I have raised many ducks (as pets), geese and other fowl. One of my 3 month old big pekin ducks left foot and leg is completely deformed. It started off being more a nucense to him, today he can't use the leg and is balancing himself with his wing.
Tomorrow we plan on cutting off part of our pond for him and building him an area safe from predators.
Is there anything else we can do? My husband suggests taking him to the vet and having them break and reset it. But it doesn't look broke, more misshaped, he has no feeling in his webbing.
Any help?????? PLEASE!
Hello, welcome to wildlife uk!
It doesn't sound like a break as you say, but I would still recommend taking the duck to the vets to see if they can do anything for him. When you build a safe part of the pond make sure there is lots land for him to rest on that is easy to get onto as he might have some problems with swimming.
Hope that helps, let us know how it goes.
Yes, by all means take him to the vets. Depending on how much you want to spend, I suppose it would be possible to fit him with a prosthetic leg (I've seen them here in the United States).
Perhaps some photos?
Welcome to Wildlife UK!
Kingfisher
thank you for responding. I'm in the U.S., I did take him in this morning to the vet. They say there is nothing they can do without putting me in a major hole financially. so we're going to do the pond deal. lots of land for him, anything else? Should I put a friend in with him? We have lots of other geese and ducks on the pond already. We will be putting cattle panels in the water to block him in. I will take some pictures of him. I was really praying he would grow out of this, it breaks my heart.
Thank you for the warm welcome!! Any more advice will be appreciated.
Would male dukcs fight if kept in a small enclosure together? I wouldn't want to two males together in the pen if they do, the deformed duck is naturally going to be weak compared to the others.
Looking forward to seeing some photos.
Bill is right, I would be careful about who I put in the enclosure with him. Does he already associate with any of the other ducks? I would pair him up with a female first probably, preferably one which does not pick on him. Otherwise, he may do better on his own, but simply able to see the other animals.
I thought it might be dear to get him fixed up, that's a shame. It would appear that you are doing the best that you can, though.
Kingfisher
I would say that most animals with a disability seem to learn to cope. There are hundreds of pigeons and seagulls that have wounded legs where I live (people and string) it is very sad and if I could help I would.
It can be a very difficult decision to make, I know as I have to make decisions like this on a daily basis, but sometimes it is far kinder to put an animal to sleep than to carry on when it is suffering.
I am not saying that your duck is suffering at the moment but you have to be brave enough to consider things from the duck's point of view, setting aside your own emotions.
If he deteriorates & there is nothing that can be done, you must consider his quality of life, which is the most important thing.
Sorry to sound so negative, but our own emotions can sometimes make us blinkered when it comes to animals.
I would love to know how the duck is getting on and how it's coping with it's pond? Did you put another duck in with him to keep him company and if you did how did that work out?
Hope it is going well