Something wrong with my ducks bill?

[Abriana]

I just noticed that Merry’s bill looks like something is really wrong, it looks like it’s super dry but I’m not sure how that happened overnight? It was not like this last night and my other duck’s bill does not look like this!

He and Octavian are buff ducks and will be a year old in August.

 

[chickentrains]

Looks like something attacked her

 

[Abriana]

Looks like something attacked her

That’s kinda weird, the ducks live alone (separate pen by day and a spacious crate in the coop at night) and the other duck was fine, plus my chickens were all ok. I can’t think what would have attacked him and only him, plus the rest of him was fine, it’s just his bill.

 

[chickentrains]

That’s kinda weird, the ducks live alone (separate pen by day and a spacious crate in the coop at night) and the other duck was fine, plus my chickens were all ok. I can’t think what would have attacked him and only him, plus the rest of him was fine, it’s just his bill.

could of been the chickens. Looks like peck/bite wounds on the beak.

 

[Abriana]

could of been the chickens. Looks like peck/bite wounds on the beak.

That’s what I was thinking, but the cage is big enough that he could have gotten away. Maybe he got stuck or something? He grew up with those hens and they’ve never had a fight before.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

That’s what I was thinking, but the cage is big enough that he could have gotten away. Maybe he got stuck or something? He grew up with those hens and they’ve never had a fight before.

Drakes will mate with chickens (which will severely injure and/or kill them) even if they grew up together. If I had to guess he probably tried to mate one and she was not having it.

Edit: the peeling is normal the holes is what I'm referring to.

 

[KaleIAm]

I've seen many threads where ducks have dry peeling bills, leading me to believe that it is a thing that happens. Interestingly, I've noticed that most of the ducks are actually drakes. It could be a coincidence. My own ducks, all girls btw, have never had peeling bills.

I don't think the the peeling bills usually have those spots, though. My own duck did get some spots like that on the top of her bill. I took her to the vet. The vet said it was likely from her putting her bill through the wires of her aviary to reach bugs/grass on the other side and scraping it. She had me put a thin layer of antibiotic ointment without pain reliever on the bill daily, but seemed to feel pretty nonchalantly about the entire thing. I brought my duck back in for check ups and my vet was very pleased with how her bill was healing, even though it took months to heal entirely! So that makes me think that bills heal very slowly.

Of course your duck could be completely different, but maybe this will be helpful for you.

 

[Abriana]

Drakes will mate with chickens (which will severely injure and/or kill them) even if they grew up together. If I had to guess he probably tried to mate one and she was not having it.

Edit: the peeling is normal the holes is what I'm referring to.

Yes I know, they are separate during the day, and caged securely at night. As soon as they matured last fall and began chasing the hens I immediately separated.

I've seen many threads where ducks have dry peeling bills, leading me to believe that it is a thing that happens. Interestingly, I've noticed that most of the ducks are actually drakes. It could be a coincidence. My own ducks, all girls btw, have never had peeling bills.

I don't think the the peeling bills usually have those spots, though. My own duck did get some spots like that on the top of her bill. I took her to the vet. The vet said it was likely from her putting her bill through the wires of her aviary to reach bugs/grass on the other side and scraping it. She had me put a thin layer of antibiotic ointment without pain reliever on the bill daily, but seemed to feel pretty nonchalantly about the entire thing. I brought my duck back in for check ups and my vet was very pleased with how her bill was healing, even though it took months to heal entirely! So that makes me think that bills heal very slowly.

Of course your duck could be completely different, but maybe this will be helpful for you.

Huh, maybe he did put his beak through the cage for some weird reason and scraped it. I have vitamin E oil which does wonders in healing and moisturizing for my birds (and for humans!) so I will put some of that on tomorrow. I assumed it was probably some type of injury/the bill was dry but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything more serious