Joining the injured leg club - need advice

[JoyAnna]

Yesterday, my year and a half old duck hurt her leg. I think I saw it happen. The three of them love to jump up the 5 steps onto the deck. Two of them fly down, but Pebbles chose to go back down the steps (not gracefully). Later when I was out splitting firewood, I saw she was sitting down to graze the greens while the other two were wandering around. I managed to catch her, but couldn't tell what was wrong. Thinking immediately of what Amiga would say, I brought her inside and filled a bathtub with warm water and when it drained she seemed to be walking around and preened so I put her back out and fed and penned all of them (it was time).

This morning when I went out to let them roam, she was not using the leg at all so I brought her in again and filled the tub. She can use the hurt leg a little but only a little bit. I added some ACV to the water and gave her some peas.

These ducks came to me from a very bad situation and therefore do not like to be handled. I think this must have been the first time in her life she was in water deep enough to float.

I have to go down to the little nearby town and get some epsom salts and find a better stopper for my tub which isn't holding the water very well. I will look around and see what I can find to soak only her legs in the es. What were the proportions again?

When I get back, I get her dried off and see if I can tell any more about the leg. But she is frightened of being handled, and I am doing this alone and have no experience with injuries. I plan to leave her inside in the empty bathtub until I see her using the leg properly.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yesterday, my year and a half old duck hurt her leg. I think I saw it happen. The three of them love to jump up the 5 steps onto the deck. Two of them fly down, but Pebbles chose to go back down the steps (not gracefully). Later when I was out splitting firewood, I saw she was sitting down to graze the greens while the other two were wandering around. I managed to catch her, but couldn't tell what was wrong. Thinking immediately of what Amiga would say, I brought her inside and filled a bathtub with warm water and when it drained she seemed to be walking around and preened so I put her back out and fed and penned all of them (it was time).

This morning when I went out to let them roam, she was not using the leg at all so I brought her in again and filled the tub. She can use the hurt leg a little but only a little bit. I added some ACV to the water and gave her some peas.

These ducks came to me from a very bad situation and therefore do not like to be handled. I think this must have been the first time in her life she was in water deep enough to float.

I have to go down to the little nearby town and get some epsom salts and find a better stopper for my tub which isn't holding the water very well. I will look around and see what I can find to soak only her legs in the es. What were the proportions again?

When I get back, I get her dried off and see if I can tell any more about the leg. But she is frightened of being handled, and I am doing this alone and have no experience with injuries. I plan to leave her inside in the empty bathtub until I see her using the leg properly.

Any other suggestions?

I'd start off pretty strong with 2 cups ES to 1 gal of warm water mix real good to dissolve then put her down into the bucket hold on to her or she'll probably be out in a flash. She may have sprained her leg. No sign of cuts, Swelling? does the leg feel hot anywhere? Keep her in the bucket as long as you can then bring her back inside and put old towels down in tub for traction.. Keeping her on Rest, ES soaks and water therapy will hopefully get her back to normal in a few days.

forgot to mention ES works as a laxative also as well as for injuries so don't let her drink the water, soaking in a bucket is best.

 

[JoyAnna]

Thanks, Miss Lydia. She is on a towell in the tub now. She puts the foot down but without much weight on it. She has food and water there with a little of the vitamins I got some time ago. Thanks for the quick reply and suggested proportion. I'll get a large bag of ES. Thanks to reading BYC for over a year, I had some idea what to do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks, Miss Lydia. She is on a towell in the tub now. She puts the foot down but without much weight on it. She has food and water there with a little of the vitamins I got some time ago. Thanks for the quick reply and suggested proportion. I'll get a large bag of ES. Thanks to reading BYC for over a year, I had some idea what to do.

Keep us updated on how she is doing. Most likely just banged herself up going down the steps. Their not to graceful anyway

 

[JoyAnna]

After getting a new plastic bucket, I got her to soak in warm es water for about 25 mins! Finally, she was beginning to insist on getting her head down in the water so I lifted her out. She began to preen using the sore foot and leg to help, scratch her face, but mostly for balance without much weight on it. I gave her a deeper water bowl and removed solid poop from the towel. After she was cooled down from the soak, I could feel that that leg is a bit warmer than the other. Hope this is normal with a sprain. I feel encouraged that the leg probably is not broken. I plan to leave her inside in the tub over night and see how she acts in the morning.

How often should I do that soak?

These things often bring blessings: She actually ate some pease from my hand (first time), and is not fighting to get away from me. I just keep talking softly to her, hoping she will be assured I'm not some monster. Maybe when this is over with, she'll tell the others I'm okay.

