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Lame Ducks?

Here is a question from one of our visitors:

Hi Pam, I have a pond on my property that has a stream on each side. About 3 or 4 months ago my husband brought me home 4 ducks. A female Pekin, a female Mallard and 2 male Mallards. All are doing quite well. They are so healthy everyone asks me if I'm raising them for Thanksgiving. We had them for a few weeks and my husband saw how much I fell in love with them that he came home with 2 babies. One a Khaki Campbell the other a Dark Campbell, I think they were males because the male Mallards didn't like them and tried to drown them so we penned them off in their own little area.

After about a week, they both came up lame. I took them to the Vet, he gave them a shot of vitamin B and put them on antibiotics. He also told me to keep them out of the pond for a while until they got bigger and stronger, so I kept them close to the house so it was easier to care for them. I nursed them back to health for a good month. They got so big and healthy that I couldn't even catch them to put them in my basement at night.

After about 5 weeks we put them back in their penned area of the pond. They were in heaven for about a week. They both have come up lame on me again. I have taken them out the pond and back into the pen in the yard. I plan on getting more antibiotics for them and nursing them back to health again, but I'm looking for feedback on why this could be happening. My four other ducks are so healthy but these little guys are having a hard time in the pond. My vet can't really pinpoint what they cause is.

Do you know anyone who has had a similar problem? I can't see these poor ducks living their lives like this but I don't have the heart to give them up either. I know your not a vet but from reading your website you know your animals and any bit of advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dawn

Dear Dawn, I have had a similar experience with my ducks. I raised Muscovies and at times the adolescent ducks (ones that weren't really babies anymore but still were getting adult feathers) would come up lame and either limp around or not walk at all. I didn't take them to the vet as we had sooo many that it wasn't possible. But, they would recover on their own. I did ask my vet about it and he seemed to think it had more to do with the fast growth they had and the inability of the joints to deal with the weight. The ducks took about a week to recover. One thing is that you can't feed ducks any food that has medication in it like many chicken foods do. I would keep my ducks away from the others in smallish boxes with lots of hay for bedding and food and water near by for them. I didn't let them walk around and kept them out of the weather and warm (used a brooding light about 3 feet above them). I made sure the dogs and cats couldn't bug them, too. As it happened in a few days they would be up and out of the boxes and walking fine on their own. This is just my own personal experience. I don't know the exact cause of if there is other treatment. I am not a vet. Hope this helps.
Pam Hunter

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