Reintroducing Injured Duck Question

[JunieB]

One of our ducks has been separated from the flock for about 2 weeks now and has healed up really well from an injury. While I'm giving her a little bit longer just to make sure she's full up, should we wait until she has no visible injury (no missing feathers or scabs) to reintroduce her? I don't want to sabotage their reunion because of a scab

Thank you in advance!

 

[sourland]

How many drakes are in the flock?

 

[3bird]

What was the original injury? If the duck is ready to be back out, I'd get the duck back out and in sight of the rest of the flock but separated. In our experience, you need to let them get re-acquainted this way before mingling again. At that point, I'd make sure to supervise. They will likely have to re-establish their whole pecking order. It's best to take the time in our experience. As I think @sourland was suggesting above, it would be good to know the root cause of the injury and have a plan for mitigating a repeat. Best of luck and keep us posted!

 

[JunieB]

How many drakes are in the flock?

No drakes, they are all female

 

[sourland]

How was she injured?

 

[JunieB]

What was the original injury? If the duck is ready to be back out, I'd get the duck back out and in sight of the rest of the flock but separated. In our experience, you need to let them get re-acquainted this way before mingling again. At that point, I'd make sure to supervise. They will likely have to re-establish their whole pecking order. It's best to take the time in our experience. As I think @sourland was suggesting above, it would be good to know the root cause of the injury and have a plan for mitigating a repeat. Best of luck and keep us posted!

She was attacked outside of the pen by a predator and had a wound in her breast. The wound is almost fully healed, mostly just scabs and missing feathers now. I appreciate your help!

 

[sourland]

If she has normal mobility, given that there are no drakes in the flock, I'd add one of the mild flock members to her pen for a couple of days and then monitor their introduction to the rest of the flock.

 

[JunieB]

If she has normal mobility, given that there are no drakes in the flock, I'd add one of the mild flock members to her pen for a couple of days and then monitor their introduction to the rest of the flock.

Okay, that sounds good. Thank you for the suggestion, I'll try this in a couple days and see how they do

 

[sourland]

Good luck. Be sure to update.

 

[JunieB]

Good luck. Be sure to update.

We've had some success! She's getting along well with her buddy and they both did really well with a short flock reintroduction yesterday evening. Hoping to get everyone back together this weekend