 

[Amiga]

After getting a new plastic bucket, I got her to soak in warm es water for about 25 mins! Finally, she was beginning to insist on getting her head down in the water so I lifted her out. She began to preen using the sore foot and leg to help, scratch her face, but mostly for balance without much weight on it. I gave her a deeper water bowl and removed solid poop from the towel. After she was cooled down from the soak, I could feel that that leg is a bit warmer than the other. Hope this is normal with a sprain. I feel encouraged that the leg probably is not broken. I plan to leave her inside in the tub over night and see how she acts in the morning.

How often should I do that soak?

These things often bring blessings: She actually ate some pease from my hand (first time), and is not fighting to get away from me. I just keep talking softly to her, hoping she will be assured I'm not some monster. Maybe when this is over with, she'll tell the others I'm okay.

Very encouraging report! Good on ya! Please keep us posted (c:

I would do two soaks a day if possible at first. Sprains can take several days to sort out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Great news about no broken bones and that she is realizing your not going to eat her. Keep us posted on how she is doing this morning.

 

[JoyAnna]

I just have to thank you for helping me through my first duck injury episode. Pebbles gave me an egg this morning

and is able to stand on both legs. It probably was never as severe as it looked to me. I soaked her in epsom salts again, but she would only stand it for about 10 mins and it was getting to hard to keep her from drinking the water. So I cleared the tub (which sure needed to be cleaned up) and let her swim in a nice, deep, warm bath for quite a while. She used both feet to swim, gobbled down some peas and gave herself a thorough cleaning. I'll probably keep her in until tomorrow to be sure she is moving around okay.

I learned a lot from this experience, so would like to encourage others who are relatively new to sharing their lives with ducks. This place, BYC, is the most valuable resource you have. The woman down at the farm store yesterday, who is known as "The Duck Lady" is a real dud. "Oh, you don't need to do epsom salts, never heard of that…" she said. "I've seen my ducks limping and just leave them alone and they get over it… I probably couldn't get them in off the pond anyway… etc." She claims to have had up to 100 ducks, but it sounds like they mostly take care of themselves.

I don't want to pamper my ducks or try to make them into humans or cuddly pets. I want them to live "duck lives" as much as possible and still keep them safe. I want to start breeding Anconas but have not yet been able to get trees cut down and a proper set up built for them. I bought these two ducks to have eggs. They aren't breeding stock. They were full grown and the owners could not tell me anything about them. Pebbles is black and penciled, which I guess is not a good trait to breed. I bought the grown drake later to be sure I could have some kind of ducklings. These three have definitely become pets, but in the future I will be raising ducks for food and to help establish the Ancona breed. They are such wonderful creatures.

Thanks again.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I just have to thank you for helping me through my first duck injury episode. Pebbles gave me an egg this morning

and is able to stand on both legs. It probably was never as severe as it looked to me. I soaked her in epsom salts again, but she would only stand it for about 10 mins and it was getting to hard to keep her from drinking the water. So I cleared the tub (which sure needed to be cleaned up) and let her swim in a nice, deep, warm bath for quite a while. She used both feet to swim, gobbled down some peas and gave herself a thorough cleaning. I'll probably keep her in until tomorrow to be sure she is moving around okay.

I learned a lot from this experience, so would like to encourage others who are relatively new to sharing their lives with ducks. This place, BYC, is the most valuable resource you have. The woman down at the farm store yesterday, who is known as "The Duck Lady" is a real dud. "Oh, you don't need to do epsom salts, never heard of that…" she said. "I've seen my ducks limping and just leave them alone and they get over it… I probably couldn't get them in off the pond anyway… etc." She claims to have had up to 100 ducks, but it sounds like they mostly take care of themselves.

I don't want to pamper my ducks or try to make them into humans or cuddly pets. I want them to live "duck lives" as much as possible and still keep them safe. I want to start breeding Anconas but have not yet been able to get trees cut down and a proper set up built for them. I bought these two ducks to have eggs. They aren't breeding stock. They were full grown and the owners could not tell me anything about them. Pebbles is black and penciled, which I guess is not a good trait to breed. I bought the grown drake later to be sure I could have some kind of ducklings. These three have definitely become pets, but in the future I will be raising ducks for food and to help establish the Ancona breed. They are such wonderful creatures.

Thanks again.

Wonderful news!! so happy to hear she is doing so well.

 

[Amiga]

Lovely to read, JoyAnna, very encouraging to know of your plans and your approach. There is a wide spectrum of approaches to raising ducks. Yes, mine are pets and I dote on them. At the same time, why would I not want to expend a little extra effort to care for animals I have already invested so much in, and who have virtually eliminated slugs from the garden, provided free fertilizer, eat weeds and insect pests, and are a hoot to have around? Half my social life is thanks to them - people warm up immediately to me when they hear I raise ducks.