Maggots on duck

[U_Stormcrow]

That makes sense. Live and learn. No one told me this before.



My duck is 7.5 years and in good health other than the leg. She should make it to 10 without a doubt unless a predator interferes. Therefore the feed must be more than adequate since I've accomplished the impossible.



Perhaps living too long is what is wrong.

As I said, for the first few years the legs were straight, then they gradually start turning inward year after year until they break.

And it's only with the pekins, not the rouens or geese.

The rouens and geese walk and run much more than the pekins that usually just sit, so maybe it's the sitting that causes the deformities (ie lack of stimulation of the bones).




I wouldn't describe it as dogfood either.



Lemons?



How long could you eat jellybeans before you refuse to eat anymore and start craving something more substantial?

Every fall I crave salmon because it's the only food with significant vitamin D. My body knows what it needs.

William Albrecht devoted his life to the study of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Albrecht

"I might say the cow is smart enough to be a better chemist than we are, even with
our finest of laboratories. She was a chemical assaying agent measuring the quality of feeds long before we were. " https://www.verdeterreprod.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lets_Live_1952.pdf

The foremost authority on the relation of soil fertility to human health with four degrees from the University of Illinois and emeritus professor of soils at the University of Missouri said a cow is smarter than he is.

It doesn't matter HOW {explicative} smart the {explicative} cow is if its penned into a pasture of all one grass, courtesy us humans. Same for your captured duck. and that its dietary needs differ from a rouen or a goose shouldn't surprise either - the dietary needs of gallus gallus domesticus (the chicken) differs between fast growth meat birds like the CX, high production white egg layers (like the leghorn) and hybrid brown egg layers (i.e. red sex links). Similar differences exist between distinct duck lines, and between ducks and geese.

Modern ducks have substantial and well studied dietary needs (thank you China, particularly with regard the Pekin, which I raise), which differ significantly from the wild duck, or even the French meat duck, due to selective breeding choices we humans have made over centuries to emphasize some traits (early size, particularly) over others. Trace mineral imbalances have a progressive effect on ducks (chickens, too, of course) which normally results in deformities of increasing severity over time.

If you weren't aware of the need for additional niacin in ducks, a nutritional tidbit of infomation that even Purina knows enough to mention, I'm not certain its worth my time to get into the weeds on this. If you do your own research, and you should, look for Huaiyong Zhang, who has done small studies on the effects of D3 supplimentation, low nutrient density (LND) diets to slow body mass growth (allowing for greater bone density early on and superior bone structure), Ca supplimentation in LND diets, and a host of related studies looking at duck leg bones. Nor is Zhang H the only one - China is really interested in this stuff, and funds research for their own food production needs. The biggest limitiation of these works is that there is no emphasis on old ducks, because old ducks make no economic sense.

This should be a free overview/meta study for you to read.

Here's another free overview with links to individual studies.

those should get you started.

My time is frankly too valuable to spend more of it here, when there are other posters more eager to learn, less enamoured of ignorance.

 

[SittinDuck]

Pekins. Apologies, phone decided it thought it knew better than me

Oh ok. I thought you were suggesting feeding them lemons lol. Did you have any comments to anything else I said? I thought I made some good points worthy of comment.

Unless the leg is what should end her. Animals live through the most amazing things sometimes (Just read about a bull elk who had a tire over his neck for two years) but at the same times, basic things can easily take them down (had a cockerel in his own free will fly and clothesline himself on a route he's done dozens of times before)

Honestly I can't imagine anything will be her demise other than an accident or predator. These birds just seem to go on and on in a youthful state.

2 of my geese are 7 and you couldn't tell which ones because they all look the same.

The paleontologists are right in saying the dinosaurs outcompeted us because if not for some calamity ending them they were much better at surviving than mammals. Tissue regeneration is remarkable.

I'm starting to wonder if you think they should only live 5 years that maybe human meddling isn't doing them any favors. Perhaps the "proper feed" isn't so good.

I take no credit at all for my duck's longevity. I simply dumped out a variety of things I thought the birds might eat and left them alone. I spend 5 minutes a day tending to them.

