Liquid diet for injured duck?

[picklestheduck]

Did you go to a vet specializing in birds? That looks pretty nasty. Does it ever bleed?

 

[DillTheDuck]

It's not bleeding, but seems to be rotting away. We don't have access to a specialist vet. She is actually in really good spirits, eating well, not seeming in pain.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is an old thread but you may find some good info on it
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/wound-with-maggots-and-bad-smell.231156/

 

[DillTheDuck]

Thanks. I'm pouring through old threads on maggots, easy to get freaked out! We have a betadine solution for flushing her beak out, and after reading everywhere I decided to bring her in away from other flies. Unfortunately she is separated from her friend (only have the two) and it's causing them both a lot of stress. She is trying to escape from the bin we have hwe in and expending wnwrgy. Not sure if she will calm down I'm not sure if she will eat or drink on her own in here. And we definitely cant have both of them inside. So my question is, should we risk her being outside where there are a number of flies (though they aren't landing on her as bad as they were the last day she wasn't eating) and just flush out her wound as much as possible? Or risk her being so stressed inside?

 

[Miss Lydia]

You don't have a room that you can put them both in? plastic on the floor with pee pads over? Maggots aren't something you want to work on a little at a time you want to work on getting them out asap.

 

[picklestheduck]

Even if you have dog kennels, or a baby pen, and just lay a tarp down, and maybe old towels or pee pads on it? Or if you have a garage, maybe less flies than outside?

 

[DillTheDuck]

Unfortunately we live in a yurt with only one room, 450 square feet, which is why we didn't bring her/them in earlier. Now she's inside in a large feed trough bin in the middle of everything-- kitchen bedroom and living room! They can hear each other through the thin walls and they're still calling back and forth, though a little quieter, they're starting to calm down. We got all the maggots out that we were able to and this way she will be easier to catch to keep washing her beak out every few hours. but, we just can't get inside her bill far enough to make sure we got them all. Ugh. I don't know how long we can realistically keep her inside and we just don't have room for both of them, it feels inhumane to keep putting her through all this treatment when we don't have the setup to get her totally healed, but her energy and outlook is so much better today it doesn't feel like a cull situation.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If she is eating and has energy give her a chance.
Hopefully, if you keep rinsing they will eventually all come out where you can get them. What are you using to rinse?

 

[DillTheDuck]

We are using diluted betadine per vets suggestion. Tonight we got maybe 10 maggots out. It looks like they are eating a hole into the top of her mouth which is horrifying. There are so many nooks and crannies in her bill cavity too so I'm not sure how successful we will be in the long run. What happens at the end of a maggots life cycle, does the fly exit the wound before laying more eggs? I'm guessing not. It was not a fun process for any of us and now she is hissing at me if I come close. We took her outside to eat and drink with her sister- figure she's not going to get reinfested if she's outside for 10 minutes, and she isn't really eating or drinking inside. She's such a copycat duck, only does things if the other duck does! well it's a learning process for sure, appreciate all the suggestions and feedback!

 

[Miss Lydia]

What does the vet think about what the maggots are doing to her? That is horrible they are eating into her bill but that is what they do. Poor little girl so very sorry she is going through this and ya'll too.