Nasty brooding ducks, part 2

[JenInNev]

Im ready to toss the two nasty aunts and daddy duck into the frigging stew pot.

I gave away my ducklings, keeping the all white one. All was going well until yesterday when i noticed the drake chasing the bany (little over one month old).

This what i found this morning:

We have no vets within 300 miles that treat birds. So here is my plan, please offer me suggestions:

• After we soak a while in the tub (luke warm) and I gently rinse her off, let her dry naturally in a towel while being held.
• Apply prescription strength antibiotic cream. Gently wrap with bandage, then a wrap of self sticking wrap.
• Do this 3x a day (more??)
• She will live in the house until healed
• Drake is about 16 months old ... too old for the smoker???

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated

 

[Miss Lydia]

How old is this little one? she may be just too young to be in with a sex driven drake. They need to be at least laying age which can be from 4.5 to 5 months old before a drake can be with them.
She'll heal just do what you said and you'll be surprised how fast she'll heal.
Just keep her away from flies so they don't lay eggs in an open wound.
She is precious

 

[JenInNev]

How old is this little one? she may be just too young to be in with a sex driven drake. They need to be at least laying age which can be from 4.5 to 5 months old before a drake can be with them.
She'll heal just do what you said and you'll be surprised how fast she'll heal.
Just keep her away from flies so they don't lay eggs in an open wound.
She is precious

She is a little more than a month old. While healing, she will live in the house inside an old play pen. Once she is healed, i will keep her and mama in the old duck yard, mean aunys and drake in the new one. Not sure what i will do at night

 

[BelovedBirds]

Im ready to toss the two nasty aunts and daddy duck into the frigging stew pot.

I gave away my ducklings, keeping the all white one. All was going well until yesterday when i noticed the drake chasing the bany (little over one month old).

This what i found this morning:

View attachment 3174008View attachment 3174005
We have no vets within 300 miles that treat birds. So here is my plan, please offer me suggestions:

• After we soak a while in the tub (luke warm) and I gently rinse her off, let her dry naturally in a towel while being held.
• Apply prescription strength antibiotic cream. Gently wrap with bandage, then a wrap of self sticking wrap.
• Do this 3x a day (more??)
• She will live in the house until healed
• Drake is about 16 months old ... too old for the smoker???

Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated

Poor baby!
it isn't the drakes fault. I sympathise, but this baby was far too young to even be with the drake. They can be ruthless and very hormonal, and any new additions to the flock get the worst of it.
That said, if he's like this with all the hens, and is in ratio, this can be remedied by putting him into "drake jail" to give the girls a break this season.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Dog crates work great to separate over night @ruthhope

 

[JenInNev]

Poor baby!
it isn't the drakes fault. I sympathise, but this baby was far too young to even be with the drake. They can be ruthless and very hormonal, and any new additions to the flock get the worst of it.
That said, if he's like this with all the hens, and is in ratio, this can be remedied by putting him into "drake jail" to give the girls a break this season.

I know. I feel so bad knowing i am 100% at fault. I just didnt think beesby could be so savage. But shes bandaged, in the play pen resting. I imagine i will be keeping her inside for about a week (or more) until she's healed.

 

[ruthhope]

I know. I feel so bad knowing i am 100% at fault. I just didnt think beesby could be so savage. But shes bandaged, in the play pen resting. I imagine i will be keeping her inside for about a week (or more) until she's healed.
View attachment 3174076

Your poor wee baby! Don't beat your self up about this -- many folks don't realise that drakes [even the father drake of the ducklings] often don't accept ducklings. I have seen exceptions with muscovy ducks in the wild where the father drake hangs round to ward off the other ducks/drakes on the pond. But more often than not, drakes and ducklings don't mix.

I'm laughing at your duckling with its pink bandage!! Your cleaning and treating plans are great and as your baby is with you in the house, you can actually leave the wound open when you next take off the bandage. Wounds only need covering to keep them clean, but they heal faster if left open. As @Miss Lydia noted, flies are attracted to weeping wounds, but that will not be a problem in your house.

When you do move the duckling back outside with the other ducks, can you partition part of the duck house for it to sleep in? I cannot do that because of the design of my coop, and so I put ducks at risk of being bullied into dog crates in the coop. [I have had 4 ducks in three crates at one time, but am currently down to 3 ducks in 2 crates]. The advantage of putting the vulnerable ducking in a crate rather than, for example, putting the drake in drake jail in a crate, is that the duckling will be protected if the aunts should also be part of the bullying.

At 5 weeks old and having been separated from Mama duck for a week, your duckling will be better sleeping separately on its own and not with Mama.

Please keep us up to date on progress.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I know. I feel so bad knowing i am 100% at fault. I just didnt think beesby could be so savage. But shes bandaged, in the play pen resting. I imagine i will be keeping her inside for about a week (or more) until she's healed.
View attachment 3174076

I second what Ruthhope said, don't beat yourself up! It seems to be a common mistake. Hopefully she feels better soon. let us know how it goes with her recovery!

 

[Miss Lydia]

You may want to forget the bandage if your keeping her inside. Letting air get to it might help it heal better. I have a chicken hen who I was treating for bumble had her foot wrapped to keep the nasties out but It was keeping her wound to moist and it wasn’t healing. So she has been inside for a week and the wound is dry and healing nice. She is adorable in pink though Some antibiotic ointment on the wound.Also you might want to clip any feathers around the wound to keep the feathers from getting into the wound when healing.

 

[JenInNev]

I will take it off. She is resting peacefully. Will need to find a "lid" for playpen (cats) before we leave for fireworks