Hop-a-long Duck Advice

[Grow Bag]

Hi Everyone... this is a duck rather than chicken related question.. so hope that's OK.

One of our White Campbell ducks started limping yesterday, quite badly, she was spending quite a bit of time sat down, but was still able to make it to the food and also in the pool for a really good splash about. She has done the same today. We would ideally like to get her to the vets, however these ducks were 36 weeks when we got them and had never been used to human contact so they are still really cautious of us and although they are slowly gaining our trust, it's by no means enough to be able to get hold of her without her getting in a right pickle. I am scared that in the efforts to catch her to take her to get checked over, she is going to injure herself even more.

Just really wanted to ask advice of anyone who has ducks whether yes she needs to get to the vet asap, or whether it can be left for a couple of days to see if she improves. We have got close enough to see that there appears to be no swelling.

Thanks in advice for your views/advice.

Rachel

[Nicos]

Hi there GB....

I'm sorry, but I don't know much about ducks, but they probably have similar problems to hens.

My first thought would be could she have perhaps sprained her hip/ knee jumping down from a height...maybe have a cut/ thorn in her foot.
She's clearly sitting down to take the weight off her leg
A sprain would take a week or so to calm down, and would slowly improve- as would a cut.

An infection of the foot would take longer or get worse.

Personally I would try and restrict her movement if you can so you can keep a closer eye on her.

[Scarlet]

I don't do ducks either but I would advise the same as Nicos. She probably needs to rest it up if it's a sprain, can you get closer in the evening to see if it's a cut? There are a few duck keepers on here, I'm sure Norfolk grey keeps ducks and KathyD, fingers crossed they pop in soon.

[kathyd]

Hi. I had exactly the same problem with one of my ducks a while ago, but I still can't be terribly helpful I'm afraid... I did manage to pick mine up with great difficulty but couldn't see anything wrong with her feet. I read up on google about limping ducks (and we all know everything we read on google is gospel of course), and there was a combo of take to vet asap / leave it to see how it goes. Hmmm. I opted to leave her for a while because I couldn't really see what a vet could do about it to be honest, and she was coping OK with daily life. I decided to leave her out on the pond rather than pen her because I felt the water would help support any injury and she'd get gentle exercise, whereas on land she'd probably be standing around and getting stressed trying to reach the other two - they hate being separated. Plus she's safer on the big pond, it protects them from the cats and any other predators.

So... it did improve over a week or two, but she still limped for some time. You could see the improvement as she started to use both legs in the water instead of just the one. She's now fine most of the time but I suspect still has a stiff joint or something because she doesn't wander as far as the others, she stays near the pond and rests more than the others. She also doesn't lay eggs, although I have no idea whether that's related to the injury or whether she's just a duffy duck, because they'd only just come into lay when it happened and she'd only laid 2 eggs, a month apart, at that time!

So not much help to offer, sorry... Unless you think a vet can do anything practical eg if there's an infection or an obvious break, personally I'd be inclined to leave her and monitor closely. I sometimes think the stress of catching / getting into a box or crate / the drive / unfamiliar surroundings can be worse than the problem you're worried about, but obviously everyone needs to make their own judgements about that.

I hope it gets sorted out - keep us informed won't you? Good luck xx

[Nicos]

Hadn't thought about the support of the water kathy!

If the leg was broken, dislocated I very much doubt any animal/ bird would weight bear through it.

( just thought I'd add that bit )

And yes please, updates would be interesting/ helpful to know about for future reference !

[Grow Bag]

Hi everyone.. thanks so much for all your comments and advice/thoughts.

Sorry for not updating sooner, I haven't been online, when I got home from work Other Half had taken her to the vet as he was concerned.. she did indeed have a swollen leg that must've come up quite quickly and it was really hot.. so it was a good shout really as to be honest I would probably have left her longer.. but it would've just got worse.. she had a tiny black speck like she'd caught it on something, although we're still unsure what.. she has to have 1 antibiotic every day for a week (that's fun!) She didn't seem to be limping QUITE so badly today when I let them out so here's hoping that she's on the mend, vet did mention that if the infection has got into the joint.. then it's not a good outcome.. so here's hoping that it's not and all will be ticketty boo.

You're spot on kathyd with the water.. and the support etc also I think in the case of an infection it cools it down so must feel more comfortable.. we've given them the run of the main garden as well during her recovery as it must be nice for her to sit on the cool damp grass mornings and evenings and I throw her a few peas and tomatoes close by so she doesn't have to get up to eat them spoilt they are.. spoilt!

Worst part is we can't eat the eggs for a week!

Thanks again, Rachel

[Nicos]

Nice to hear a positive post for Hopalong

Did she have a name before?...she certainly does now!

We have a very poorly hen last year and with a heck of a lot of care and attention , she pulled through. We hadn't named her as we thought she might have been a male , but we called her/him BokBok because that's the noise she made when we handled her during the convalescence ..and the name has now stuck!

Give Hopalong a cuddle from me- if you ever manage to hold her!!

[Jay22]

Good news Rachel, glad to here that you have found out what the problem is with Hopalong! Hopefully the antibiotics will do the trick!

[Scarlet]

Ha, I love that! Hopalong
Sounds like you have a good vet Growbag, unfortunately some can be a bit hit and miss with poultry, thankfully my vet loves chickens

[Grow Bag]

thanks for your good wishes... she didn't have a name before.. because we can't tell them apart... we just called them 'The Splat Sisters' and for those of you who have ducks will totally understand why! I think she will definitely be Hopalong until we can no longer tell them apart again

BokBok Nicos ha ha.. love it.. we named our first 4 chooks, they were ex-bats.. but we lost 2 really quickly.. not that long after the third also passed on.. so we decided after that not to name them.. You did well to nurse your chook back to health, we have found that once they go downhill there's not much can be done, maybe we've been unlucky.


Here they are.. this may or may not be Hopalong before the hop!!?! They are BIG quackers!

x

[fishpond]

How is Hopalong now?
I hope she is well.