Muscovy not preening keratin on pin feathers: Intervene?

[JustOhkay]

We had a mother duck abandon two of her ducklings outside our business because they were ill. I took them home to care for them. One succumbed to their illness, but the other (while a little lame) is thriving. Named them Keeper Bought a pekin for company and named them Haven.

Birthday was on/around March 5, so Keeper is almost 2 months old. But they still have the keratin sheath surrounding (what I would think are) fully grown feathers. Maybe the feathers aren’t ready yet, but they don’t seem to preen these feathers and I’m unsure why.

Do I need to intervene? The pekin does not have any feathers which look like this. The wild ducks around our business do not look like this. I don’t know if I should be worried or if Keeper will eventually get it handled.

The are outside all day, inside at night because I still don’t have a secure place for them to be from predators. They have water to bathe in and are fed organic feed with niacin.

Photo from behind was from yesterday. Photo from front is from a week ago.

 

[ruthhope]

We had a mother duck abandon two of her ducklings outside our business because they were ill. I took them home to care for them. One succumbed to their illness, but the other (while a little lame) is thriving. Named them Keeper Bought a pekin for company and named them Haven.

Birthday was on/around March 5, so Keeper is almost 2 months old. But they still have the keratin sheath surrounding (what I would think are) fully grown feathers. Maybe the feathers aren’t ready yet, but they don’t seem to preen these feathers and I’m unsure why.

Do I need to intervene? The pekin does not have any feathers which look like this. The wild ducks around our business do not look like this. I don’t know if I should be worried or if Keeper will eventually get it handled.

The are outside all day, inside at night because I still don’t have a secure place for them to be from predators. They have water to bathe in and are fed organic feed with niacin.

Photo from behind was from yesterday. Photo from front is from a week ago.

Thank you for caring for this muscovy and getting it a ducky companion

The muscovy is developing angel wing and needs your urgent intervention. Forget about keratin sheaths!! The wings need binding into the right anatomical position flat against the body. Buy Vetwrap or similar stretchy crepe bandage that sticks on itself. Wrap the Vetwrap round the duckling's body several times alternating going infront of the legs and behind but don't obstruct the vent. Use Micropore or other tape to hold in place. I then use the smallest size tee shirt (premie or newborn) over the binding. I often have to tie a knot in the neck hole to reduce its size so the duckling cannot get its feet inside and pull the teeshirt down over it's body and off.

It's a struggle getting the Vetwrap on. I haven't found having a helper any better but that maybe because my helper is not "a duck person".

Once bound and wearing a tee-shirt leave in place for 7 days. Even if it gets stinky -- just put on a clean tee-shirt. You can check the wings after 7 days. If they look normal, that's great. If they are still sticking out, bind them again.

Let us know how you get on.

This likely is a result of poor diet before you found the duckling and further nutritional depletion during the illness. You might add Rooster Booster Poultry Cell (from your feed store or Amazon) to the ducks' water until they are 6 months old

 

[KathiQuacks]

Right on with what ruthhope says.

I don’t know about the feather sheaths, but I do know that baby has angel wings and needs to be wrapped up right away!
I like the burrito vet wrap method, and the pantyhose method.

 

[ruthhope]

Here's more information on Angel wing. As your duckling is 8 weeks it will need more than "a few days binding" hence me recommending checking after a week. Ignore any suggestions it is caused by too much protein. That is a duck keepers old wives tale (commonly but mistakenly believed). Ducks on public ponds, lakes and streams that are frequently fed bread and other low nutrient food, more commonly developed Angel wing than healthy backyard ducks fed a good diet. There may also be an underlying prenatal tendency to develop Angel wing.

Thread 'Angel Wing Treatment' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/angel-wing-treatment.1252014/

 

[JustOhkay]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

 

[ruthhope]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Keep messaging and letting us know how you are getting along!

By the way, check your local thrift store for newborn tee shirts. Ducklings don't mind second hand any more than they mind branded and new. They don't like any tee shirts! Here are 3 I looked after last year. They didn't have Angel wing, they had been savaged by a dog that got into their back yard. But their wounds were vet wrapped and they wore little teeshirts for 2-3 weeks