Swollen Duck Foot!! Help Please.

[HomesteadDucks]

Hello Everyone,
In my first ever post about a month and a half ago I asked about my ducks swollen foot. She was limping badly so this urged me to join Backyard Chickens and post it. Her foot looked like this the day that I got her (along with 5 other healthy Khaki Campbells). Apparently one of the ducks was nipped in the foot by a dog while being captured that day but I don't know if that has anything to do with this. I thought it might be early stages of bumblefoot but I no longer do. Here's the picture I shared then.This was my duck's foot on July 7th, 2015. Her very first day here.


Two of her toes were swollen. The far right one was clearly the worst. I decided not to cut it open and drain it because there was no scab. Instead I applied a Triple Antibiotic Ointment (no pain relief) twice a day plus a daily rinse in diluted tea tree oil. After about a month, there was no sign of improvement. It was actually swollen even more but my duck was now showing no sign of pain. I decided to stop treating it because it was not improving and my duck didn't seem to mind anymore. For the next few weeks my duck continued to show no sign of pain. She was happy and healthy. Today I noticed that the foot was still swollen and decided to check on it again. To my horror, this is what I saw.

The toe that was swollen the most before has gone down in swelling but there is a huge bubble sticking out and the toe seems to be crooked. What still baffles me is how this duck isn't limping. She doesn't even seem to notice that her foot is twice the size that is should be. Can somebody please tell me what the heck this is. Is it contagious? How should I treat it? How could she have gotten it? Please let me know soon.
Thank You,
Homestead Ducks

 

[Amiga]

It looks to me like some kind of infection. Without a lab - and this goes without saying - we cannot be 100% sure. To cover the bases, it could be fungal or bacterial or viral or congenital.

If it is bacterial, it may be resistant to the antibiotic you are using. I think the tea tree idea was a very good one, by the way, as it is said to deal with bacteria and fungi.

If a vet is possible, I would get to one. If not, I would try changing up treatment.

You might try Epsom salt compresses. You could try oral antibiotics - something like Duramycin.

I hope not, but it's possible, there could be some nerve damage and that's why she is not limping. Sometimes that can be treated (St. John's wort is said to be good for that).

If it is viral, I don't know what to recommend aside from a vague possibility of using something with antiviral properties. Elderberry is said to be antiviral.

It could be an infection in the bone - so the oral or even an injectable antibiotic might help.

Those are my current thoughts. I know you care about your duck, and you must be worried.

I found a reference to this on another site - someone's duck had a large swelling on the foot. This is from the response.

"He needs targeted antibiotics FAST (tap the fluid and culture) and after he's been on antibiotics for a couple weeks, it needs to be surgically cleaned, ports left in. Tricide/Tricide-Neo are used as flushing agents during surgery and through the ports for 2-3 days afterwards. Then ports are removed and the openings are permanently stitched closed. More antibiotics and anti-inflammatory/pain meds (+ additional pain meds for 3-5 days following all operations). Further info about Tricide and which kind to use and how to order are here:http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/mmissue58.htm "

As I wrote above, without some diagnostics I cannot say your duck is in the same condition. But this is something for you to consider.

 

[HomesteadDucks]

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately, the vet is not an option. I just don't have the money for that. I will start to use tea tree oil again. Maybe twice a day. The only issue I had with the tea tree oil was keeping it on. The second I let the duck go after applying it, she ran off in the water and washed it off. I'm thinking that might be an issue with the epsom salt compress as well. If there is a way to fix this problem, let me know. I think that the infection was resistant to the triple antibiotic. There was no issue with keeping it on her foot (it was very sticky) but it just didn't kill the infection. I would also love to use an oral treatment but my ducks are certified organic and I don't know if I could sell the eggs from that duck. That brings me to some other questions. Should I be selling eggs from that duck if it is taking an oral treatment? Should I be selling eggs from that duck in general? Are there organic oral treatments that I can choose from? If not, how long after she takes it can I begin selling the eggs again? After a few weeks of treatment I will see if there is any significant improvement. If not, I will consider surgically cleaning it, but I must say, the idea of that overwhelms me. Oh, and one last question. Should I separate her from the other ducks?

 

[Amiga]

I am traveling so I won't be careful of grammar n punctuation.

I also cannot easily get online. Please bear with me.

I would separate her, make healing a priority now. Keep her out of water for 6 hours after treatment.

Try oregano - make a tea 1/2 dry oregano, 8 oz water, let cool, add to a pint of drinking water. Epsom salt compress, followed by clear iodine. I would give duramycin and not eat eggs till she is in the clear.

 

[HomesteadDucks]

I will try that along with the tea tree oil and maybe an oral treatment if I can find one. I have limited options for separating her because I didn't build two houses for the ducks. I am working on a second though but it won't be done until at least this fall. I might be able to keep her at a local farm to stay safe, but it would be more difficult for me to keep an eye on her. I also might be able to keep her indoors, but I don't know how I could possibly do that without turning my house into a pile of duck poop (plus the fact that I have a dog who would likely try to kill her). Also, I just don't know how she will react to not being around her friends, but if it means that she will survive, I'll risk the extra stress.

 

[HomesteadDucks]

UPDATE: I separated the duck today. The ducks have been temporarily living in the greenhouse (with some lawn to forage on) so I just took some wire fencing and split the greenhouse down the middle. She gets one half and the rest of the flock gets the other half. Now the only thing separating her from the flock is a wire fence. I figured being close by would help her psychologically. Anyway, I was applying a gauze pad soaked in diluted tea tree oil and I noticed that the crooked toe is very bendy. I believe it might be broken but she showed no pain while I moved it around. This could explain why it swelled up so badly in the first place. It must have been that dog attack I was told about by the previous owners. Now I will just try to kill the infection and hopefully her toe will do it's thing and heal itself... hopefully. I don't know what else I could do besides giving it a cast or some form of extra support, which I might try.

 

[Amiga]

Glad to see you are paying such close attention. Bravo! Ducks really can heal up from awful illness and injury, they just need some help.

 

[HomesteadDucks]

Thank you Amiga. I've been having one issue though. She's my best layer, and since I only have six ducks I'd be losing money if I can't sell her eggs. This is only an issue because I haven't let them free range yet and their main source of food is a layer feed that I buy for $1 a pound. Is there any risk in selling her eggs? Could I get people sick? Could I just disinfect the shell with some tea tree oil and then sell them?

 

[Amiga]

I don't know all the ins and outs. Right now, it seems localized, the infection. If she has a systemic infection, though, it might (I do not know) potentially be in the egg. If I could provide you with more eggs, I would do that. It's mostly my Buffs laying right now.

Have you looked into Countryside Organic? It's a very good layer ration, and up here in Connecticut I can get it for $32 a 50 pound bag. It's produced in Virginia, and apparently they've started sending it to retailers up here. Just trying to consider how to improve the cost-to-income ratio there.

 

[HomesteadDucks]

I just looked up some locations where it is sold and it looks like the store I go to sells it. I'll definitely ask them if its still there. I'm just wondering why they haven't told me there is another even cheaper organic feed available. Makes you wonder huh? Hopefully it is actually cheaper there.