Limping duck

[Adelic]

A few weeks ago I noticed a slight limping in one of my pekin hens. She was favoring her left leg. I picked her up to check for injuries on her foot, but I couldn't find anything more than a small scratch. I let her be.

Now, her limp has grown in severity. She never stands with both legs and only uses her "bad" leg when hobbling around. Also, her wing is often held at a wierd angle and sometimes it is shaking. I'm not sure if something is wrong with her wing of or it's just trembling because of the pain that she's in.

I can't image this would be related, but a few months ago she developed small green spots on her beak.
She's 3 years old.

What do you guys think I can do to help her?

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hi, I’m sorry about your duck. First off, let me say the little green spots on the bill have nothing to do with it. Those are naturally occurring on many ducks and nothing to worry about.
About her limp., Pekins are heavyweight Ducks who frequently have foot and leg issues, but there are several things you can do to help her.
1- what do you feed her?
If it’s a good duck pellet kind of feed, it will have some niacin in it, but most ducks can use more than the standard amount in the Feed, specially, Pekins.
You can start by adding nutritional yeast to her feed, 1 tablespoon per cup of Feed is great if you can.
Swimming helps. And Lukewarm tub soaks with Epson salt in the water. But you don’t want her to drink any it causes diarrhea. I use a 5 gallon bucket with a hole cut in the lid for the duck to stick her head out and let her soak for 30 minutes just deep enough to cover her legs..
You could try wrapping it with Vet wrap for support. There are several videos on YouTube showing how to wrap a Ducks foot.
But here I saved the best for last- get some of this liquid B complex complex and give your duck one ML per day. It contains a good amount of niacinamide, which strengthens Ducks legs and feet. It says injectable, but you give it orally by syringe with no needle. Or You can soak a small dish of a treat like mealworms with it and watch that she eats the whole thing . If you use a syringe, you have to be very careful not to aspirate your duck.I will paste a link for instructions.
Some people recommend also glucosamine chondroitin with MSM. I was giving my pekin that for a while, but it didn’t seem to do much. But like I said it is recommended by some.
There is also Epson salt
Poultice you can rub into her leg and foot which may help at least relieve some pain and also the pain medication meloxicam can be used. Let me know if you need dosage information for that.

 

[Jenbirdee]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[BelovedBirds]

A few weeks ago I noticed a slight limping in one of my pekin hens. She was favoring her left leg. I picked her up to check for injuries on her foot, but I couldn't find anything more than a small scratch. I let her be.

Now, her limp has grown in severity. She never stands with both legs and only uses her "bad" leg when hobbling around. Also, her wing is often held at a wierd angle and sometimes it is shaking. I'm not sure if something is wrong with her wing of or it's just trembling because of the pain that she's in.

I can't image this would be related, but a few months ago she developed small green spots on her beak.
She's 3 years old.

What do you guys think I can do to help her?

Feel her legs all the way up to the pelvic bone, feel gently for any heat or swelling, especially down her lower leg and in her ankle. Check the undersides of both feet for any scabs or swelling. We should really rule out bumblefoot. I had this occur recently with my girl, it seemed like a sprain but within a few days she was so much worse and the bumble took that 3 days to appear.

If there's no scab, no swelling in the foot, no heat in it either, then it could be an injury. I don't believe niacin deficiencies are super common in adults, but certainly can occur, and if it is an injury I believe supplementing niacin could really help her.

@Jenbirdee has given great advice for this!