Feathersofdifferentcolors
In the Brooder
- Jan 12, 2019
- 9
- 7
- 14
A neighbor told me about this site and I am hoping other quack moms and dads can help me with a duck injury, I feel like I am hitting a brick wall after almost 6 days after an attack on my poor feather baby. She is not eating nor caring for food, have tried peas but she cares for nothing, she does drink water. She is located in the coop so she can hear the other ducks and does respond to them off and on.
Monday 1-7-19 I got home from work around 5pm and noticed one of my almost 3 year old chocolate indian runners " Hershey" was struggling to get out of the pond. As it gets dark early now the other ducks were heading to their coop. As I got closer Hershey finally flopped out of the pond she was and dazed started making her way to the coop with the others , I realized the whole back of her neck was red and no feathers in a 3 inch by 3 inch section all the way up to the scalp...and one eye was half closed. I grabbed a towel and managed to scoop her up in the coop to try to get a closer look, she was a mess, I couldn't tell what I was even looking at. I feared harming her so I did not try to clean her up that night . I put her in a dog kennel with water to keep her away from the other ducks for the night while I tried to research what or how to tend to her. After talking to some neighboring chicken owners most feel strongly this was a hawk attack sometime that day. My neighbor said his chickens took off running and he could hear my ducks making a ruckus ( which wasn't totally unusual) around 2pm.
The next evening 1-8-19 5pm ( likely over 24 hours after attack) was the first cleaning when I go home I took her inside to the bath tub to attempt cleaning her, our ducks are not handled much so I felt this stressed her alot. I cleaned what she would let me with soapy water, and used peroxide by dabbing with a cotton ball ( she really hated that) I haven't noticed any deep punctures, I tried to inspect other parts but she was not wanting that. The skin was gone almost to the bone and some other layer of skin in other areas.. poor thing looked like a lop sided jig saw puzzle. Her good eye had started foaming and forms a crust , which I have to remove with warm water and a cotton ball. She was put back in the kennel with food and water for the night.
1-9-19 . wounds are now cleaned at 730am and 5pm dabbing with cotton balls , soapy water , followed by peroxide ... this day was the first application of antibiotic ointment. Eye is still foaming and gets crusty. I knew she wasn't eating so at the PM cleaning I put duck food , peas and a dropper full of nutridrench into a food chopper and dumped the mix into a bowl of water , which looked liked discolored water in the end. She drinks a little from the mix but mostly chooses water. the food water and regular water remains in the kennel at all times is changed daily. Installed a wifi cam to watch her and placed a heating pad and runs all day , and a dome heater is on low and runs during the day since it has been in the 30s here lately.With the heater on the coop will stay around 45 degrees.. Hershey stands alot from what I watch on the wifi cam. She does lay down for brief periods. The heater is turned off before we go to bed in fear of a fire as we have birds that are now sleeping in the coop lol! Later in the night she will lay down on the heating pad area for longer if the heater is off.
1-10-19 At both cleaning times has the crusty foam eye, beak has been warm still not eating. Is drinking and getting annoyed with having to be cleaned. Attempted the inside bathtub to see if she would bathe, but again seemed it stressed more than it helped . She did let me investigate her half closed eye , I dabbed the cotton ball and had blood in the area between the eye and bill, she patiently allowed me to do that for a little while. She gets extremely thirsty when i use the peroxide. I can't say that I notice any oozing only shinny from ointment. I noticed she had a whistle noise when breathing like she needed to clean out her bill but she has not attempted to that I am aware of. Tried putting peas in her bill , she spit it out. Unable to hold her head to use a syringe to get food into her because of where her injuries are. Still stands alot, unable to groom herself , however she does try. She allowed me to trim some feathers away. The red skin is now tan but has black areas, im sure some are feathers and the rest I am not sure.
1-11-19 at both cleanings no crust eye , half closed eye was watering I was concerned it was going to begin crusting. Not eating , keeping the mixture water and regular water in the kennel. Still hates when i use peroxide. Bill is cool to the touch. Stands alot, visits to the water bowls seem less often now. She spread her wings to flap and stretch while she was out of the kennel today. Her droppings had turned to just green tinged liquid until the soup was introduced and now has very small amounts of "matter" to them. I can only hope that since she isn't using as much energy that the soup is getting something into her. Not able to groom well and at times gets kind of off balance. I am sure the neck injury is not easy. During the PM cleaning the other ducks came in early and sat and watched Hershey get tended to.
1-12-19 at both cleanings no crusty eye, no discharge to the half closed eye. Basically the same as the day before.
