Rough navel reopened 4 day old duckling

[graypes]

My last egg to hatch was a nightmare, it internally pipped around day 29 and I assisted the hatch but the duck took way longer than the others to absorb the veins and was actually hatched but still in shell( butt in shell, duck in cup method) by day 31. Day 32 and I decided to take the shell out of the cup and hope for the best... Came back 1 min later and he had clipped his own cord and was free of shell.

anyways this duck was in a BAD bad way for the first 2 days... he REEKED of urine (just the worst smelling duck like I thought he was rotten but alive?) and he was shaking (like grooming but he wasn't actually grooming just doing the head moves) and just SO SO SO weak for about 2 days. I thought I may have to cull it, but a little extra TLC (realizing he probably needed to be "groomed" and gently working warm water through hidden stuck feathers and uncovering the vent!) (and LOTS of electrolytes!) and now the duckling is much better now and is behaving more and more duck-like everyday!

That all being said, lil Wee Wee (or Oui Oui if you're fancy, named for his eau de pîss) has a rough navel, like many of the other assisted ducklings, but instead of his shrinking or disappearing like theirs, his is opened back up. This mainly happened because I stupidly let them all swim in shallow warm water since some of them needed to clear their nares and kept trying to dive in the bowl. And when I took them out and dried them off I noticed Wee Wee was bleeding from his navel! His scab must have fallen off. The worst part is he just keeps picking at it!! IT IS *NOT* BLEEDING PROFUSELY! but just enough to know that it is not scabbing over. I don't want it to get infected but I can't keep him from picking at the navel all day! I have soooo much work to do today. I put some zymox on it, which was given to me by the vet for another ducklings split open beak injury. *sigh* I wish they made dog cones for ducks...

Any thoughts on how to stop him from picking?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

What's the navel look like now? Ducks don't really pee, so I'm wondering if the odor you were smelling might have been omphalitis, an infection. Cleanliness is critical to keeping the navel area infection-free - no swimming until it's well healed. I'd keep him dry, navel area slathered in pain reliever-free triple antibiotic ointment, until the area fully heals. If he keeps worrying the area, cover it with Vetrap or something similar that prevents further injury. Good luck!

 

[graypes]

The belly area isn't swollen so I thought maybe it wasn't oomphlitus but then again I have no experience with that so I wouldn't know! I don't know though, it was bizarre, this was while the egg was hatching/before hatch. I had to assist and it just smelled like someone wet the bed and then let it dry so their parents would find out lol

That's great advice thank you! I have pain-reliever free polysporin would that be fine? Also how would I know if it was omphalitus?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

It could very well be something other than omphalitis, but your mention of the unusual odor made me consider it.

That antibiotic ointment sounds fine. If possible, offering a supplement like Nutri-Drench or Sav-A-Chick may help support the duckling's recovery, too.

 

[graypes]

I've got them on sav-a-chick which they LOVE and either the polysporin is helping or its healing up on its own but it seems like this lil guy is on its way to recovery! woohoo! I was so surprised this chick had lasted a night after seeing and smelling it while it tried to hatch for so long, never imagined it would make it this far and be a happy healthy chick!