Limping duck and barely walking

[Yetti]

One of my pekings is in bad shape. my wife called me yesterday at work and said its been limping around all day. the others have been beating on him and he may have broken an ankle running from them. his right ankle has a black ring around it and its swollen. any advice would be great at this point as I am lost. if it helps its about a 14 month old duck

 

[Amiga]

I would start with separating him, if only with a divider temporary fence, or bring him in for some TLC. Large dog crates work well.

Get him in a lukewarm tub deep enough to float, let him get the weight off that leg for a while, and watch for other signs of injury or illness.

Have one person hold him, the other wrap his leg and foot with an old towel or t-shirt soaked in Epsom salts water. Even a few minutes may help, and if possible do that twice a day. Again, even once a day may help.

If you have a vet, you might consider bringing the duck in for a thorough look.

 

[Yetti]

My vet doesn't do farm animals, wouldn't even return my calls when my goose got sick. nobody around here does ducks & geese from what I'm finding.
as for seperating him we have. he is hanging with his two buddies by his side. I tried putting him in the big pool yesterday and he jumped out.
I put neosporin on his leg to see if it would help with any infection. I also have some meds for infection if you think I can or should give it.

 

[Amiga]

Let's see if we can get some others to weigh in, I hesitate to use antibiotics but at the same time, if it seems like an infection, ducks will act okay until they are very, very sick and sometimes that is too late. Sheesh.

Go with your gut on that.

Sad to read that your vet is not cooperative. I am still sorting out the veterinary care system for my ducks. Most of it is me, learning as I go, but I do tap a bird vet (they seem to know more about ducks every visit, so they are appreciated from this household) that is an hour's drive away, and a vet who used to treat my cats, but is closer, and who has chickens and is just a great and knowledgeable animal person. I have heard the best duck vet is two hours away.

Speaking of the duck, how's the patient?

 

[Miss Lydia]

My vet doesn't do farm animals, wouldn't even return my calls when my goose got sick. nobody around here does ducks & geese from what I'm finding.
as for seperating him we have. he is hanging with his two buddies by his side. I tried putting him in the big pool yesterday and he jumped out.
I put neosporin on his leg to see if it would help with any infection. I also have some meds for infection if you think I can or should give it.

Right now I'd say rest is the best thing, give him a couple days of R&Rand keep a watch on the ankle, try to soak it in some warm Epsom salt water in something smaller than the big pool, when I had to soak my big drakes foot I used a plastic dish pan and just held him in place he did great, that way they can't drink the water either. He filled up the whole pan. lol If it's broken he may not be able to do alot of running around for a while try to keep him in a smaller enclousure when he would not be putting so much of an effort into walking just laying around resting then doing therapy in a smaller pool after a couple days of rest. Maybe some kind of Poultry vitamins for extra immune support right now would also help. Jumping in and out of the pool isn't to good of an idea right now . Please post back and let us know how he is doing.

 

[Amiga]

Right now I'd say rest is the best thing, give him a couple days of R&Rand keep a watch on the ankle, try to soak it in some warm Epsom salt water in something smaller than the big pool, when I had to soak my big drakes foot I used a plastic dish pan and just held him in place he did great, that way they can't drink the water either. He filled up the whole pan. lol If it's broken he may not be able to do alot of running around for a while try to keep him in a smaller enclousure when he would not be putting so much of an effort into walking just laying around resting then doing therapy in a smaller pool after a couple days of rest. Maybe some kind of Poultry vitamins for extra immune support right now would also help. Jumping in and out of the pool isn't to good of an idea right now .

Agreed

 

[Yetti]

well I set up the little tykes pool for him and his buddies, the rain should have it full by morning. when I went out tonight he was standing and moving but slowly. I didn't put any pressure on him, the issue seems to be a dominate duck in the other group of 3, as soon as I opened the gate to let the others back in the dominate duck attacked and pinned him down. I have 4 that have rather bad wounds on the back of the necks that I have been treating with the vermictin spray & neosporin. the behavior of the one seems to reflect the problems I am having. he battles all the ducks and tackles them. if I keep the groups of 3 separate they are fine. as of now I have no epsome salt. I'll have the wife get some tomorrow

 

[Yetti]

on the vet issue, I have buddy who is by trade a bird vet. I am tracking him down as he is retired.

 

[Miss Lydia]

on the vet issue, I have buddy who is by trade a bird vet. I am tracking him down as he is retired.

Good idea about the retired vet. hope you can track him down. Oh them drakes guess you know what you have to do there to keep the peace. I'd deff keep the one doing the damage away from the rest especially this one. I had a Muscovy drake years ago that we rescued from the river kill another Muscovy drake that we rescued at the same time. Not knowing this could happen I was shocked and heartbroken.