My duck has been limping for several months.

[Gone]

My white female peeking duck is about 2 1/2 years old and has been limping since about last July. Shortly after that she stopped laying eggs though she layed an egg almost every day before that. I thought she sprained her leg somehow by climbing into her baby pool. I did put a step in front of it for her. I have done everything I can think of to help it heal, but with no luck, like keeping her on soft grass in a pen without the baby pool. Then I took her to a vet that accepts ducks (has farm animals himself). He thought she might have some arthritis and gave her a shot. I waited a week and the shot didn't help. I took her back and he gave her a shot of a different medication, not saying what it was. He said that if this doesn't work, it's probably arthritis. Well, I love Stella, my duck, and am really bothered by this. She actually puts her wings out for balance to walk and acts like it is very painful. Then I researched and noticed that she is pigeon toed and that spinach can cause this, depleting the niacin in her food. I stopped giving her spinach. Stella gets Flock Raiser by Purina for all ages of fowl including ducks. I have been crushing 1/2 a niacin tablet in her water every day for about 2 weeks. Stella gets around ok and gets in her water but I haven't seen her feet change angle yet and she still limps. Can anyone help me? I don't care about having no eggs, just Stella's quality of life. My chickens try to peck her eyes so I keep her separate from them but close by because she likes them.

 

[sourland]

Well, she's been limping for 5 months. If Niacin deficiency is the cause, it will take longer than 2 weeks for supplements to have much effect. Hopefully she will stop limping, but it is unlikely that the pigeon toed problem will resolve. Good luck at keeping her as comfortable as possible.

 

[Jenbirdee]

My white female peeking duck is about 2 1/2 years old and has been limping since about last July. Shortly after that she stopped laying eggs though she layed an egg almost every day before that. I thought she sprained her leg somehow by climbing into her baby pool. I did put a step in front of it for her. I have done everything I can think of to help it heal, but with no luck, like keeping her on soft grass in a pen without the baby pool. Then I took her to a vet that accepts ducks (has farm animals himself). He thought she might have some arthritis and gave her a shot. I waited a week and the shot didn't help. I took her back and he gave her a shot of a different medication, not saying what it was. He said that if this doesn't work, it's probably arthritis. Well, I love Stella, my duck, and am really bothered by this. She actually puts her wings out for balance to walk and acts like it is very painful. Then I researched and noticed that she is pigeon toed and that spinach can cause this, depleting the niacin in her food. I stopped giving her spinach. Stella gets Flock Raiser by Purina for all ages of fowl including ducks. I have been crushing 1/2 a niacin tablet in her water every day for about 2 weeks. Stella gets around ok and gets in her water but I haven't seen her feet change angle yet and she still limps. Can anyone help me? I don't care about having no eggs, just Stella's quality of life. My chickens try to peck her eyes so I keep her separate from them but close by because she likes them.

I’m sorry about Stella’s problems. niacin is great if you use the right kind, and don’t put it in her water. If you’re going to use human niacin, it can not be times released or flush free. Neither of those will work for a duck because their digestive system processes it way too quickly for those to take affect.
What we have found works best for ducks that need niacin is liquid b complex it looks like this

And instead of adding to water , you give 1 ml of it per day over a small dish of treats like meal worms or something else that you know, she will eat it all up.
Give her some every day for several weeks it may take a month or two to see improvement. Also you can add 1 TBSP of nutritional yeast to one cup of duck food that she gets, this will also boost her niacin. I have 15 adult ducks ranging in age from six months to nine years old and I still give them some daily stirred into a bowl of wet feed. If you give her wet feed.(by adding water into Feed. It’s called a mash. ) after two or three hours take away anything she didn’t finish because bacteria starts to grow in wet Feed after a few hours.
Your duck can also benefit from soaking in a lukewarm tub of water with a little Epson salt added. But don’t let her drink water that has Epson salt in it or she’ll get diarrhea..
When I give one of my ducks an Epson salt soak, I use a dish pan and hold the duck in it for about 20 minutes.
Just deep enough that her legs are soaking well.
Another thing is swimming therapy- so don’t take away the swimming pool( unless it’s freezing or below freezing outside) but any day that it’s warm enough not to freeze, for her to spend time swimming will strengthen her legs. She needs a ramp or steps to get in the pool and also something inside the pool like a large brick to help her get back out of the pool.
Can you call your vet and ask for the information about what the injections were because you have a right to know and I am interested to find out what it was.
Also, I would love to see a picture or pictures of your duck . And please come back with updates on how she is doing.
And is Stella your only duck? Is there somehow you can get her a friend? Ducks are flock animals and can get very depressed without other ducks. For now give her a stuffed animal that looks like a duck and an unbreakable mirror so she can see herself in it and think she has a friend. Those will help with her emotions which may also help her grow stronger physically.
Edit to add
By the way, I’m glad you separated her from the chickens. I have three chickens, and I had to separate them from my 15 ducks because the three chickens were tormenting the 15 ducks. I thought the ducks could take the chickens and stop them from harassing them, but no, the ducks were afraid of the chickens, and some of my ducks even started having prolapses because chickens were harassing them so much so I had to separate them, so I’m really glad you did for Stella‘s sake . and you know what’s funny is that I have a chicken named Stella. lol

 

[Gone]

Thank you for responding. Can you tell me how to get the injectable vitamin B complex that was in the picture? This is great information. I would like Stella to have a friend duck except that she spends the night in a dog crate with straw inside the chicken coop so predators don't get her. If I leave her free to roam inside the coop, the chickens will peck at her eyes. The bad thing is that she will let them do it. Stella will lay her head down on the ground and let them peck her until she bleeds. One nipped her lower eye lid before I separated them and I took her to the vet. It wasn't serious luckily. I can't let her close to the chicken wire that separates her and the chickens because she will get as close to the wire as she can and they will peck her through the holes. What kind of luck do I have to pick a duck that loves chickens that want to kill her!

 

[Gone]

Well, she's been limping for 5 months. If Niacin deficiency is the cause, it will take longer than 2 weeks for supplements to have much effect. Hopefully she will stop limping, but it is unlikely that the pigeon toed problem will resolve. Good luck at keeping her as comfortable as possible.

Thank you for your response.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Thank you for responding. Can you tell me how to get the injectable vitamin B complex that was in the picture? This is great information. I would like Stella to have a friend duck except that she spends the night in a dog crate with straw inside the chicken coop so predators don't get her. If I leave her free to roam inside the coop, the chickens will peck at her eyes. The bad thing is that she will let them do it. Stella will lay her head down on the ground and let them peck her until she bleeds. One nipped her lower eye lid before I separated them and I took her to the vet. It wasn't serious luckily. I can't let her close to the chicken wire that separates her and the chickens because she will get as close to the wire as she can and they will peck her through the holes. What kind of luck do I have to pick a duck that loves chickens that want to kill her!

Perhaps you can get a dog crate that’s big enough for two ducks to sleep in. Extra large. I find lots of used crates for sale in Facebook marketplace, cheap.
The Durvet B complex is for sale on Amazon, also at feed stores like Tractor Supply.
I think that when Stella has a duck friend, she will no longer try to get so close to the chickens. I think she only wants to be close to them because she is lonely for a duck friend.