The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Blueeyes on May 12, 2012, 06:59:50 pm
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Hi, I am hoping somebody can help us identify whats wrong with one of our ducks, we have 4 ducks, 3 female and 1 very frisky male, the problem is with our oldest female (approx 2years old), when we was checking her over we noticed that on the middle of her back is a very sore patch.
We routinely spray for mites and have even used a blow torch and 'fired' the duck house to make sure there isnt any mites hiding! we have also treated the ducks just in case! Daisy (the problem duck) feels a little lighter in weight, though she is eating well, and she has at times distanced herself from the group :( she looks a little bit tatty compared to the others as well!
Could the sore patch be due to the frisky behaviour of our male duck?
If anyone can help we would be so grateful.
Blueeyes x
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it looks as though she may be being bullied, we had the same problem with one of our muscoveys we seperated her for a while treated the sore and got her back fit and healthy. the only way you will really know is by watching them from a distance to see if you can catch the bully in the act. they can be taught not to bully if you catch them and scare them like with dogs use a water pistol for example. once our muscovey was fit and healthy we re-introduced her to the pack by keeping her in a run in the duck house so the others could see her but not attack after a couple of days we let them all out together supervised and have had no problems since. hope this helps and is based on the fact that you say their are no mites. good luck :)
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Thank you littlelugs, I can watch the ducks from the house and havnt seen her being bullied at all, the only thing is the mating is quite full on & I'm wondering if his feet have caused it?!? How would you recommend treating the wound?
Blueeyes x
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I would remove her from the flock so he can't mate her for a while, but keep her in sight of the others, treat the wound with an antibiotic spray or powder, and make sure she is totally free of beasties. Good luck
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Drakes.
You can get 'saddles' for hens, I suppose they'd fit ducks too though they'd always be wet...
Spray it with blue or purple spray, just in case of both infection and pecking.
You need more ducks, to spread his attentions out :)
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She's probably a bit of a favourite, take her out of the picture for a rest, if they're mating well then you will have others soon enough but they won't be old enough for mating for 6 months yet.
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as stated by another poster i would personally bathe it with hibi scrub (or any other surgical scrub from the vets) and then use purple spray we had a duck that was mauled by a dog who had a similar type wound on her back and i bathed it everyday with hibi scrub and then a spray of purple spray she was soon right as rain although i now have a snowy campbell with a slighlty pink back lol.
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Thanks everyone, it looks a lot better already and she seems to be avoiding Denzel (don't blame her ;) ), think were going to get another couple of females so it is 5:1 and then hopefully it won't be as frenzied!
Love this forum, always ppl to help ;D
Blueeyes x