amanda_rimo
Songster
- Jun 21, 2023
- 130
- 131
- 113
Hi everyone, new member here from Pennsylvania.
1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
My girlfriend and I have two ducks. We got them in April 2023. Her family had chickens before, but we wanted to get ducks instead.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
We have 2 ducks currently. Dewey and Stanley
(3) What breeds do you have?
They are Pekin ducks.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I love animals, so when we got ducks, I knew id spend most of my time with them.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
when having a new animal around, there is always so many unanswered questions, so i use backyard chickens as a reference for a lot of my questions. it is a really great community, and i have some questions to ask before one of our ducks, Stanley is unable to walk. when we had just gotten her, we noticed she was stepping on her feet a lot and it looked like her hips were bulging out. As she got older and full grown, she is now unable to hold herself up anymore. we thought it was a niacin deficiency, but we have been supplementing more niacin into her diet, and the vet said we are giving her the best feed out there. we brought her to the Vet and they told us we can put splints on her or put her down. Because we bought them from Tractor Supply, there is no tracking of their parents, so she wasnt able to tell us if it was genetics or not. She isnt giving up, so why should we? we ordered her splints and work with her everyday, doing water therapy everyday and putting the splints back on after the pool. She uses her beak and wings to get around on her belly, so i found someone made a duck walker, not sure if i make it if it will work or help her at all. the other issues we are running into is we believe she has bumblefoot now and i also believe she has wet feather. when we put her in the pool to swim the last couple times, she is slowly sinking and struggling to swim. I think she is struggling to swim because she is having trouble preening and reaching all her feathers. i checked her preening gland, and it seems to be producing enough oil, so the only thing I can think of is that she is not able to preen all her feathers because she cant reach them. If anyone has any suggestions on wet feather, bumblefoot, or advice on helping Stanley learn how to walk again, it would be greatly appreciated! Stanley is the sweetest duck and just wants to cuddle and sit on your lap, and we are trying to do anything to give her the best life. We believe we got her for a reason and dont want to give up on her.
1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
My girlfriend and I have two ducks. We got them in April 2023. Her family had chickens before, but we wanted to get ducks instead.
(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
We have 2 ducks currently. Dewey and Stanley
(3) What breeds do you have?
They are Pekin ducks.
(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I love animals, so when we got ducks, I knew id spend most of my time with them.
(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community?
when having a new animal around, there is always so many unanswered questions, so i use backyard chickens as a reference for a lot of my questions. it is a really great community, and i have some questions to ask before one of our ducks, Stanley is unable to walk. when we had just gotten her, we noticed she was stepping on her feet a lot and it looked like her hips were bulging out. As she got older and full grown, she is now unable to hold herself up anymore. we thought it was a niacin deficiency, but we have been supplementing more niacin into her diet, and the vet said we are giving her the best feed out there. we brought her to the Vet and they told us we can put splints on her or put her down. Because we bought them from Tractor Supply, there is no tracking of their parents, so she wasnt able to tell us if it was genetics or not. She isnt giving up, so why should we? we ordered her splints and work with her everyday, doing water therapy everyday and putting the splints back on after the pool. She uses her beak and wings to get around on her belly, so i found someone made a duck walker, not sure if i make it if it will work or help her at all. the other issues we are running into is we believe she has bumblefoot now and i also believe she has wet feather. when we put her in the pool to swim the last couple times, she is slowly sinking and struggling to swim. I think she is struggling to swim because she is having trouble preening and reaching all her feathers. i checked her preening gland, and it seems to be producing enough oil, so the only thing I can think of is that she is not able to preen all her feathers because she cant reach them. If anyone has any suggestions on wet feather, bumblefoot, or advice on helping Stanley learn how to walk again, it would be greatly appreciated! Stanley is the sweetest duck and just wants to cuddle and sit on your lap, and we are trying to do anything to give her the best life. We believe we got her for a reason and dont want to give up on her.
I see you found our Ducks forum, hopefully someone can help you there.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
