Partially Blind Duck

[srose0116]

Hey all! My duck Lady the Drake has had an underdeveloped eye since he arrived in the mail. Recently he’s been showing signs of actually being blind. He will continuously miss treats that are right in front of him, especially when it’s on the side of his bad eye. His best friend Sugar picks on him every once in a while. She’s just a lot quicker than him and she’ll usually get all the snacks before he does. She also pecks at him to show dominance I think. And I’m worried she’s going to hurt him more. Especially when she pecks at his eyes. Do you think it’s possible he could go permanently blind? Or is it possible to just have one blind eye? What’s your experience of raising a blind duck?

 

[sourland]

It is possible that he might go completely blind, but without some injury to his good idea it is not probable. Blind birds have to be protected from flock aggression, predation, and provided with feed and water in a consistent place.

 

[srose0116]

Do you think it’s a good idea for him to be a partial indoor duck? Essentially I got the two ducks from Metzer thinking they were both girls. Lady decided that he was indeed not a female. So now I have two drakes in my flock of six. Lady and Sugar have not moved outside yet. They’re about 8 weeks now and it’s really cold out. So they won’t be ready to go out for a few more weeks. I’m concerned about how I will split up my flock now with two drakes. My one drake already has to be separated from the females because he chases one and only mates with one. When he mates with her it gets aggressive, often with her neck pinned against the water bowl. So he can only be with the females supervised. Once Lady and Sugar are ready to move outside I’m not sure what to do. Plus with Lady’s blindness I worry he won’t have enough access to resources. He’s the sweetest duck ever. Constantly wanting to sit in my lap, crying when I leave. And he actually doesn’t mind diapers. I know many don’t believe in indoor ducks. But I’m starting to think it might be the right decision for Lady. I just worry about his social life. He loves Sugar, even though she picks on him. But she hates diapers and isn’t quite as tame as he is. So she will likely do best with the other three females once she’s ready to go outside.

 

[threebrookscorner]

We have a pekin thats blind in one eye and lives a perfectly normal life with a mixed flock of nine. Once in awhile she lags behind if the others move away on her blind side but catches right up.