Injured duck

[Chickenmamaliss]

New duck owner here. We found one of our peckin girls injured this evening. Not sure if it was our drake or another animal any advice on helping her, and if this is drake or something else would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Chickenmamaliss Welcome To BYC

I'm not a duck expert, so hopefully @WVduckchick @Ravynscroft @Miss Lydia or @Amiga can drop in with their opinion.

I will give you some general care instructions. It looks like the wound on the back are puncture wounds(?)

Flush the wounds with saline or soapy water. For the face, saline would be better because it's close to her eyes. You can trim the feathers away from the wounds to help you see them better and they will stay cleaner. After you have cleaned the wounds, apply a triple antibiotic ointment (none with "caine" - use something like plain Neosporin) or Vetericyn.

See that she is drinking and place her on clean bedding for the night.

As for what caused the wounds, I really can't say. I have read that an overly zealous drake can cause injury, but I don't know what that looks like in ducks. Puncture wounds make me think more like a dog/fox, raccoon or possibly a bird of prey.

Keep us posted. I hope she recovers soon.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Poor girl!

Areas affected are consistent with drake injuries, but those look worse than I have seen... do you only have 1 drake or more?

Wyorp gave great care advice, keep her in a quiet area, darkened and warm as well...

 

[FFAkids]

Doesn't really look like drakes did that to me. Usually you'd just notice a lot of pulled feathers on the neck area, the bend of the wings, and blood dots from where the feathers were. Your ducks feathers are intact with blood still; I'd say a predator.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Doesn't really look like drakes did that to me. Usually you'd just notice a lot of pulled feathers on the neck area, the bend of the wings, and blood dots from where the feathers were. Your ducks feathers are intact with blood still; I'd say a predator.

I agree.

 

[Chickenmamaliss]

Poor girl!

Areas affected are consistent with drake injuries, but those look worse than I have seen... do you only have 1 drake or more?

Wyorp gave great care advice, keep her in a quiet area, darkened and warm as well...

We only have 1 drake, but he is HUGE! And he seems to be very aggressive with all of our female ducks. These ducks are new to our farm, and we got them during a molt. He seemed fine until the molt was over, then became aggressive.

 

[Ravynscroft]

We only have 1 drake, but he is HUGE! And he seems to be very aggressive with all of our female ducks. These ducks are new to our farm, and we got them during a molt. He seemed fine until the molt was over, then became aggressive.

Separate him for a while, just until hormones calm down at least... small area is fine as long as he has food, water and can walk in small circle... give it a few days at least... if he continues after releasing him back, put him back up again for a bit longer... eventually hormones will calm down or he will learn that bad behavior leads to solitary... you gotta keep your girls safe, they can seriously tear them up when they're blood is running hot...

 

[Chickenmamaliss]

So a little update on my girl. She's doing better and on the mend. We ended up having to put the drake in time out as the second we let her out he went after her. He's been put in duckie jail (an unused horse stall) for the time being. She's doing much better, but has lost the site in one eye. She seems to be getting along alright despite that. She's also walking with a bit of a limp which is most noticeable at the end of the day. Our other girls have taken her under their wings, and keep her with them. They quack as they walk around the yard, and she follows along fine. Her wounds are looking good.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Glad she is doing better, sorry for her eye... she will adapt and her friends will help her...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm glad to hear she is improving, thank you for the update.