My Duck Has a Broken Leg - Headed to Surgery

[deenamr]

My Pekin is 16 weeks old and has apparently broken it's left leg. I work for a vet and receive free care so the current plan is to surgically pin the leg. Has anyone been through this with any of their birds? I am concerned as to what to expect and how to keep it social with the flock. The fracture is mid shaft in the thigh area. Any advice on making the healing time easier would be appreciated.

Deena

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I've got no experience with this (knock on wood), but my instinct would be to pick a nice flockmate, and keep it with broken-leg-duck... maybe even splint the flockmate's leg to help things stay even....

 

[DuckLady]

How is your duck doing?

That is just awesome that you get to have care like that!

 

[deenamr]

I haven't completely commited to surgery yet. I have everything ready to go for tomorrow but I am afraid that the need for cage rest following surgery and no swimming will be really hard for the duck. I had a wildlife rehabber that we work with come by and offer her opinion and she thought if I don't mind a bit of a limp I should let it heal as is. At this time duck is walking on it - tenderly slowly and limited range. I have it on antibiotics and pain medication. I am just really worried about the social issues and stress that surgery and isolation will cause. It was really terribly stressed spending the day at the vet clinic today. The decision is weighing heavily on my heart and mind. I really just want to do what is best for the duck. I will update with what my decision is tomorrow. Also if there are any more thoughts please feel free to share them.

 

[becky3086]

A lot of animals will heal and go on just fine after they break bones. Yeah, they will limp or whatever but they deal with it. I agree that sometimes our interventions are not always for the best when it comes to animals, sometimes nature is better. Still, I am not sure what I would do in this situation either.

 

[Hoosiermomma]

I would just splint it and then keep an eye on it.

 

[deenamr]

This morning duck (haven't named yet - don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet) hobbled out to the yard and stood on one foot while balancing with the other to eat corn with it's 3 buddies. It can get into a low water tub to soak and drink but can't make it into the pool. I put it in the pool occasionally and it can get out on it's own. I think at this point I am just going to see how it does with supportive care and pain management. I spent much of the night worrying about what to do and I will just continue to hope and pray that in this instance less treatment is better.

Deena

 

[rainplace]

I still don't know what was wrong with one of my duck, Crackers, but she had a bad leg for quite a while. It seemed like it got worse and worse and then got better and then worse again. Much like you, I couldn't bare the thought of taking her away from her friends because she and them would cry so much. Sometimes I worried that I had made an awful mistake, she would try to run after them and just couldn't make it, so I would pick her up and take her where she wanted to go. Eventually I put the feed up by the pond so that she didn't have far to go, but she would get trampled by everyone. Or she would lay down and everyone would want to cuddle up with her and they would step on her, and she would have to keep moving. It was so sad sometimes to watch. Still I couldn't bare to separate her.

At it's worse she couldn't use her bad leg to paddle in the pond, though she tried. She spent a lot of time in the pond and I had to make a special way for her to get in and out.

I also gave her poly-visol once or twice a day depending on how easy she was for me to get. If she spent too much time trying to get away from me, I would just skip it.

It seemed like it took forever, but in the end she recovered, and today the only thing that lingers is that she has one foot slightly turns in. I think that came about from her hobbling around.

You of course know what's wrong with your duck, but here's a thread where a few of us talked about our gimped ducks:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=217224

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

one of our call ducks broke his leg and the vet put a pin in it. We kept him in the basement in a large rabbit hutch for about 3-4 weeks to give him time to heal. He had a cage cup with water in it...too small to swim in. He did just fine and there were no problems being put back with the other ducks. If you can get the surgery for free I would definitely go for it so the leg will heal straight.

 

[Fawnibecca]

My runner had a pin placed and every day I would let her sit in her crate while the other ducks visited her through out the day. There was no problem with this. Go for the surgery if you have the opportunity so the leg will heal. I have not gone through with surgery and the duck never got her leg back. This surgery cost just under 2000 dollars. You are fortunate.