Treating Wry Neck In Crested Duckling *EDITED TITLE*

[jenniemig]

Just an update...Qwackers got to play in the grass for the first time today!

It took forever, but I finally got a fence up so that they could have some space to safely forage. They refused to go out so I had to pick them up and place them outside of the run one by one. It was also the first time the ducks and chickens were together without a divider. Qwackers quickly let all of the chickens know he was the BOSS!

All three of his girls are laying, I get 3 eggs everyday. I collect them every morning so there is no chance for any ducklings with his crested gene.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just an update...Qwackers got to play in the grass for the first time today!

It took forever, but I finally got a fence up so that they could have some space to safely forage. They refused to go out so I had to pick them up and place them outside of the run one by one. It was also the first time the ducks and chickens were together without a divider. Qwackers quickly let all of the chickens know he was the BOSS!

All three of his girls are laying, I get 3 eggs everyday. I collect them every morning so there is no chance for any ducklings with his crested gene.

Hi jennimig, so good to see you and to see Qwackers . great looking space you have for them and they all look so good and healthy. Qwackers looks amazing Very hard to look at him and remember what all he had to go through to get to this point. He never would have either with out you. Thanks for updating.

 

[desertdarlene]

Yay Quackers! That's a really big crest he's got. Makes me wonder if the hole in his skull was also big.

 

[Amiga]

 

[jenniemig]

Yay Quackers!  That's a really big crest he's got.  Makes me wonder if the hole in his skull was also big.

His crest covers the entire top of his head and down the sides a bit. The opening in his skull is not quite as big as his crest, but is close. I've often thought about making him a little helmet;-) I will never let any of their eggs hatch and continue his crested gene. Just seems cruel to me. I have to say though...i never thought I could be this attached to a duck, I love my boy Qwackers♡

 

[Miss Lydia]

His crest covers the entire top of his head and down the sides a bit. The opening in his skull is not quite as big as his crest, but is close. I've often thought about making him a little helmet;-) I will never let any of their eggs hatch and continue his crested gene. Just seems cruel to me. I have to say though...i never thought I could be this attached to a duck, I love my boy Qwackers♡

I love him too.

 

[jenniemig]

Well Qwackers has bumble foot

He was fine yesterday and limping today. He has a lump about the size of a small grape on the pad on his left foot. I have a call in to my vet, who does not treat ducks, and another vet that does. I need to find someone to remove the bumble, then I can do all of the follow-up myself. I am hoping that my vet will agree to do it for a small fee, if not I'm going to have to do it myself. I am going to prepare an area in my garage tonight for him to convalesce before he can go back outside. My husbands response was "so, we're going to have a duck in the house for thanksgiving?" I'm sure his family will think that I have lost my mind, but I love my boy Qwackers

 

[Amiga]

Oh, not good news. But you are such a good duck person I know Qwackers is going to be okay.

In the meantime, Epsom salt compresses followed with either

triple antibiotic ointment without painkiller at bedtime, and preferably a couple more times during the day

or

a couple of drops of clear iodine - not brown iodine - on the middle of the bumble, then leave it be for 4 or 5 days.

Neither are fast solutions, both are non-invasive and have been used effectively by either me or other BYC DF members.

Here is Haunted55's report of her accidental discovery of using the clear iodine method.

On July 1st, I found one of my Pekin ducks with what I would consider a bad case of Bumblefoot. Both feet were involved and I'm ashamed to say, the only way I found it was she was limping. One foot had 7 and the other had 3. I was able to grab her and bring her into the house and put her into a warm bath to clean and soak. Two water changes later and softened feet, all I had time to do was paint the bumbles with colorless iodine, grabbed the wrong stuff, and put her into a dog crate in my house until I could get everything ready to operate and get them gone. Did I mention the thought of this scared me half to death?

Sad to say it took 6 days before i was able to get everything together and someone to help out with the 'cure'. The following pictures are what we found after the bath we gave before the planned surgery to remove these things.




















As can be seen, there really wasn't much to operate on, even though I was prepared to do just that. No matter how much squeezing or prodding or soaking, there just wasn't anything more to come out, it was all on the scabs that were covering the sores. The swelling was down from the 'marbles' I saw when I first found them. I poured betadine over the ones I had opened and painted the ones that I hadn't again with the iodine and put her back into her crate with clean bedding.

the next pictures are of the same Pekin and anothe duck, Dottie the Mallard, who was also found limping.












As can be seen in the first two pictures, the bumbles have been dramatically reduced on the Pekin with just the iodine application and the smaller ones totally gone. The last four pictures are of the Mallard who is still under going the iodine applications.

As can be seen, this is how the left and right foot look tonight on the Pekin duck. The heels being the worst are still showing infection and need for more treatment. tomorrow, I will again give a bath and pull/cut out the scabbing and treat with straight iodine this time. These spots are now flat or as flat as they should be considering the part of the foot they are on. I will still touch up the places that had the spots before as well.

 

[jenniemig]

Amiga, your saying the brown iodine is BAD right?

 

[Amiga]

Not bad exactly - but the clear iodine acts a little differently. I don't think the plug would form with brown iodine.