Injured duck...need advice!

[wisefamhomestead]

Hello,

This is my first time posting but I need some advice for what to do with an injured duck...

We had a predator attack on Monday night and lost our 3 male blue swedish ducks. The 3 females all survived but one was limping and a little bleeding. She has a wound on her chest/stomach. We have her isolated in the garage to rest because she was limping along and trying to keep up with the other 2 any time they moved. We are rinsing the wound with antibacterial wound rinse and applying plain antibiotic ointment. I read about Blu-Kote and that is coming today. It has been hard to get a good look at the wound so I am planning to trim her feathers to get a better look but it definitely does not look worse than it did. She is still limping and hardly moving, eating, or drinking. She did drink a little today and had some green we put in her water. She usually loves oats but hasn't shown much interest in them or her normal food. Today after we cleaned her up she was standing at the water and she was shaking . Every time I go out she is just standing there, not lying down and resting.... Is there anything else I should be doing? We are also wondering if she can swim in a warm bath or if we should keep her out of water to keep the wound dry until it is more healed? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
The pictures are of the wound when we first found it before we had cleaned it or done anything at all to it. I could not find any other wounds but it is so hard to see through all those feathers....

 

[wisefamhomestead]

We are also a little worried about the other 2 girls who did not seem to be injured. They have gotten into their pools some but do not seem to be eating much. They are pretty much hiding all day, which I assume is because they are just traumatized and dont know what to do without their buddies (the drakes were definitely the leaders and the girls just followed them all around the yard all day). Are they just sad and scared still? How long can they go without eating and be okay? I assume they are drinking at least a little because they are swimming some...Thanks!

 

[Isaac 0]

I'm very sorry to hear about your bird.

Could you bring her inside, and set her in a dog kennel or cage, located in a warm, dimly lit, soft padded area with feed and water provided? I would try offering her soupy feed, or mashed scrambled eggs often to see if she'll eat anything, but due to the stress of the attack, and I'm sure this is the case with the other birds, they'll likely be acting lethargic for a little while.

After she has had time to settle down, I would take her out of the cage, and do a thorough physical examination to ensure there are no other injuries, bruises, etc. If you could then trim some of the feathers around the wound, flush it with some saline, take a few more pictures for us, then apply an antibacterial ointment to the wound, that would be good. I would not use Blu-Kote, as it dyes the wound with gentian violet which makes it hard to monitor the wounds healing state, it also contains isopropyl alcohol which generally isn't used in wounds much because of it's damaging effects to some of the good flora on the wound.

If you could weigh her on a gram scale, that would be good to, as it'll let us know if she is losing weight, or possibly getting dehydrated. Start weighing her each morning, and if she loses 5 to 10% of that, tube feeding would be granted.

 

[wisefamhomestead]

I'm very sorry to hear about your bird.

Could you bring her inside, and set her in a dog kennel or cage, located in a warm, dimly lit, soft padded area with feed and water provided? I would try offering her soupy feed, or mashed scrambled eggs often to see if she'll eat anything, but due to the stress of the attack, and I'm sure this is the case with the other birds, they'll likely be acting lethargic for a little while.

After she has had time to settle down, I would take her out of the cage, and do a thorough physical examination to ensure there are no other injuries, bruises, etc. If you could then trim some of the feathers around the wound, flush it with some saline, take a few more pictures for us, then apply an antibacterial ointment to the wound, that would be good. I would not use Blu-Kote, as it dyes the wound with gentian violet which makes it hard to monitor the wounds healing state, it also contains isopropyl alcohol which generally isn't used in wounds much because of it's damaging effects to some of the good flora on the wound.

If you could weigh her on a gram scale, that would be good to, as it'll let us know if she is losing weight, or possibly getting dehydrated. Start weighing her each morning, and if she loses 5 to 10% of that, tube feeding would be granted.

Thanks so much for your reply! I had read a lot of good things about the Blu-kote helping to prevent infection and that is what I was most worried about so that is why I ordered some...Just saline is best? Can I make saline with distilled water? I saw a recipe for the correct ratio of salt to water....Figure I can do that right away rather than waiting until I can get to the store to buy some.

Part of the reason I have her in the garage instead of inside the house is because I have 3 kids and 2 dogs and it is loud and chaotic and I figured that would be stressful to her. There isn't really a place to put her where she would be away from the kids and dogs... She is in a large tub with straw lining the bottom and has food and water in with her. I will try to soupy food!

I dont have a small scale but if she is not improving and eating I will definitely look into getting one.

Thanks again for your reply!

Also, any insight into why the 3 males died? Were they protecting their lady friends? Or just coincidence? Just found it very interesting that the 3 males died and the 3 females survived...

 

[wisefamhomestead]

I tried to trim away some feathers and it didnt really go so well. It was very difficult to see what I was doing because her down is just so thick. And when I began to trim the down feathers they just started sticking to the wound. i tried flushing it with the antibacterial wash I have but it didnt work. I am still wondering if I can put her in water to let her swim and get clean and rinse away all those feathers sticking to the wound?
She wouldn't eat the soupy feed but did eat a little regular feed and seemed to enjoy some greens in her water. So she is drinking for sure and is eating a little bit. The other two have not been too interested in their feed but they were foraging in the yard this evening so that seemed positive.

I feel like I really backtracked with the wound now though that it is covered in feathers. It got to be hard to separate the feathers to see it because they were so short after trimming them....maybe I just need to cut away a whole lot more? I have no idea what I am doing!

Any help at all would be very appreciated!

 

[Isaac 0]

Thanks so much for your reply! I had read a lot of good things about the Blu-kote helping to prevent infection and that is what I was most worried about so that is why I ordered some...Just saline is best? Can I make saline with distilled water? I saw a recipe for the correct ratio of salt to water....Figure I can do that right away rather than waiting until I can get to the store to buy some.

Part of the reason I have her in the garage instead of inside the house is because I have 3 kids and 2 dogs and it is loud and chaotic and I figured that would be stressful to her. There isn't really a place to put her where she would be away from the kids and dogs... She is in a large tub with straw lining the bottom and has food and water in with her. I will try to soupy food!

I dont have a small scale but if she is not improving and eating I will definitely look into getting one.

Thanks again for your reply!

Also, any insight into why the 3 males died? Were they protecting their lady friends? Or just coincidence? Just found it very interesting that the 3 males died and the 3 females survived...

I can't say why the males died and why the females did not. Drakes generally don't protect their females during an attack.

I tried to trim away some feathers and it didnt really go so well. It was very difficult to see what I was doing because her down is just so thick. And when I began to trim the down feathers they just started sticking to the wound. i tried flushing it with the antibacterial wash I have but it didnt work. I am still wondering if I can put her in water to let her swim and get clean and rinse away all those feathers sticking to the wound?
She wouldn't eat the soupy feed but did eat a little regular feed and seemed to enjoy some greens in her water. So she is drinking for sure and is eating a little bit. The other two have not been too interested in their feed but they were foraging in the yard this evening so that seemed positive.

I feel like I really backtracked with the wound now though that it is covered in feathers. It got to be hard to separate the feathers to see it because they were so short after trimming them....maybe I just need to cut away a whole lot more? I have no idea what I am doing!

Any help at all would be very appreciated!

If you think that will help, yes, you can put her in some sterile warm water, just for a little bit because injured birds often have lowered body temperatures and we don't want her getting cold. Pat her dry afterward.

Post pictures afterwards if you can.