Just adopted ducks in horrible condition

[krunchykat]

Hi all, I just bought 6 ducks from someone on Craigslist. She said she had roughly 175 birds including domestic ducks, call ducks, and geese so I wasn't expecting to be buying someone's backyard pets. But I was not expecting what I saw.

This woman told me she had already gotten rid of a couple hundred birds. The conditions these birds were living in were awful. She's a full-on bird hoarder and the birds looked terrible. I took 6 when I was only planning on 5 but I couldn't take anymore since I already have 6. She said all the birds were between one and two years old. They smell dreadful, their feathers are in bad condition, and I'm convinced none of them have ever seen as much as a baby pool full of water. When I got them home I put each of them in a baby pool in an attempt to get some dirt and smell off of them and all six have wet feather. None of them tried to preen either. When I dried them off all six have bumblefoot on both feet. I'm doing a look but no touch introduction with my other ducks.

When I was shutting everyone in the coop for the night I noticed my Pekin Drake looks like he has a bumble started on the top of his foot which means I currently have 7 ducks, or 13 feet, with bumblefoot to treat. How do I even tackle this? How do I get these ducks I rescued bathed and get their feathers in good shape? Am I really gonna have to dedicate 3 hours a day to soaking feet or can I fill a small baby pool with warm water and Epsom salt and do a group soak? I definitely can not keep everyone inside, or even shut in the coop until feet are healed. I'm appalled by the conditions they were living in and now feeling overwhelmed by everything they need. Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Knighstar679]

if you have some pictures of how bad the feet are that might help with recommendations.

 

[Avian Allie]

Some bumble foot can be contagious, keep the new ducks as far away as possible! You can make duck shoes, the layer next to the skin should be medication covered with gauze, then paper tape, then duck tape finally. It will last about two days if your lucky. Give them some apple cider vinegar in their baths to help clean feathers and bolster immune system. Like 1/2 to 1 tsp per gallon. You can always call a local water fowl rescue, they should be able to give you some advice if you explain how and where you got them from.

 

[krunchykat]

if you have some pictures of how bad the feet are that might help with recommendations.

I didn't think of thinking about taking pictures today, I'll try to get some tomorrow. I rescued one pekin and his are larger than I thought they could get. I can tell you none of the bumbles are tiny.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Poor things...I wish you the best of luck in rehabbing these ducks and hope someone can offer care advice. My only word to offer is this- be patient but kind to them. They may not understand the benefit of human contact if they lived so crowded. It may take some time for them to adjust, just take it slow

 

[Knighstar679]

I didn't think of thinking about taking pictures today, I'll try to get some tomorrow. I rescued one pekin and his are larger than I thought they could get. I can tell you none of the bumbles are tiny.

Depending on how bad they are. Someone might recommend vet care or oral meds to the ones with really bad bumble because it might be so extensive. I with all these new homed babies a speedy recovery in your care.

 

[DucksOhio]

Hi all, I just bought 6 ducks from someone on Craigslist. She said she had roughly 175 birds including domestic ducks, call ducks, and geese so I wasn't expecting to be buying someone's backyard pets. But I was not expecting what I saw.

This woman told me she had already gotten rid of a couple hundred birds. The conditions these birds were living in were awful. She's a full-on bird hoarder and the birds looked terrible. I took 6 when I was only planning on 5 but I couldn't take anymore since I already have 6. She said all the birds were between one and two years old. They smell dreadful, their feathers are in bad condition, and I'm convinced none of them have ever seen as much as a baby pool full of water. When I got them home I put each of them in a baby pool in an attempt to get some dirt and smell off of them and all six have wet feather. None of them tried to preen either. When I dried them off all six have bumblefoot on both feet. I'm doing a look but no touch introduction with my other ducks.

When I was shutting everyone in the coop for the night I noticed my Pekin Drake looks like he has a bumble started on the top of his foot which means I currently have 7 ducks, or 13 feet, with bumblefoot to treat. How do I even tackle this? How do I get these ducks I rescued bathed and get their feathers in good shape? Am I really gonna have to dedicate 3 hours a day to soaking feet or can I fill a small baby pool with warm water and Epsom salt and do a group soak? I definitely can not keep everyone inside, or even shut in the coop until feet are healed. I'm appalled by the conditions they were living in and now feeling overwhelmed by everything they need. Any advice at all will be greatly appreciated.

How incredibly sad, thank you for rescuing them. Some TLC and probably antibiotics will certainly help with bumblefoot.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I'm so thankful that you rescued these poor things but this is going to be a huge undertaking. Perhaps you can find someone that may live close to you to help with this project because it could take up most of your day. I would help if I didn't live so far away so maybe if you go to the Indiana thread on BYC you'll find someone that may be willing to help you out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/indiana-bycers-here.730582/page-5690

 

[krunchykat]

I'm so thankful that you rescued these poor things but this is going to be a huge undertaking. Perhaps you can find someone that may live close to you to help with this project because it could take up most of your day. I would help if I didn't live so far away so maybe if you go to the Indiana thread on BYC you'll find someone that may be willing to help you out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/indiana-bycers-here.730582/page-5690

My son is home from college until August since they announced they're doing virtual classrooms for the rest of the school year and closing campus housing. My niece also lives with me and I suspect that her school year is also done. So thankfully I will have some help. But I still need to streamline this the best I can.

I have to move my son out of his campus housing this morning so it will be later in the day before I can get pictures. Is there a point that bumbles can't realistically be fixed? Where can I find antibiotics over the counter? I don't know if I will be able to find a vet that treats poultry where I am since I had no luck locally last fall when I had a duck with an infected eye.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Get pics and we’ll go from there. But you might want to consider reporting this person what she is doing is animal abuse and the birds need to be rescued from those horrible conditions. Bless you for taking these in. Hopefully you can save the rest!