Maine

[Cknldy]

So funny- I read this thread then went out to feed only to find a frozen mouse in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket! Nothing but 1/4" of sawdust in the bottom from yesterday, don't even know why/how it got in there last night. 2nd mouse found in a 5 gallon bucket this winter without even trying

 

[country chick13]

Help from anyone with ducks please! One of my female, 9 month old, Cayuga ducks got stuck last night in their water bucket (We live in Maine and it was very cold). It is a small bucket and none of them have ever even tried to go into it before. I found her when I went out last night to lock them up for the night. I got her out (poor thing shivering and icy) and held her to me to warm her up. One of her legs is injured (or frozen not sure) and is sticking out behind her. I put her in the coop with the others and put some towels in with her to try to help with warmth. She was no better this morning, so I brought her inside. She will drink, she gobbles up peas (but won't touch anything else for food). Her leg is still behind her but I see she can move the leg but the foot is curled up and her webbing is all tight. She can't walk because of this. I didn't want to separate her from the rest and chance depression but it is negative outside so I figured I'd chance it. She is also wheezy. Any advice would be appreciated, there are no vets around here that will see her. Thank you!

 

[buckabucka]

Sad story, country chick.
I don't have ducks or know much about them, but I'm wondering if there is some way to splint the leg (and foot) and see if things improve. Good luck with her.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

You did the right thing by bringing the duck in. Can we get a picture to see what's going on so we can guess as to how to fix it?

 

[country chick13]

I'm getting ready to give her some supervised tub time to see if that helps her leg. She doesn't sound as wheezy today, and she's more vocal. I took a picture (don't mind the poo, it's green because all she'll eat is peas)

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I would let her rest another 12 hours. I would give some anti-inflammatory/pain med to see if that helps. My choice is ibuprofen. I've been told I'm wrong on this forum many times to give that to poultry so make your own choices, there. I think it's more humane to use that than aspirin. After 24 hours of "resting" I'd see if I could stretch it out and bend it back (poultry physical therapy) and then wrap it into a semi-normal position, if possible, with the wound tape that just sticks to itself (some people call it vet wrap).

The dose is 80mg/kg of ibuprofen in water every day. You might want to go less in a duck since they drink significantly more water than a chicken and that is the dose for broiler chickens. I'll attach the reference below.

I made some for a chick that had a slipped tendon (that we ended up culling about a week later) by quartering a 200 mg tablet (50mg) then crushing that up and dissolving it in 10ml of water to reach a final concentration of 5mg/ml which made it easy to dose in small increments into the water (caveat, I have a ton of oral syringes for good measuring... if you don't have any use a measuring teaspoon - that is 5 ml exactly. Half a teaspoon = 2.5 ml). I made a new slurry every day.



Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 54 (2002) 795–803
Drug administration to poultry
B. Vermeulen , P. De Backer , J.P. Remon

In Fig. 2, a mean ibuprofen aministration of 80 mg ibuprofen per kg body weight to 6-week-old broiler via drinking water during 3 days. Each sampling point is a mean of 10 different animals. In both figures, a large variability of drug plasma concentrations can be observed, mainly due
to a difference in individual uptake of drinking water. Chickens consuming high energy diets require less water.

 

[country chick13]

She had a GREAT time in the tub, splashing and diving for peas. She moves the leg, it seems to be the ankle/foot that she isn't moving. She is back in her (cleaned, tubby time gave me a chance to clean that up) box, preening away. She stood up in the box on her good foot, using the backside of the bum one to prop herself up. I sprinkled some peas and Brewers yeast in her food to try to get her to eat some food. Vitamin mix in her water.

 

[NorthChicken]

Hello fellow Mainers! Everyone ready for yet another snow storm?? Ugh.

Anyways, I'm up here in Caribou, ME and am thinking about setting some eggs in the incubator in another few weeks. I would like some March chicks.

This is my first time incubating, and I am in need of fertile hatching eggs. Do you think ebay shipped eggs would survive the travel time in these temps? I am just looking for some mutt chickens to hatch, but am afraid of shipped eggs freezing being en route from Florida or North Carolina (just some of the buyers locations I have been looking at getting eggs from on ebay).

Anyone in the state have any fertile eggs they would be willing to ship?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Hello fellow Mainers! Everyone ready for yet another snow storm?? Ugh.

Anyways, I'm up here in Caribou, ME and am thinking about setting some eggs in the incubator in another few weeks. I would like some March chicks.

This is my first time incubating, and I am in need of fertile hatching eggs. Do you think ebay shipped eggs would survive the travel time in these temps? I am just looking for some mutt chickens to hatch, but am afraid of shipped eggs freezing being en route from Florida or North Carolina (just some of the buyers locations I have been looking at getting eggs from on ebay).

Anyone in the state have any fertile eggs they would be willing to ship?

About 6 weeks ago I had 3 separate orders shipped: north carolina, arizona and california. Only a few cracked and not from the temps. With the temps as they are right now... you may have some issues... but all this might be warmer in a few weeks. As long as the temp is above 10 at night you'll be fine.

I have fertile eggs but not enough at this point in addition to us eating. Maybe in 3 weeks when some more pick up laying. They would be definite mutts.

 

[lazy gardener]

While we're on the subject of eggs in state: Any one got Dominiques???