I know Hershey and I have a long road ahead. I am more worried getting food and nutrients into her will be a big problem again due to the placement of injury on the back of her skull and neck it is not possible to wrangle her to get a syringe in her bill. coming up on a week of no interest in food I fear losing the battle . I am hopeful for some ideas or input and thankful for anything I can get , and appreciate the time anyone took for Hershey and myself.
Monday 1-7-19 I got home from work around 5pm and noticed one of my almost 3 year old chocolate indian runners " Hershey" was struggling to get out of the pond. As it gets dark early now the other ducks were heading to their coop. As I got closer Hershey finally flopped out of the pond she was and dazed started making her way to the coop with the others , I realized the whole back of her neck was red and no feathers in a 3 inch by 3 inch section all the way up to the scalp...and one eye was half closed. I grabbed a towel and managed to scoop her up in the coop to try to get a closer look, she was a mess, I couldn't tell what I was even looking at. I feared harming her so I did not try to clean her up that night . I put her in a dog kennel with water to keep her away from the other ducks for the night while I tried to research what or how to tend to her. After talking to some neighboring chicken owners most feel strongly this was a hawk attack sometime that day. My neighbor said his chickens took off running and he could hear my ducks making a ruckus ( which wasn't totally unusual) around 2pm.
The next evening 1-8-19 5pm ( likely over 24 hours after attack) was the first cleaning when I go home I took her inside to the bath tub to attempt cleaning her, our ducks are not handled much so I felt this stressed her alot. I cleaned what she would let me with soapy water, and used peroxide by dabbing with a cotton ball ( she really hated that) I haven't noticed any deep punctures, I tried to inspect other parts but she was not wanting that. The skin was gone almost to the bone and some other layer of skin in other areas.. poor thing looked like a lop sided jig saw puzzle. Her good eye had started foaming and forms a crust , which I have to remove with warm water and a cotton ball. She was put back in the kennel with food and water for the night.
1-9-19 . wounds are now cleaned at 730am and 5pm dabbing with cotton balls , soapy water , followed by peroxide ... this day was the first application of antibiotic ointment. Eye is still foaming and gets crusty. I knew she wasn't eating so at the PM cleaning I put duck food , peas and a dropper full of nutridrench into a food chopper and dumped the mix into a bowl of water , which looked liked discolored water in the end. She drinks a little from the mix but mostly chooses water. the food water and regular water remains in the kennel at all times is changed daily. Installed a wifi cam to watch her and placed a heating pad and runs all day , and a dome heater is on low and runs during the day since it has been in the 30s here lately.With the heater on the coop will stay around 45 degrees.. Hershey stands alot from what I watch on the wifi cam. She does lay down for brief periods. The heater is turned off before we go to bed in fear of a fire as we have birds that are now sleeping in the coop lol! Later in the night she will lay down on the heating pad area for longer if the heater is off.
1-10-19 At both cleaning times has the crusty foam eye, beak has been warm still not eating. Is drinking and getting annoyed with having to be cleaned. Attempted the inside bathtub to see if she would bathe, but again seemed it stressed more than it helped . She did let me investigate her half closed eye , I dabbed the cotton ball and had blood in the area between the eye and bill, she patiently allowed me to do that for a little while. She gets extremely thirsty when i use the peroxide. I can't say that I notice any oozing only shinny from ointment. I noticed she had a whistle noise when breathing like she needed to clean out her bill but she has not attempted to that I am aware of. Tried putting peas in her bill , she spit it out. Unable to hold her head to use a syringe to get food into her because of where her injuries are. Still stands alot, unable to groom herself , however she does try. She allowed me to trim some feathers away. The red skin is now tan but has black areas, im sure some are feathers and the rest I am not sure.
1-11-19 at both cleanings no crust eye , half closed eye was watering I was concerned it was going to begin crusting. Not eating , keeping the mixture water and regular water in the kennel. Still hates when i use peroxide. Bill is cool to the touch. Stands alot, visits to the water bowls seem less often now. She spread her wings to flap and stretch while she was out of the kennel today. Her droppings had turned to just green tinged liquid until the soup was introduced and now has very small amounts of "matter" to them. I can only hope that since she isn't using as much energy that the soup is getting something into her. Not able to groom well and at times gets kind of off balance. I am sure the neck injury is not easy. During the PM cleaning the other ducks came in early and sat and watched Hershey get tended to.
1-12-19 at both cleanings no crusty eye, no discharge to the half closed eye. Basically the same as the day before.
I know Hershey and I have a long road ahead. I am more worried getting food and nutrients into her will be a big problem again due to the placement of injury on the back of her skull and neck it is not possible to wrangle her to get a syringe in her bill. coming up on a week of no interest in food I fear losing the battle . I am hopeful for some ideas or input and thankful for anything I can get , and appreciate the time anyone took for Hershey and myself.
