Friday, March 25, 2011

Lame Duck

When I opened their pen yesterday morning to let our duckies out, Ms Big was not moving. So, I picked her up to check on her. When I put her on the ground, she was limping, spreading her still not fully feathered wings for balance assist and hopping on one leg. It was a truely heart breaking sight.

She was eating and drinking and seems okay otherwise but could not stand on her leg or walk. And did I mention yet that she was screaming? Loudly? Yes, something was wrong with my Big.

Was it broken? And what do you do with a lame duck?

Instinctively, I put her in the pond to have her use her leg. Thank goodness, she swam. She swam and splashed and noone would even imagine, anything was wrong with her.



It was when she got out of the water, that she sat down again and refused to move.

When I texted Roberto, he responded, "She is too fat!" Well, nice! Which BTW she is not!

When Roberto came home last night, he was in shock as well to see his little feathered girlfriend and after he treated her Osteopathically, we put Big back in heir pen to sleep.

Today in the morning, Big was able to put weight on her leg again. She is still not walking but I keep putting her in the pond to strengthen her leg.

Ms. Little is such a great sister. All the time, she keeps Ms Big company. Ah, sisterhood!


"Nature never says one thing and wisdom another." Decimus Junius Juvenalis
55 AD - 138 AD

1 comment:

  1. After weeks of trying to rehab Big (antibios, swim therapy, different and better food), several visits to the vet, the vet eventually declared, that it is genetic.

    Big now is not using this leg at all but has learnt to hop/fly wherever she needs to go.

    Obviously she would not survive in the wild but we keep her; she is our pet and over the months we have grown quite fond of her.

    I guess, when getting ducks (or any livestock), one should get it from the best breeder one can find. I believe that was our mistake. When we will get some more, we will get them from Metzer Farms.

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