Broken leg

[Bettacreek]

Right?! I'm not into killing just for the hell of it. I'm actually ok with doing mass slaughters, hunting and all that, but ugh, this kinda thing just sucks.

The duckling seems to be doing well though... The nails were a deeper reddish (hard to explain, but it was obvious that blood flow wasn't perfect), but now they're nice and light pink like they should be. SO, that's SOME kind of improvement, and hopefully a sign that everything is set properly and will heal well!!!

 

[pinkfox]

sounds like a good sign on the ducky leg.
the ducks ive seen with 1 leg vary form accidents as ducklings to getting too close to snapping turtles (a seemingly very common injury to young adult ducks in CT) and they adapt just fine
Ducks are great at balancing on one leg naturally so i guess its not much of a real cange to have to do it more often.

 

[Cindlady2]

Hope your little duck gets better soon! He should heal fast but try not to "jump the gun". I'm trying to "fix" a hen with a dislocated hip :/ Thank goodness birds often heal well!

 

[the funny farm6]

I hope it heals.

We had one of our first goats get under a horse and broke his back leg up toward his hip. We got it set and bound his leg to his body. And it healed- took forever cause he kept eating the dressing.

 

[Bettacreek]

Duckling is still going strong. He's really getting used to being handled now, lol. I feel bad that he's seperated, and that he really doesn't have use of that leg, but he's still fighting.

 

[Bettacreek]

More bad news. My oldest got ahold of a turkey today and broke the hip bone. An even harder fix, and quite probably not even fixable. I'm so sick of the death and destruction around here. I'm also losing a chick that hatched out splay legged (late hatcher from another chicken batch). The kids are now banned from playing in the yard, unless an adult is with them... Meaning, if I have to use the restroom, I have to round them both up to come in with me, instead of letting them out there for the three minutes, because it's obviously not safe. George is upset, because he was really starting to become attached to the turkeys. He keeps texting me asking me if I can fix it, if it's doing ok, etc. The duck, he just said "probably best to kill it, you were going to eat them anyways"... I don't know if it's the attachment, or the fact that he sees that I fixed the duck, and now he has a higher hope of me being able to fix them? But he's really been spending a lot of time "playing" with the turkeys, so I think it might be a combo. The turkey is using his broken leg, he just cannot support weight on it. I'm giving him some time-out time to settle down a little bit with the buttons, then I'm going to see about fixing him, probably have to tape his leg to his body as well, but he might actually fare better if I can do it, since that portion of the leg is usually against the body anyways. Wish me luck that I can fix a second broken leg.

As an update on the duck, he's out with the big guys again. Obviously no ranging with the rest of the ducks and the poults, but he's with the chicken chicks in the big room. With the way he's doing so well under the circumstances, I figured it was best to put him in there, where there was more food and water available, instead of filling up water every ten minutes. Since the buttons drown in everything, I couldn't put in large amounts of water, so I had been down there every ten minutes. Little duckling learned to drink from a cup that I was bringing down for him, so he could get a decent drink of water. But, it's easier for him to have plentiful water available at ALL times.

 

[pinkfox]

oh boy kiddos are on overdrive lately huh?

if its high enough you should be able to bind id bodywise, the biggest risk with a young turkey i think would be stress, unfortunatly i havent seen any 1 legged turkeys but thats not to say there arnt any but my eperience has been that the higher up the fracture generally the better chance of healing because it can be securly bound.

*hugs* hope your week gets better!

 

[Bettacreek]

Ugh. I patched him up, but he's not looking good anymore. Not interested in much of anything. The duckling wasn't interested in much at first though, so maybe he just needs to rest a little bit before he perks back up. His was harder to fix, because of where it was, but the fracture itself was an easier type of fix, because it wasn't oblique, it was straight across, so the bones gripped and held together much better. It was just getting to them that was hard, and getting splints (q-tips) in the right positions. Q-tips are amazing though, because they have padding to prevent sores or torn skin. I had to cut one end off because they were obviously way too long, but I padded the cut ends with TP. I really hope this guy does well. He's older than the duckling, his legs are larger, but the fact that turkeys can be so fickle. Ugh. I really, really hope that these two cripples pull through.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'd ban my kids from the yard, too. Hope they both heal up fine.

 

[Bettacreek]

Without a doubt, he's attached to the turkeys. I did a store run, then was messing in the big room, putting some more shavings down, setting up the new hanging waterer and feeder, the new lock on the door, etc, and he walks down with a turkey in his hand. I was like "how'd he get out?!" thinking that he caught one that was running around. Nope, it's the little broken hip baby, and he's carrying it around nestled in both arms, like a baby, lol. He's all concerned that the button quail all dove for the waterer when I put it in (I was gone for a good hour, so they ran dry of water)... He's like, well, how's the turkey going to get any water with all those little things in the way?! Lol. He didn't really care about the duckling who's in the same predicament, lol. I'm guessing that if I want to eat turkey this year, it'll have to be royal palm, because I've already laid claim to my little buddy (the first meat turkey) and now he's laid claim to the second meat turkey, lol. I KNEW turkeys were probably a bad idea for food!!! Ah well, I'll keep them around, then hatch out eggs and sell the poults. Anything that's meat turkey, I'll see if I can get a broody to raise, then we won't get as attached, then maybe NEXT year we can have fresh turkey. That, or I might just have to hunt for them if I want any turkey, lol.

Anyways, so far, the duckling is starting to hop around on one leg, instead of motoring around on his belly with the good leg as a propeller. The poult is still using that leg. What a freaking trooper. The only thing is, I'm not feeling much of anything in his crop... I felt a little water, but not much for feed. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on him, and probably start with forced feedings. :/