I tried posting this earlier but can't find it now. Wondering if I posted it in the wrong place? Anyway, appologies if you've already seen this.
I brought home a lame duck this past weekend and thought I'd see if you have any tips.
We don't know much about her. I'm told she is under a year old and has not started laying eggs yet. However she did sit on a clutch and hatched out some babies.
I see no inflamation, injury to her feet & legs other than her right foot has a single puncture in the webbing that looks like it healed well. Her left foot is rather drawn up a bit and does not fan out all the way like it should. She does stand occasionally but really struggles to walk. It's more of a drag than a walk. About the only other thing we've seen is her lower chest and underside is all scabbed over from dragging herself around. She really doesn't go far in a day but manages to get where she needs to go. Attempted walking is with wings out to help balance.
She is also molting like crazy. I'm thinking this lameness may be caused from a B3 deficience...as that can easily happen in ducks. Given she's less than a year, not laying yet and molting I'm thinking she may be young enough to be able to respond to vitamin therapy. She's getting Brewers yeast in her food along with meal worms. I'm trying to get other B vits and a basic flock vitamine in her too...if one of the other girls don't get it first.
My other 3 ducks have been good with her, nobody picking on her. I start her out in the morning in the pool with peas. I had to get another duck in the pool to teach her that peas are for eating. She does good in the pool. A little awkward but not bad. The drawn up foot sometimes comes up out of the water when paddling. I think the awkwardness is more of an adjusting to water vs being on land. She spent more time in the pool with the other ducks this morning. I think she's starting to relax more and feel at home. I feel like in some ways she's learning to be a duck too. I'm trying to make sure she has plenty of soft bedding (straw) so she's not dragging on anything rough so she can heal.
I normally don't do this sort of thing. We took a couple drakes to an auction and had no plan of coming home with anything unless it was straw. We saw some birds we could be interested in but it was like she was talking to me...it was her eyes. So I brought her home and this is what we got. I think she's in the right place, it was meant to be.
With what you know about birds...any thoughts or advise?
Early evening I took her for a swim. She stayed in the longest amount of time yet and had fun paddling around and spashing, just doing duck stuff. When she got out she stood up and took 3 or 4 good steps toward me! Yay!
She's spending a lot more time standing too. When we put the ducks up tonight we noticed her feathers are looking better too. Keep on getting better little girl!!!
Now I'm going to have to come up with a name for her.
I brought home a lame duck this past weekend and thought I'd see if you have any tips.
We don't know much about her. I'm told she is under a year old and has not started laying eggs yet. However she did sit on a clutch and hatched out some babies.
I see no inflamation, injury to her feet & legs other than her right foot has a single puncture in the webbing that looks like it healed well. Her left foot is rather drawn up a bit and does not fan out all the way like it should. She does stand occasionally but really struggles to walk. It's more of a drag than a walk. About the only other thing we've seen is her lower chest and underside is all scabbed over from dragging herself around. She really doesn't go far in a day but manages to get where she needs to go. Attempted walking is with wings out to help balance.
She is also molting like crazy. I'm thinking this lameness may be caused from a B3 deficience...as that can easily happen in ducks. Given she's less than a year, not laying yet and molting I'm thinking she may be young enough to be able to respond to vitamin therapy. She's getting Brewers yeast in her food along with meal worms. I'm trying to get other B vits and a basic flock vitamine in her too...if one of the other girls don't get it first.
My other 3 ducks have been good with her, nobody picking on her. I start her out in the morning in the pool with peas. I had to get another duck in the pool to teach her that peas are for eating. She does good in the pool. A little awkward but not bad. The drawn up foot sometimes comes up out of the water when paddling. I think the awkwardness is more of an adjusting to water vs being on land. She spent more time in the pool with the other ducks this morning. I think she's starting to relax more and feel at home. I feel like in some ways she's learning to be a duck too. I'm trying to make sure she has plenty of soft bedding (straw) so she's not dragging on anything rough so she can heal.
I normally don't do this sort of thing. We took a couple drakes to an auction and had no plan of coming home with anything unless it was straw. We saw some birds we could be interested in but it was like she was talking to me...it was her eyes. So I brought her home and this is what we got. I think she's in the right place, it was meant to be.
With what you know about birds...any thoughts or advise?
Early evening I took her for a swim. She stayed in the longest amount of time yet and had fun paddling around and spashing, just doing duck stuff. When she got out she stood up and took 3 or 4 good steps toward me! Yay!
She's spending a lot more time standing too. When we put the ducks up tonight we noticed her feathers are looking better too. Keep on getting better little girl!!! Now I'm going to have to come up with a name for her.
I only give them a few peas at a time so Daisy gets more. Miss Goose is a Pea theif! She'll eat them all if she gets half a chance. I think she has radar for them. 
