very injured duck in need of help

[Amiga]

Great!

 

[JensChickies]

made her up a new mix with some banana in is (little runnier then baby food) and she was interested in it. not sure if she was actually eating or just rooting around in it bit i think at least some got eaten.

That's good to hear!

 

[KaziCritter]

Was able to get better bandages today, her last one tried sticking again so even if a pad is coated in vaseline leaving it on for even 24 hours is risking having it stick. that last bit of the first bandage finally let go without ripping anything. was doubting what that hole was in, but that last piece letting go cleared the view to the hole and during her bath today i was able to clearly see water draining from it as she tried drinking. the hole is also a little bigger then it was a few days ago and opens when she moves her neck (upright the hole is mostly shut but head down or forward opens it up), however there has been no food or orange (from her drinking water) on the inside of the bandage so i think that the bandage is holding it closed.

her bandage now consists of a nonstick pad coated with vaseline (to ensure no sticking, provide a seal, and moisten the wound a bit since its pretty dry with no bleeding or weeping except for the hole) and neosporin. the pad got lightly secured with gauze wrap then the same gauze was used to secure a gauze pad around her entire neck. over that went the vet wrap, still not pulled tight only tight enough to keep everything from falling off. hope that is close enough to a correct bandage since i dont really dare add more, as it is she cant really move any of her neck with this new bandage. with no bandage she's still moving as if unwounded with the exception of trying not to touch the wound, but still does the full range of motion used for preening.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Was able to get better bandages today, her last one tried sticking again so even if a pad is coated in vaseline leaving it on for even 24 hours is risking having it stick. that last bit of the first bandage finally let go without ripping anything. was doubting what that hole was in, but that last piece letting go cleared the view to the hole and during her bath today i was able to clearly see water draining from it as she tried drinking. the hole is also a little bigger then it was a few days ago and opens when she moves her neck (upright the hole is mostly shut but head down or forward opens it up), however there has been no food or orange (from her drinking water) on the inside of the bandage so i think that the bandage is holding it closed.

her bandage now consists of a nonstick pad coated with vaseline (to ensure no sticking, provide a seal, and moisten the wound a bit since its pretty dry with no bleeding or weeping except for the hole) and neosporin. the pad got lightly secured with gauze wrap then the same gauze was used to secure a gauze pad around her entire neck. over that went the vet wrap, still not pulled tight only tight enough to keep everything from falling off. hope that is close enough to a correct bandage since i dont really dare add more, as it is she cant really move any of her neck with this new bandage. with no bandage she's still moving as if unwounded with the exception of trying not to touch the wound, but still does the full range of motion used for preening.

That sounds like she has made progress, does it look like the hole in her neck has begun to heal? or is it about the same size as when you last saw the bubbles? seems it would have to be closing up?. so glad to hear the bandage seems to be holding the hole closed though, sounds like she is eating and drinking to that's great to hear and full range of motion with her neck, they are surely amazing. Good doctoring helps too. Is the wound scabbing over good?

 

[KaziCritter]

the edges of the skin are scabbing, the wound itself no longer looks raw pink and is getting a bit deeper in color (from cotton candy pink on the neck muscle to a deep salmon pink). she wont hold still long enough for me to really examine the hole so i dont know if its just stretched or if it tore larger, it did seem a bit larger then when i took the photos. cant tell if its healing at all yet, but im betting its going to be one of those that doesnt show any progress healing until one day is half or fully closed suddenly. the crop also seems to be scabbing over a bit, the dark from the top now covers over half of it and feels like a soft scab (little stiff but still able to bend and move with that scab texture).

 

[Miss Lydia]

the edges of the skin are scabbing, the wound itself no longer looks raw pink and is getting a bit deeper in color (from cotton candy pink on the neck muscle to a deep salmon pink). she wont hold still long enough for me to really examine the hole so i dont know if its just stretched or if it tore larger, it did seem a bit larger then when i took the photos. cant tell if its healing at all yet, but im betting its going to be one of those that doesnt show any progress healing until one day is half or fully closed suddenly. the crop also seems to be scabbing over a bit, the dark from the top now covers over half of it and feels like a soft scab (little stiff but still able to bend and move with that scab texture).

Her progress sounds like it is going great. Can you believe you thought about putting her down when it first happened? I know if it happened to one of mine I would have though the same , but they amaze me daily the way they can come back from such horrendous injuries. Thanks for keeping the updates coming. How's her attitude?

 

[KaziCritter]

first bird injury worse then a few pulled feathers so i had no idea what they were capable of coming back from or how she would respond to treatment. before this i lost about 1/3 of my flock to illness or something (took out half my ducks and about 1/4 of my chickens, nothing i tried did anything to help them. hit suddenly with no signs either), so thats all i had to go on for trying to save them. hence my thoughts she wouldnt make it and putting her down would be more humane then just extending her life while she suffered.

as for attitude, she doing quite well considering she is one of my most skittish birds. ive been bringing in one of my other ducks for a few min the last few days to help keep her from getting too lonely (drop the side of the box, she stays inside and the visitor stays outside with no contact). lets her socialize a little while supervised and seems to greatly improve her attitude. after each visit shes more interested in her food and water too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

first bird injury worse then a few pulled feathers so i had no idea what they were capable of coming back from or how she would respond to treatment. before this i lost about 1/3 of my flock to illness or something (took out half my ducks and about 1/4 of my chickens, nothing i tried did anything to help them. hit suddenly with no signs either), so thats all i had to go on for trying to save them. hence my thoughts she wouldnt make it and putting her down would be more humane then just extending her life while she suffered.

as for attitude, she doing quite well considering she is one of my most skittish birds. ive been bringing in one of my other ducks for a few min the last few days to help keep her from getting too lonely (drop the side of the box, she stays inside and the visitor stays outside with no contact). lets her socialize a little while supervised and seems to greatly improve her attitude. after each visit shes more interested in her food and water too.

That's great she has visiting hours. Sounds like she will have no trouble getting through this. Now lets just hope that dog doesn't come around again. I'm glad you waited and gave this girl a chance and giving the others a chance to see her will help when it's time to put her back outside too.
Very sorry about the others you lost. Who got sick first chickens or ducks?

 

[KaziCritter]

ducks were first. i think the first was a ~2 month old pekin, then a pair of 1.5 month old sweedish (were very sweet little ducks, rivaling my rouen drake for friendliness). then it hit my chickens for several birds, both layers and a few cornish crosses. last one to be hit was about 3 months and was the sister to my injured duck, very pretty crested fawn with markings that seem mostly match sweedish breed. they were eating and drinking and acting perfectly fine until about 3-4 hours before they died (several went to bed appearing entirely healthy but were dead come morning).

might not seem nice but i kinda wish this girl got hit with it instead of her sister. her sister was real pretty and would have likely produced real pretty ducklings, this girl might too but her crest is about 1/4 the size of her sisters and is on the side of her head instead of centered on the top back and her coloration is cream on white instead of fawny tan on creamy white. just hope that if the crest does get passed on its properly centered on any ducklings. could still get interesting colored offspring from her i guess since ive got a rouen and khaki campbell for drakes (other hen ducks left are a rouen, pekin, and magpie. not an ideal ratio but the rouen is the lead drake and the khaki is a wimp even with the girls).

 

[JensChickies]

I'm rooting for her over here!