Ducks attacked by rats - how to clean the wound? (Warning, picture)

[thewhimsicalflock]

I was cleaning out the coop this morning and noticed one of my ducks sitting in the corner (the rest were all outside). I picked her up and the skin on her back and all of her feathers was gone. Her sibling (another buff) had the same. Picture is below, warning to those who are squeamish.

My husband and I could NOT figure out what happened, but our neighbor suggested rats. We have been fighting them lately and as soon as she mentioned that, it made sense. We weren't sure if we should cull them or try to help them heal and she and another neighbor suggested Vetericyn for a couple of days followed by Blu Kote. My question is how do I clean the wounds before applying the medicine? She suggested an epsom salt bath but I don't want to cause more pain. What do I do?

 

[Luv Ducks]

Wow, that is such a deep and massive injury that I think I would cull it myself. That is just me though. If you want to try to save it a warm water rinse followed with that spray and then you are going to have to keep it inside and covered to keep it from having fly strike. I really don't see it making it but the choice is yours. It will have to be isolated until it heals so that it stays clean and bandages changed regularly. Good luck and so sorry this happened. I am shocked it is still alive.

 

[thewhimsicalflock]

Wow, that is such a deep and massive injury that I think I would cull it myself. That is just me though. If you want to try to save it a warm water rinse followed with that spray and then you are going to have to keep it inside and covered to keep it from having fly strike. I really don't see it making it but the choice is yours. It will have to be isolated until it heals so that it stays clean and bandages changed regularly. Good luck and so sorry this happened. I am shocked it is still alive.

It is pretty bad. But they are active and alert, eating and drinking. I just towel washed them with warm water and some dish soap and applied Vetericyn. I tried to bandage it with a human grade burn gauze but they didn't stay on. They have electrolytes and are in a dog crate on the porch. If they seem worse tomorrow we will cull but for now just praying and loving.

 

[Eggcessive]

Initially, I would clean with chlorhexidene (Hibiclens) and half water from a first aid aisle or pharmacy. Mix it in a spray bottle for your convenience and maybe warm it in a bowl of warm water. You could also dab it on with a clean cloth or gauze pad. After a day or two, you could then just use normal saline sprayed on twice a day. When dry, apply plain Neosporin or bacitracin ointment twice a day. Saline can be made by dissolving 2 tsp of salt in a quart or liter of water, and boiling it then reduce to simmer on low for a few minutes. Store in a clean bottle or jar after cooling.

Treat shock with sugar water or electrolytes given orally. Mushy feed would be good to offer.

I would suspect a predator attack or if you have a drake, they might be responsible for this. Can anything get into your coop beside the suspected rats? A game camera would be helpful to see what is going on, but I would make sure they are protected from further attacks.

 

[thewhimsicalflock]

Initially, I would clean with chlorhexidene (Hibiclens) and half water from a first aid aisle or pharmacy. Mix it in a spray bottle for your convenience and maybe warm it in a bowl of warm water. You could also dab it on with a clean cloth or gauze pad. After a day or two, you could then just use normal saline sprayed on twice a day. When dry, apply plain Neosporin or bacitracin ointment twice a day. Saline can be made by dissolving 2 tsp of salt in a quart or liter of water, and boiling it then reduce to simmer on low for a few minutes. Store in a clean bottle or jar after cooling.

Treat shock with sugar water or electrolytes given orally. Mushy feed would be good to offer.

I would suspect a predator attack or if you have a drake, they might be responsible for this. Can anything get into your coop beside the suspected rats? A game camera would be helpful to see what is going on, but I would make sure they are protected from further attacks.

Thank you for this! I have been washing with warm water, and treating with the Vetericyn. I added Neosporin to this last wash after reading this.

I dilued .5 tsp of Prairie Pride into two quarts of water and gave it to them and have been feeding them some of their favorite fruit + bird feed.

No drake, all females. We do see the rats go in, we've been fighting them. We have two lgds that are still in training and have gone after our birds but the birds are kept in a separate space. I'll set the trail camera up tonight.

 

[My15Ducks]

I think your duck has a chance!
You’ve gotten some good advice the only other thing I can think of is getting some antibiotic for your duck. You could ask your vet if they’re willing to prescribe some

 

[coach723]

I'm so sorry about your ducks. I had a huge rat problem several years ago, a neighbor gifted them to us by finally, after years of absolute neglect, cleaning up his property. So they found us and our coop.
We tried just about everything on the planet to rid ourselves of them. They are smart and they are really hard to get rid of. If you have places they can hide (spaces under buildings, piles of any kind of debris, etc) get rid of those places. I do NOT like using poison and tried like heck not to. But eventually gave up and it's the only way we got rid of them. They will figure out, and avoid all kinds of traps. And can squeeze through (or chew through) really small spaces. They can do an enormous amount of damage. And they reproduce like crazy. You can go from a few to hundreds in a fairly short period of time. I put out rat poison in the closed feeders that other animals can't get into (I realize that other animals could still eat a poisoned rat - one of the reasons I don't like using it) and put it where the birds couldn't get to it.
While I hated doing it, life without all the buggers is a huge relief.

 

[junipercloud113420]

I have a chicken with a wound like that but half the size. I cleaned the wound with homemade saline solution and then put a mixture of antibiotic cream and hen healer and she is fine now, and the skin started growing back. you can get an antibiotic cream that has pain reliever in it.

 

[thewhimsicalflock]

I'm so sorry about your ducks. I had a huge rat problem several years ago, a neighbor gifted them to us by finally, after years of absolute neglect, cleaning up his property. So they found us and our coop.
We tried just about everything on the planet to rid ourselves of them. They are smart and they are really hard to get rid of. If you have places they can hide (spaces under buildings, piles of any kind of debris, etc) get rid of those places. I do NOT like using poison and tried like heck not to. But eventually gave up and it's the only way we got rid of them. They will figure out, and avoid all kinds of traps. And can squeeze through (or chew through) really small spaces. They can do an enormous amount of damage. And they reproduce like crazy. You can go from a few to hundreds in a fairly short period of time. I put out rat poison in the closed feeders that other animals can't get into (I realize that other animals could still eat a poisoned rat - one of the reasons I don't like using it) and put it where the birds couldn't get to it.
While I hated doing it, life without all the buggers is a huge relief.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that! Completely understand though. The ones here have definitely reproduced at a fast rate. We went in last night and there were dozens everywhere. It was eerie. We left our chickens (they roost) but moved our ducks to a smaller, unused coop.

Our wounded girls seem to be doing well. I moved them our of a dog kennel and into a dry kiddie pool. I'm treating their wounds and they're chatty and move about still.

Now I just have to find a way to kill the nest...

 

[thewhimsicalflock]

I have a chicken with a wound like that but half the size. I cleaned the wound with homemade saline solution and then put a mixture of antibiotic cream and hen healer and she is fine now, and the skin started growing back. you can get an antibiotic cream that has pain reliever in it.

I'm so glad she healed!!!