Injured Duck NEED advise

We went out yesterday to feed and I noticed one of my boys sitting of quietly to the side. He could barely walk when I went to him, his foot (almost called it a paw) was hanging limp when he stood up. He can still fly but cant put much pressure on it. Then I noticed the geese and the other ducks were picking on him so I got him and put him in a pen closer to the house.. I don't know what happened, I don't see any blood. Then I went back and got his mate, broken wing (she was born with a deformed wing) and put her in the cage with him. He hopped in the box that was there and sat for a long time.. Broken wing hopped on the hay I put in there next to them. We BBQ'd last night so we could keep an eye on them, they are in the BBQ area so we watched duck tv while cooking.

This morning they were quiet but still alive. I dont know what to do, as this is my first Duck Injury. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I am so sorry.. but please next time do not put bbq and duck in the same sentence.. I thought you solved your problem..


You could try to splint his leg and see if he can stand.. a popcycle stick.. or a sturdy branch and popcycles are not very handy right now.

LOL I promise Frans I wont... Off my front porch is a area that houses my BBQ's, and an old hutch that I move the teenage chicks out to last year. I figured I needed to move him and his mate up closer to the house and so they went into that hutch...

So you are saying stretch out the leg and popcycle it straight? I have some sticks, the small kind for projects for Billy.. I have vet wrap that I can use to hold it on...

that is what I would do.. IF.. he cannot get to water or food.. and appears to be in pain..
IF he is drinking and eating.. let him figure out how to best handle it.. I have several chickens here that are very close to having no toes.. and last year had one that walked like his leg was either out of the socket or broken, I did massage and minipulate it.. but never found a cause.. anyway all have found their own balance..

I have food water and some grass in there for them.. I see he is outside the box now resting on the hay... I so want to split up the geese and ducks, but afraid if I do that will upset the egg laying that seems to be going on by both... SHould I move the ducks into another pen and scrap the eggs that are in the hole and leave the geese in the old one with thier eggs or just wait till I see some babies?? OHHH why did I put them together??

I have a cat pan I can put some water for them to swim in should I do that for the two that are by them selves?? I have a chicken waterer in there for them to drink out of.... Oh the questions are coming...

ok.. first.. don't beat yourself up... we are only human.. doing what humans do, learn from their mistakes. Lets move on!

With that said.. I know nothing about ducks.. lol.. sorry.. I was usuing my best judgement and chicken knowledge to help.

Are they actively fighting? Are they drawing blood? Or did this duck just trip and hurt himself?

If there is a problem then yea you might want to move them.. but if they are doing ok.. leave them..
Remember they will all have a pecking order.. and even if you seperate and they are just merely adjusting.. this will continue to happen and the chickes that are left and the ducks that are moved will have to start all over again and gain a new pecking order.

Now.. I love all my animals.. but I have to say for YOUR sanity..
Let these animals be the animals they were born to be.. stop putting your human rules on them.. a peck or wing flap may look like a hoodloom to you.. but to them it is natural.. and the boss must keep order...
With that said.. you are merely the monitor.. if you are seeing blood.. then step in..
Now I am returning to my good soft-sided self.

Enjoy your birds Ms..J

In my experience, once birds start to pick at a weakened fellow bird, they will not stop until it is dead. I don't know why. I think the only thing you can do is separate them until they forget or the hurt one is completely recovered.

cat the hurt one is seperated.. I think shes saying should she seperate the rest.. duck and chickens.. thats what my answer was about.. the hurt one is with another lame one..

Did I understand that right MS J?

Other than that, I DO agree with what Cat has said.

No, I understand, frans {{{socks almost finished}}}. I was just thinking about a seriously injured wild duck I once saw being attacked by other ducks. It was horrible. I caught it and had it euthanized.

I would worry about combining geese with chickens or ducks in an enclosure, if the geese were laying. They are fiercely protective of their nests and young. I don't know if it would be a problem...but it would concern me.

MissJ, how is the duck doing? Hope he's better.

Sorry it took so long to post, I got busted at work and now I am at home.

I seperated the one that was hurt, and seeing him today, he still holds up the foot. I grabbed his mate, she was born with a deformed wing but otherwise ok, and put her in a pen with him to keep him company the same day I moved him. They are fine and happy, but if he cant walk right again, I dont think moving him back with his brothers and sisters will be an option. There was no blood drawn, just biting from both the geese and other male ducks. I so need to seperate the birds geese and ducks but both of them are laying right now so not sure what to do.

Update.
When the dog went up to the cage they freaked and he did put weight on it, not alot but more then I have seen him do for awhile.. Still keeping them seperated until he has full use of it.

If there is anything that cannot be answered by others, you may call me on Skype (its free) and I may be able to help. Just send me a dmail and we will go from there.

Good luck!

Kim

thats a good idea.. call the duck mommy.. LOL I love DG there is always somebody there to help!

MissJ - I think I was the one who said you can put your geese and ducks together because my geese and ducks are together with no problems. That said, they will pick on injured ones. I had a similar situation with a duck who would not put any pressure on its leg for about a week, and then limped for a while, but he is back with the flock and fine. I think they can sprain muscles or twist ankles just like we do. I would just let him be with his mate for now and give it some time to heal, like you have been doing. I think if it was not going to heal, you would not be seeing the improvement that you have seen, so just give nature time to do its work and things may just turn out fine!

I will Claire, I am letting nature heal it. I put in a clean cal baox pan for water today and they both had a blast. They got fresh grass tonight as well.. I am sure there will be no water in there tomorrow... I keep an eye on them and today they were quite chatty with each other... He is getting stronger, but still tender. I am thinking you are right, he could have sprained it.

As I said I will get the duck pen fixed this weekend, move the ducks out since the geese are sitting on eggs and maybe I can get the ducks to hopefully lay more eggs and sit on them..

How many eggs does a duck lay? I know they only lay in the spring, I hope they will lay more.

It depends on the type of duck as to how many. I think most domesticated ducks lay almost year round.

Our Pekin and Muscovy ducks have started laying. I'm getting 1 a day from some Pekins, and 1 every 2 to 3 days from the Muscovy.

I have not seen any in the pen lately, so I am not sure if the geese are getting too aggressive or not. Tomorrow Billy and I will fix the duck a pen of their own and maybe they will start laying again..

I will try and pull out some goose eggs when they are out of the pen tomorrow... Wish me luck.

Duck is putting a little more weight on foot.. I am so happy