Preening gland damaged...

[crc310]

Very long story short.... we had only had Holly 5 days when she was attacked by something... She’s 4 YO and has one eye (due to an old injury prior to me getting her). She had undergone surgery a few days ago and has been hospitalized since because she wasn’t eating when I got her back. Tomorrow she should be coming home. I’m and hour north of Detroit, MI so we have all kinds of crazy weather. They said once she’s healed, she will need to be in a completely weatherproof environment all the time (including protection from sun). What do you do with your ducks without working glands? (Pic is the day we got her)

 

[crc310]

We have a 10’x10’ shed with free range (usually) ducks and chickens. It is attached to a 10’x10’ dog pen.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

Poor thing, it’ll be hard on her not Being able to get wet anymore.
If you’re comfortable keeping her indoors then maybe try it out ? I wouldn’t be comfortable having any birds in my house but some folks do. You could make her an enclosure with a roof either. I’d say it’d be okay if she got a little bit wet. She’s going to bath herself with any little amount of water she gets anyway as she is a duck......

 

[Miss Lydia]

Wonder why she needs this protection did they say? I understand if her oil gland isn’t working she’s not be able to spread oil over her feathers to keep them water proof but don’t understand keeping her out of the sun. Hopefully someone who has a duck like this will be able to advise you. She sure is a beauty. Shade cloth over the dog pen?

 

[Brahmachicken240]

We have a 10’x10’ shed with free range (usually) ducks and chickens. It is attached to a 10’x10’ dog pen.

Sounds great. Maybe keep her in the pen while the others are out free ranging ? The danger is her getting into deep water and drowning as she’s no longer water proof

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’d rotate a buddy to stay with her so she doesn’t feel left out since she won’t be able to run with her flock.

 

[Fishkeeper]

I'd actually let her into the water when it's warm. She's a duck, it'd be cruel to never let her near water at all. Getting wet won't hurt her any as long as she can dry out and stay warm after.

 

[sourland]

I'd treat her like a 'duck' and just monitor the situation. She may very well handle water better than expected. I have no idea why she should be protected from sunlight.

 

[Miss Lydia]

True during warm months just let her be a duck and have fun,in cold months is where she probably would have problems since she could chill easily not being water proof.

 

[crc310]

TY all! I need to work on the pen, it’s not stable enough to just add a roof. I would need to put posts on the corners and make a real pitches roof over the pen (like a carport). I don’t have the $ for that... I adopted her with her BFF a few weeks ago so that would b ok for her to be with her but the reason I got them was to add more females... just defeated the purpose... She’s not friendly enough to make a house duck and my husband would leave me Or the cats would get her. We plan on digging a pond soon but they use a wading pool in warm weather, only drinking buckets in winter. How would I keep her warm in winter? Can I make her an apron (like for chickens)? I use straw in the coop and spread it around the front of the coop. The pen is usually winterized but last year the snow collapsed the “roof” so I had to modify it temporarily with wood fencing. I made it to keep anything bigger than a mink out (not sure if it’s possible to keep a weasel/ mink out of a run?).