Pekin Limping.. what should I do?

[Chickiee]

One of my 7 month old Pekins ("Clyde" a female) has started to limp. She and her friend ("Bonnie" another Pekin) are virtually inseparable, however Clyde has been lagging behind when walking around in the yard, especially the last 3 or 4 days. Clyde is the slightly bigger of the two Pekins and I figured it was just more weight (but not fat) to move around. Today Clyde is definitely favoring her right leg and either putting little weight on her left leg or just tucking it up like a flamingo... Obvious walking with limp. The limp is not stopping her from walking the yard. I hope she's not walking to keep up with Bonnie who is all over the place. What should I do? Is there something I should be looking for? They are in a raised (2 ft off the ground) coop with chickens so they need to hike up a ramp every night. Although they come right to me and walk with me, both Pekins don't like to be touched like the chickens do so I'm observing this leg behavior without actually touching the leg. They are mostly on rather flat yard grass with some small decorative stones around the patio... or they are in the cornfield next door. Not too uneven terrain here. They are not climbing anything except the coop ramp. Thanks for any input you can give!

 

[Miss Lydia]

One of my 7 month old Pekins ("Clyde" a female) has started to limp. She and her friend ("Bonnie" another Pekin) are virtually inseparable, however Clyde has been lagging behind when walking around in the yard, especially the last 3 or 4 days. Clyde is the slightly bigger of the two Pekins and I figured it was just more weight (but not fat) to move around. Today Clyde is definitely favoring her right leg and either putting little weight on her left leg or just tucking it up like a flamingo... Obvious walking with limp. The limp is not stopping her from walking the yard. I hope she's not walking to keep up with Bonnie who is all over the place. What should I do? Is there something I should be looking for? They are in a raised (2 ft off the ground) coop with chickens so they need to hike up a ramp every night. Although they come right to me and walk with me, both Pekins don't like to be touched like the chickens do so I'm observing this leg behavior without actually touching the leg. They are mostly on rather flat yard grass with some small decorative stones around the patio... or they are in the cornfield next door. Not too uneven terrain here. They are not climbing anything except the coop ramp. Thanks for any input you can give!

About the only way your going to know whats going on is to catch her and examine her foot and leg, look for bumble foot and also any redness hot to the touch in her leg, give her and Bonnie a few days of close quaters so Clyde has a chance to rest and not try to keep up the fast pace that Bonnie has her on now. If you see swelling and redness and a blk scab on the bottom of her foot she may have bumble foot which is staph infection, you can post back here and we'll help you figure out course of action and if there is swelling, redness heat in her leg anywhere then you'll need to address that as well. could be an infection, sprain or both. We'll be waiting to hear what you find.

 

[ChristineR]

One of my 7 month old Pekins ("Clyde" a female) has started to limp. She and her friend ("Bonnie" another Pekin) are virtually inseparable, however Clyde has been lagging behind when walking around in the yard, especially the last 3 or 4 days. Clyde is the slightly bigger of the two Pekins and I figured it was just more weight (but not fat) to move around. Today Clyde is definitely favoring her right leg and either putting little weight on her left leg or just tucking it up like a flamingo... Obvious walking with limp. The limp is not stopping her from walking the yard. I hope she's not walking to keep up with Bonnie who is all over the place. What should I do? Is there something I should be looking for? They are in a raised (2 ft off the ground) coop with chickens so they need to hike up a ramp every night. Although they come right to me and walk with me, both Pekins don't like to be touched like the chickens do so I'm observing this leg behavior without actually touching the leg. They are mostly on rather flat yard grass with some small decorative stones around the patio... or they are in the cornfield next door. Not too uneven terrain here. They are not climbing anything except the coop ramp. Thanks for any input you can give!

You'll need to catch Clyde to get a better look. Is there anything on the bottom of her foot? Is there any heat in the leg?

Is it possible she could have fallen off the ramp?

--- Miss L posted while I was writing. Good advice. ---

 

[Chickiee]

I watch the poultry come out of the coop every morning and the ducks walk all the way to the bottom... No falls, and no jumping off like the chickens do. I will catch her and take a look at her leg/foot... Looking for anything unusual or hot. Will have an update tonight/tomorrow! Thank you both so much!

 

[Amiga]

About the only way your going to know whats going on is to catch her and examine her foot and leg, look for bumble foot and also any redness hot to the touch in her leg, give her and Bonnie a few days of close quaters so Clyde has a chance to rest and not try to keep up the fast pace that Bonnie has her on now. If you see swelling and redness and a blk scab on the bottom of her foot she may have bumble foot which is staph infection, you can post back here and we'll help you figure out course of action and if there is swelling, redness heat in her leg anywhere then you'll need to address that as well. could be an infection, sprain or both. We'll be waiting to hear what you find.