I've already killed too many things by trying to help them (plants and animals), so I'm really reticent about interfering. I can't presuppose I know what's best for them because the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I don't even know what is good for me.

 

[SittinDuck]

Wow, this thread sure spiraled!

Sorry, for some reason that often happens to me.

I admit, I skimmed a couple of the pages though.
@SittinDuck have you tried ivermectin on the duck in question?

No, but I have some. I'm scared to try new things. Like I said, I hate to interfere if I'm not sure what I'm doing. Is ivermectin safe for ducks? How much? How do I administer it?

 

[SittinDuck]

Is it flush free? That won't work for ducks as it would pass too fast thru their system. I had the non flush free capsules and sprinkled them on the food. They will eat it and there's no taste.
You can't give too much, it will be expelled from their body.

I don't know. I don't see the word "flush" on the label. It is Rexall Timed Release High Potency B-Complex with Folic Acid + Vitamin C.

Can you recommend a brand, for example?

 

[Painted Calls]

Steering back to the main topic..

I think to help stop the frequent myiasis, we need to first figure out why they're depositing eggs on your girl.

Can you get pics of her entire body in the place she's staying when you notice them? Have you ever parted the feathers (down to the skin) around her tail and backside to examine her skin in those areas?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I don't know. I don't see the word "flush" on the label. It is Rexall Timed Release High Potency B-Complex with Folic Acid + Vitamin C.

Can you recommend a brand, for example?

Time released is different than flush free. I've not read about time released not working for ducks, so I'm not really sure.
I recommend super b complex made by duravet from tsc or a local farm supply. It says injectable, but you put it on their feed. 10mL.
Or even nutritional yeast as it has more niacin than like brewers yeast.

 

[SittinDuck]

It doesn't matter HOW {explicative} smart the {explicative} cow is if its penned into a pasture of all one grass, courtesy us humans. Same for your captured duck.

Although the duck is contained I'm not sure the cow/pasture analogy extrapolates to the duck/pond scenario due in part to the fact that I supplement the cornucopia of whatever is contained in the pond with near-unlimited variety of feeds including grasses, clover, and various weeds. So I don't think it's fair to conclude that penning confines the duck to unhealthy choices as would be with a cow left to its own devices on nutrient deficient grasses.

and that its dietary needs differ from a rouen or a goose shouldn't surprise either

Agreed which is why the geese tend toward the grass while the ducks tend toward the dogfood even though they have their choice of which to consume with no edict from me.

Modern ducks have substantial and well studied dietary needs

From the perspective of economical meat production, not longevity.

If you weren't aware of the need for additional niacin in ducks, a nutritional tidbit of infomation that even Purina knows enough to mention, I'm not certain its worth my time to get into the weeds on this.

You're faulting me for not knowing what Purina knows? Should I have been born with such knowledge a priori? And because I don't possess the innate you choose not to help?

My time is frankly too valuable to spend more of it here, when there are other posters more eager to learn, less enamoured of ignorance.

I don't know how you got the impression I am not eager to learn, but I certainly don't want to keep you from your priorities. I appreciate your insight nonetheless.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I don't know how you got the impression I am not eager to learn, but I certainly don't want to keep you from your priorities.

Which you have now confirmed. I'm stepping off to go shovel rock, its more satisfying.

 

[SittinDuck]

Steering back to the main topic..

Yes, that would be nice. Although I appreciate all the suggestions, my main goal is to stop the maggots.

Can you get pics of her entire body in the place she's staying when you notice them?

I already posted a pic of that. She sits in the weeds anywhere around that tree. I could take another pic, but I'm not sure what it would show that isn't already known. What is it you want to see?

Have you ever parted the feathers (down to the skin) around her tail and backside to examine her skin in those areas?

Yes of course. I've picked maggots out with tweezers and applied ointment to the skin. There is nothing to see now but pink skin, but I can't get a picture because of so many small feathers growing in.

 

[SittinDuck]

Which you have now confirmed. I'm stepping off to go shovel rock, its more satisfying.

What's revealing is that you took the time to let me know.

If you wish to help, I am here. If you wish to peacock, that's ok too.