Wounded Pekin Duck. Advice anyone?

[theduckmeister]

I raised a set of 6 mallards and 2 Pekins from duckling this past spring to release in the pond in our front yard. Once they were released as adults, it was only a week before the female pekin turned up dead along with one of the mallards, we think because of an owl or hawk. We hadn't had any problems up until a few days ago when the male pekin, Ping, was running around with a bloody wing dragging on the ground. I found it hiding in some shrubbery and recaptured it. The bones just below the shoulder were totally exposed and cleanly broken, and the wing was half hanging on by the muscles and tendons. This was almost definitely thanks to a 3.5 ft. gator we have seen recently. We called our vet, and he told us that amputating it would be best, and since my dad happens to be a doctor we were able to do it easily and cleanly and then cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding. We disinfected it with rubbing alcohol and put it in the cage it was raised in with adequate food and water. Its flock visits it during the day. Yesterday I noticed that it smelled a bit and saw a few maggots moving around on the wounded stub. I wet it with rubbing alcohol to try and kill them and any bacteria trying to infect it. I saw a few more again today and did the same thing. I've also heard that maggots aren't all bad as they only eat the dead flesh. Any help here? Also, I'm doubtful as to how much food he's eating (corn) but he's definitely drinking water, preening himself, moving around, and looking otherwise healthy. Any advice for Amputee Ping would be greatly appreciated!

 

[theduckmeister]

for anyone following this, here's an update:
We released Ping after a week or so in the "Duck ICU" (its cage). He was looking very healthy and the wound had cleaned up after i posted previously. He immediately rejoined his buddies and there was a cacophony of quacking and celebration. He then quickly started sparring with the new dominant male and won because of his size. It was all looking great until the next morning; he was missing. We are afraid that while they were sitting on the bank of the bayou in our backyard (it runs right through town) they were attacked by either a fox or a different gator that we've been seeing which happens to be about 8 feet long, and it got Ping. The rest of the flock is now ominously avoiding the backyard. It's pretty disappointing, but it was a cool learning experience. This yet again proves our point of view that "It's tough being a duck".