make my solution pretty strong too 1 cup of ES to 1 gal of warm water.
Could be a bad sprain and they do take quiet a while to heal. also some good poultry vitamins in her drinking water for support would help.

 

[Amiga]

She may have a splinter - that's what Romy's foot was like when she had one. Actually, she has had a couple of splinters. One, I could not see, and took her to the vet (not a duck specialist, but she has chickens herself), and she found the splinter and got it out.

The other time, it just looked like a tiny dot on her foot that did not wash off - I pulled it out with tweezers.

Someone on the forum suggested potato bandages for pulling out splinters.

 

[SometimesCraftr]

Thanks for the advice! I found a big bowl and soaked her foot in epsom salt again today. That was fun. She kept trying to drink the water, but I figured it out for now. She had a nice long swim in the bathtub this evening. She seems fine, eating and cleaning herself, just can't seem to walk on her foot. I will look again in the morning for spots on her foot, but I did a quick look tonight and didn't see anything, but it's hard to hold her and look at her foot. My husband refuses to hold the birds, I think he's afraid. I'm going to see if I can get one of the neighbors that has chickens to help me out.

It just seems very swollen on the foot, not up the leg, but she doesn't object to me feeling around it which concerns me. When I try to do the same to her good foot she acts like i'm trying to take her foot off or something. I don't feel a break, but am concerned again that it could be broke at that first joint on the leg since that is where she lets it hang. I'll just keep her inside and keep an eye on things. I did read breaks can heal with just rest, and to make sure to keep infection away, so i'll be picking up some vitamins to add to her water. I did add some niacin to her current water for now. This is my first big problem with the birds legs, so definitely a learning experience.

Thank you both again for the help on this.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@SometimesCraftr good idea to look for splinters since you had said about the goose going after her I wasn't think about other problems just thought she may have had to run too fast and got a bad sprain hopefully not a break but your right keeping her in is a good idea even if a break they can heal if given time, and tub time is a good idea, speaking of when you have her in the tub does she use her leg and foot at all.?

 

[SometimesCraftr]

@SometimesCraftr good idea to look for splinters since you had said about the goose going after her I wasn't think about other problems just thought she may have had to run too fast and got a bad sprain hopefully not a break but your right keeping her in is a good idea even if a break they can heal if given time, and tub time is a good idea, speaking of when you have her in the tub does she use her leg and foot at all.?

@Miss Lydia During bath time she mostly pulls it up and tucks it under her body while she swims around with the other foot. I had my mother take a look at it today as well. She's a nurse, so I figured she'd know a little about the looks of her leg/foot. She agreed with me that it doesn't look broken, but badly sprained. I was most concerned that because she just lets it hang there and doesn't use it that it was perhaps "dead" but it still has color and it is swollen, so we both felt it was still getting blood flow. It's interesting to me that it doesn't bother her when I prod around that foot. She definitely has use at that leg joint (the knee?) and there is no swelling there, just the foot. I had my mom look at the bottom of her foot as well and see didn't see any little dots that might be a splinter or bumble foot (and i've shown here before what that looks like and had her help me remove a suspicious spot on one of the ducks feet). She will barley hobble around on it, and only if needed. I'm concerned she's not eating enough, but she is interested when I put veggies in the tub with her and she will eat some of those. She is drinking water and she is taking care of her feathers.

I brought the duck she was hatched with, Lemon, in today, who is a Pekin (and OMG so heavy compared to Fennel) and had her swim around in the bath. That seemed to make her very happy. I was considering putting Lemon in with her tonight to keep her company since she was so happy to have her in the bath, but then Lemon started to pick on her after they were out. She has been taken "under the wing" of the goose, I think. No joke, it's like she's her right-hand-woman now. I think because she looks so much like her (the goose is a white Chinese). All of the bird dynamics have been so fascinating to watch. One of my Runner's occasionally gets into a tiff with Fennel (that's this duck that's injured) and they are just gripeing with each other, and then next time I look out the windows they are laying down right next to each other sleeping. I could write whole books about their daily going-ons.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Miss Lydia During bath time she mostly pulls it up and tucks it under her body while she swims around with the other foot. I had my mother take a look at it today as well. She's a nurse, so I figured she'd know a little about the looks of her leg/foot. She agreed with me that it doesn't look broken, but badly sprained. I was most concerned that because she just lets it hang there and doesn't use it that it was perhaps "dead" but it still has color and it is swollen, so we both felt it was still getting blood flow. It's interesting to me that it doesn't bother her when I prod around that foot. She definitely has use at that leg joint (the knee?) and there is no swelling there, just the foot. I had my mom look at the bottom of her foot as well and see didn't see any little dots that might be a splinter or bumble foot (and i've shown here before what that looks like and had her help me remove a suspicious spot on one of the ducks feet). She will barley hobble around on it, and only if needed. I'm concerned she's not eating enough, but she is interested when I put veggies in the tub with her and she will eat some of those. She is drinking water and she is taking care of her feathers.

I brought the duck she was hatched with, Lemon, in today, who is a Pekin (and OMG so heavy compared to Fennel) and had her swim around in the bath. That seemed to make her very happy. I was considering putting Lemon in with her tonight to keep her company since she was so happy to have her in the bath, but then Lemon started to pick on her after they were out. She has been taken "under the wing" of the goose, I think. No joke, it's like she's her right-hand-woman now. I think because she looks so much like her (the goose is a white Chinese). All of the bird dynamics have been so fascinating to watch. One of my Runner's occasionally gets into a tiff with Fennel (that's this duck that's injured) and they are just gripeing with each other, and then next time I look out the windows they are laying down right next to each other sleeping. I could write whole books about their daily going-ons.

It sure is interesting these animals [[birds] we live with. I am glad to hear your mom thinks it's just a bad sprain and rest will take care of that. So water therapy/ ES soaks or wraps or both and some good poultry vitamins should help Fennel get back on her feet. I don't know if you have ever heard of fermenting their feed before but she might like that so I'll give you an idea. take some of her feed say 1 cup to start place it in a jar I use a large mouth canning jar put 2Tab. of Apple cider vinegar in 2 cups of hot water pour into the jar with the feed stir real well then cover with a wash cloth or hand towel the feed will absorb the water and you want the feed to look like corn meal when mixed together with liquid before baking. if too dry you can add some extra warm water. if too wet add a bit of feed. She may like this I feed ff to all my flock and have for over 3 yrs they love it and don't want to eat dry feed. Using just a cup of feed to make yours is just to see if this may entice fennel to eat more.And if not you won't have wasted much feed, although I'd not toss it out but give it to those outside, Let us know how she is doing. Having a friend visit once in a while will help her from feeling isolated too. and also help when she goes back outside.