Please help!! Duck with injuries, possibly broken wing?! PICS....

[mommyofthree]

Something attacked my pekin during the night!!

It was either my other ducks or possibly a rat got in the coop..?? Here's a bit of background....I got a pekin and runner last spring. In the fall we took in another pekin with 2 runners. Obviously they fought at first (the newbies being the bigger aggressors) but in the past few months they have all seemed to get along great. I can tell the runners apart but the pekins look the same to me, so I'm not sure if the injured one is my first pekin or from the newbie group. My original runner died last week during the day, apparently from natural causes as it was in the coop and there were no tracks in the snow besides from the chickens and ducks. Anyway, I'm not sure if this pekin was my original pekin and the other 3 are now attacking her since her buddy is gone or if it was a predator. The coop is pretty secure but it is possible that a rat could get through if it were in the garage.

So here's what happened. Sometime Saturday night my pekin was attacked. Sunday morning when I went out to the coop I noticed she was bloody but no big wounds that I found, other than a few feathers pulled off the end of her right wing and she seemed ok. Monday morning she was holding her right wing down next to her body and since then she can't seem to hold it up right. She doesn't seem to have any new injuries, but she does seem pretty docile compared to her normal spunky self.

Do you think it was the other ducks attacking her or something else? None of the other ducks or chickens have been hurt. Should I separate her, or would that cause problems when it's time to reintroduce her? And PLEASE tell me what could be wrong with her wing, is it broken?? Should I cull her or could it heal, and what can I do for her in the meantime?

 

[mommyofthree]

I called a wildlife rescue in my area, hopefully they can give me some ideas. I'm pretty sure now that the wing is broken. I don't know what to do.

 

[JakRat]

maybe you can make a brace for the wing

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_mend_your_chickens_broken_wing_at_home

other things i found online said to bring it to a vet and they can set it and what not.

Good luck!

 

[mommyofthree]

Thanks, I will try to wrap it tonight. There's no way my hubby will let me take her to the vet, lol. He'd rather put her in the crockpot.

So I will have to try to take care of her myself and see what happens.....

 

[JakRat]

Quote:
I know how you feel! My fiance is from the farm and doesnt understand how I could love a bird... You might want to bring her in too just in case the other girls peck at her or anything. One of my girls is in the house at the moment after a bit of arguing with the fiance

I just read on BYC that you can give her like a third of a baby asprin to help her feel better if she is in pain. I would search on BYC to get the proper dosage though.

 

[mommyofthree]

Quote:
I know how you feel! My fiance is from the farm and doesnt understand how I could love a bird... You might want to bring her in too just in case the other girls peck at her or anything. One of my girls is in the house at the moment after a bit of arguing with the fiance

I just read on BYC that you can give her like a third of a baby asprin to help her feel better if she is in pain. I would search on BYC to get the proper dosage though.

LOL, my hubby definitely doesn't have my same level of love for animals....but at least he's finally starting to understand he can't change me and I that am much more stubborn than he is.

Instead of saying we should kill the duck when I told him about her wing he actually felt bad for her, and he helped me hold her while I wrapped her wing. My love for animals is rubbing off on him at least a little. He's come a long way since we got married, when he wanted to shoot my childhood dog (that moved with me) when she came down with cancer, rather than pay to euthanize her humanely.

Obviously we did not follow through with that stupid suggestion! And he also swore we would NEVER have pets in the house again after my beloved doggy died, but a couple years later we got a puppy and now we even have 2 cats inside.

FYI, I wrapped the wing and put the duck back in the coop. She really wanted to be with her buddies so we'll see how it goes. If her wrap stays on I'm not worried about them being together, she's happy in the coop. I will keep an eye on her, hopefully this works!!