I put some call ducks into the incubator and hatching day was May 26th, 2013. Everyone seem to be on time and doing well, there was a total of 10. All hatched out just fine, a few days later I noticed one of the smaller call ducks tail was not looking right. He was developing some sort of growth and it was connected by a piece of skin.
As you can see he's loosing his fur and he was shaking profusely all the time, well I just ignored it hoping it would either fall off on it's own or just get better. A week and three days later, I noticed his left foot was flaring out and he was having difficulties walking. He was very staggery and kept falling. The lump has increased with his size. I contacted a vet doctor and he said put him on some antibiotics, well I had some Baytril. After three days on the antibiotics, no results, still falling and shaking.
One morning I got up to go to work and sure enough the little guy was upside down, Soaking wet, laying on his back, he was not able to get up. He was BARELY moving a little bit longer and I'm sure he would be dead. So we moved him out to a safer place, a place with less water, yep that's right He went into the Chicken Broody. LOL..My splash, blues and Millie chick was not to excited about having a strange looking chicken/duck in there house.
I went to work and the poor little guy was up and trying to walk around but still soaking wet because he fell into the drinking water. The drinking water barely had any water in it. I have been talking with BYC member: sandmbaker, she tells me you have to remove it. I was like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?' oh hell no I was not about to take scissors and cut this thing off and worry about my little duck bleeding all over the place. She tells me "you have to get it off, it's poisoning him, he's going to die if you don't". So we attempted to try putting some sort of plant around the skin and tie a hair band on it, Well that didn't work because the next day both the plant and hair band disappeared. Have no clue where it went. LOL
But I could see the little guy decreasing and getting weaker, so I sucked it up, took a piece of thread tied it around the skin and pulled, he hardly made any noise, just a little squeak. Well this thing was not coming off because the thread broke. So I grabbed another piece, did the same thing only this time, I twisted the lump. First I twisted to the left and he would peep. so I twisted the other way, not a sound, I would twist and tighten the string, twist, tighten, FINALLY this thing came off.
Sorry for the graphic pics, but as you can see NO BLOOD. Zero blood, according to sandmbaker, she's said there's no blood because it's dead.
Now it's been Two weeks and 2 days since I bravely removed this growth off of him and let me tell you, It was EXTREMELY hard to eat that evening. LOL
Here's what the little guy looks like today:
As you can see he has no tail and no name. I have no clue what to name him. But he seems to be doing absolutely well, eating like a pig. We have not attempted to go swimming yet, I think I will wait until he gets his adult feathers. Normally after hatching, I will give my call ducks one week and they would be allowed to go swimming under supervision but this little guy JUST AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN YET. LOL.
So I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to Sandmbaker for helping me suck it up and remove this growth that I believe if kept on there he would have eventually died....
NOW IF ANYONE HAS A NAME FOR HIM, FIRE AWAY, I'M UP FOR SUGGESTIONS...
As you can see he's loosing his fur and he was shaking profusely all the time, well I just ignored it hoping it would either fall off on it's own or just get better. A week and three days later, I noticed his left foot was flaring out and he was having difficulties walking. He was very staggery and kept falling. The lump has increased with his size. I contacted a vet doctor and he said put him on some antibiotics, well I had some Baytril. After three days on the antibiotics, no results, still falling and shaking.
One morning I got up to go to work and sure enough the little guy was upside down, Soaking wet, laying on his back, he was not able to get up. He was BARELY moving a little bit longer and I'm sure he would be dead. So we moved him out to a safer place, a place with less water, yep that's right He went into the Chicken Broody. LOL..My splash, blues and Millie chick was not to excited about having a strange looking chicken/duck in there house.
I went to work and the poor little guy was up and trying to walk around but still soaking wet because he fell into the drinking water. The drinking water barely had any water in it. I have been talking with BYC member: sandmbaker, she tells me you have to remove it. I was like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?' oh hell no I was not about to take scissors and cut this thing off and worry about my little duck bleeding all over the place. She tells me "you have to get it off, it's poisoning him, he's going to die if you don't". So we attempted to try putting some sort of plant around the skin and tie a hair band on it, Well that didn't work because the next day both the plant and hair band disappeared. Have no clue where it went. LOL
But I could see the little guy decreasing and getting weaker, so I sucked it up, took a piece of thread tied it around the skin and pulled, he hardly made any noise, just a little squeak. Well this thing was not coming off because the thread broke. So I grabbed another piece, did the same thing only this time, I twisted the lump. First I twisted to the left and he would peep. so I twisted the other way, not a sound, I would twist and tighten the string, twist, tighten, FINALLY this thing came off.
Sorry for the graphic pics, but as you can see NO BLOOD. Zero blood, according to sandmbaker, she's said there's no blood because it's dead.
Now it's been Two weeks and 2 days since I bravely removed this growth off of him and let me tell you, It was EXTREMELY hard to eat that evening. LOL
Here's what the little guy looks like today:
As you can see he has no tail and no name. I have no clue what to name him. But he seems to be doing absolutely well, eating like a pig. We have not attempted to go swimming yet, I think I will wait until he gets his adult feathers. Normally after hatching, I will give my call ducks one week and they would be allowed to go swimming under supervision but this little guy JUST AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN YET. LOL.
So I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to Sandmbaker for helping me suck it up and remove this growth that I believe if kept on there he would have eventually died....
NOW IF ANYONE HAS A NAME FOR HIM, FIRE AWAY, I'M UP FOR SUGGESTIONS...