Ditto Miss Lydia, and get little Clyde into a lukewarm bath deep enough to float in. That will take some pressure off the leg for a while, increase circulation, maybe even help tight muscles and tendons relax if that is the problem. If you are dealing with bumblefoot, depending on the seriousness, you may be able to get away with Epsom salts compresses and triple antibiotic ointment for a few weeks.

 

[sharebear29]

Do you only have the two...or do you have any males? A lot of my Pekins limp and it's always the females. I kind of assume it's because the males are being too rough. Also, I've noticed they're kind of clumsy....so maybe they trip over something. I took the first one to a vet to have her checked - wasn't an avian vet just a regular vet and they couldn't find anything.

I usually just check them, as suggested, but I've never found any problems and then just let them go. I feel bad for them but don't know what else to do.

 

[Chickiee]

Good Morning All,
I caught Clyde coming out of the coop this morning and as I held her, my husband examinded her foot... nothing. Nothing weird on the bottom of foot; no obvious injury, cut or skin condition. No heat or warm spots on her leg either. Thank goodness she is walking a bit better today, not limping or favoring her right foot like yesterday. If I didn't see her yesterday, I would think nothing was wrong, but since I'm looking specifically for something, I can still say she's not walking quite as perfectly as Bonnie... just ever so slight difference in her gate. Are ducks prone to ankle twists (or similar) with their waddling? My ducks do run around too... literally, and try to fly. I'm going to keep an eye on her today and see how she's walking later this afternoon. It's a pretty foggy, ugly, rainy day so maybe they won't tour the yard as much as they usually do.

ShareBear29, I don't have any males, just the 2 females. Clyde is the follower when walking, but the dominant one when there's hanky panky in their kiddie pool.

I'll give an update if anything changes; I'm not nearly as scared about this as I was yesterday. I just wish the ducks would let me hold them like the chickens... it's so hard to catch them. They all got "holding time" when they were young.

Thank you all for your help!!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good Morning All,
I caught Clyde coming out of the coop this morning and as I held her, my husband examinded her foot... nothing. Nothing weird on the bottom of foot; no obvious injury, cut or skin condition. No heat or warm spots on her leg either. Thank goodness she is walking a bit better today, not limping or favoring her right foot like yesterday. If I didn't see her yesterday, I would think nothing was wrong, but since I'm looking specifically for something, I can still say she's not walking quite as perfectly as Bonnie... just ever so slight difference in her gate. Are ducks prone to ankle twists (or similar) with their waddling? My ducks do run around too... literally, and try to fly. I'm going to keep an eye on her today and see how she's walking later this afternoon. It's a pretty foggy, ugly, rainy day so maybe they won't tour the yard as much as they usually do.

ShareBear29, I don't have any males, just the 2 females. Clyde is the follower when walking, but the dominant one when there's hanky panky in their kiddie pool.

I'll give an update if anything changes; I'm not nearly as scared about this as I was yesterday. I just wish the ducks would let me hold them like the chickens... it's so hard to catch them. They all got "holding time" when they were young.

Thank you all for your help!!!

Glad to hear she is better today, Ducks are amazing if given half a chance can heal real good. I did get a check about the pool though could she have hurt her leg/foot coming out of the pool? my Muscovy drake decided one day he wasn't going to use the ramp and jumped down from the pool wasn't that far but he is heavy. well he limped around for a couple weeks before he was good again.

 

[Chickiee]

Interesting... maybe it was coming out of the pool. We have a standard little blue plastic kiddie pool. Not sure how high the sides are... maybe 5"? They don't have a ramp. They just kinda flop in and out of it. Do you think we need a ramp for it? They are in the pool this moment... bathing in the rain. So cute! (Side note... They don't seem to be afraid of thunder or lightening... I do hope they have enough sense to go under the shelter if it gets worse.)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Interesting... maybe it was coming out of the pool. We have a standard little blue plastic kiddie pool. Not sure how high the sides are... maybe 5"? They don't have a ramp. They just kinda flop in and out of it. Do you think we need a ramp for it? They are in the pool this moment... bathing in the rain. So cute! (Side note... They don't seem to be afraid of thunder or lightening... I do hope they have enough sense to go under the shelter if it gets worse.)

They probably won't, when it's raining really hard all my ducks stand like statues right out in it. I think I'd give them a way to get in and out, mine walk the ramp in and jump onto the ramp to get down. This is for the stock tank for the kiddie pool I use a piece of fire wood on the outside and they use it to step in. Pekins are a heavy breed and it just maybe what has got her to limping.