Is she injured? MicroDuck's caretaker!

[chickensioux]

The one female call (1 yr. old) that has taken care of Micro his whole life seems to have something going on that I cannot figure out. She eats, drinks and poops normally but she is always just lying down. When she starts to walk, she crawls on her belly for the first few steps and then finally gets up. She doesn't ever walk very far and then lies down again. There is nothing that I can see or feel wrong. No bumblefoot, no limping, her belly is soft, etc. Any thoughts? Back injury? I'm stumped!

 

[1lpoock]

The duck might just be lame from something (spains of leg or foot joints, infection). Sometimes they will just heal on their own; however, if nutritional deficiency is the case she will need brewer's yeast added to the food and nutritional supplements. Also, I'm not sure and I hope its not true, but it kind of sounds like botulism. After they eat poisoned or spoiled food, the ducks lose control of leg, wing, and neck muscles. It kills in 3 to 24 hours so I doubt thats the case with your girl...hope she gets better.

 

[chickensioux]

Quote:
Thanks, will put brewers yeast in their water today just to be sure. I don't think botulism she has been doing this for about a week now. Some days I think she's fine and then other days, I worry. If she wasn't eating and drinking I would run her to the vet. Finances are tight right now so I have to play the wait and see game. Sometimes she comes hootin' out of the coop in the morning like all is well.

 

[sourland]

If she is being mated by a large drake, that may be injuring and reinjuring her back. If this is a possibility, try seperating her out.

 

[newchickmom09]

My female Cocoa (swedish mix) was doing this about a week or two ago. The same exact thing! She would lay and when she wanted to move she would amost crawl it looked like then lay down again. If she did actualy get all of the way up she would stand almost straight up like a runner will then walk in a very weird way for a few steps then lay down again. She was eating, drinking, pooping, no bumble foot, no injuries I could feel or see. After a few days she stopped doing that and now she is fine.

 

[chickensioux]

Quote:
This is what I have been wondering. My large ducks are seperated from the calls....BUT....each afternoon I switch the ducks around and let the call ducks out of the enclosure and put the large ducks in the enclosure. I do this so the calls can forage and bug without the larger ducks "pestering" them. There is about 2 minutes that we are rounding up the drakes that one drake or another chases and attempts to breed. We always intercept but they do try. I wonder if one has injured her. I think I will pick her up when I do the switcheroo.