discovering a wounded and injured bird, especially a duck can be worrying. Although there might be many different reasons why a duck might have broken a wing the recovery process is more integral. Ducks are strong animals and are rare to have injuries, you need to treat them right when they suffer from a broken wing. Here is some precious information about what you need to do to heal a duck with a broken wing.
How to Treat a Duck With a Broken Wing?
A duck with a broken wing is really sensitive. According to the injury and damage in the wing, the treatment and the length of the procedure differs however there are so common steps that you can take. First of all, have a look at the injury yourself and if it is a really serious injury try to consult a specialist.
“First, you need to isolate the bird from the surrounding environment. Treating a duck in her family can be a little more dangerous as Ducks can be extremely dangerous when their kids are threatened. So you don’t want to be close when a mother duck sees you fixing her kid’s broken wing or even touching it a little bit.
1. Make Sure There Is a Broken Wing And Exclude Other Issues
When you are suspicious that a duck has a broken wing is to exclude other things that could have happened. It’s better to get the duck to a specialized vet for a diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, you should get her for an X-ray to see the broken wing and try to immobilize it. Natural healing is the best thing you can do for a broken wing and it usually takes from 3 to 5 weeks to get properly healed.
2. Keep the Bird in Sanctuary
After the incident and making sure the suck has a broken wing trying to keep her calm and in a warm place is important. A warm place can help with the healing process as it increases the blood flow to the area. For a duck with a broken wing, an essential thing is a safe place to keep him. It’s a place where the duck could live isolated for a few days or several weeks if needed. There you can have regular food and water delivery for the duck. Not to mention that you can immobilize the wing using small casts and strips. That way, the inner wing tissues that are made from cartilage would be a lot easier to heal in the least possible time.
3. Sanitize Your Hands or Wear Gloves
Another important thing to do when you treat a duck with a broken wing would be to sanitize your hands or wear gloves. That could be because ducks are sensitive to germs and bacteria stored in human hands. Their immune system needs some extra support, and that is why you better sanitize your hands using pure alcohol and povidone. Then you can wear gloves to ensure that there would be no contamination either from you or the bird.
4. Search for Wounds and Active Bleeding Before Taping
Before entering into the taping process for the broken wing, it’s necessary to ensure there are no wounds and active bleeding in the area. If you see wounds with blood, it’s better to clean the area using some normal saline and then apply a topical antibiotic to ensure there is no contamination. If you see active bleeding that will not stop with intense pressure, it’s better to get your duck to the vet. There the duck will have a small surgery to find the vessel responsible for the bleeding and perform some stitches.
5. Tape the Broken Wing
The taping process is very important to keep the wing together and limit its movement. There are many elastic tapes in the market that can be cut to the size of the broken wing of your duck. It’s necessary to keep the duck still to place and then apply the elastic tape on the wing. You should place the band in parallel with the internal cartilage. That will heal the wing a lot faster and allow it to maximize movements of the wing when the healing process is over.
How Long Does it Take For Ducks With a Broken Wing to Heal?
Ducks with a broken wing can heal anywhere between one to three weeks in some rare cases to five weeks. With the right treatment and the complete immobilization of the wing, you can expect a faster treatment within ten days. However, that has to do with the duck’s regular feeding and rehydrating. You should plan to have the best possible meal for your duck when it has an immobilized wing.
What to Give to a Duck With a Broken Wing?
Usually, there are no specific medications recommended for a duck with a broken wing and you can feed her regularly as usual but the best drugs to administer to a duck with a broken wing would be non-steroid anti-inflammatory agents like Aspirin or Ibuprofen. You can dissolve five aspirin pills into one gallon of water and let the duck drink it within the day. That way, it will have the right portions of water to rehydrate itself, and at the same time, the low doses of aspirin will heal the wounds and take away any inflammation and swelling that may exist.
How to Treat a Duck With a Broken Wing?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions online for ducks suffering from broken wings.
What are the Symptoms of a Bird in a Shock?
If you find a duck (or any other bird) with respiratory issues and abnormal breath, fainted, and unresponsive, they could be in a state of shock after an accident. Usually, birds appear weak and disoriented when they are in shock after they have broken their wing, so you better be there to heal them.
Should I Give an Injured Bird Water?
It’s not a good idea to squirt water in an injured bird’s throat. That could easily make it drawn if the water hits the lungs before the bird manages to digest it. So giving it water is the first treatment for a duck healing after a broken wing. You need to give it in small drops and let the duck swallow the drops slowly. Water is crucial for healing, but you should be very careful with its administration, especially during the first days after the accident.
What to Do With a Baby Duck With Broken Wing?
Baby ducks have no difference in treatment of broken wings than the adult ones. Remember to keep the baby duck’s mother close and isolate the baby to ensure it has the best possible treatment. When the mother duck is close, the baby duck will feel less stress and comply with all the therapies you want to offer it. Healing a baby duck is the best thing you can do to preserve these species and let them live autonomously in their society.
Can I Call SPCA to Hand them a Duck With a Broken Wing?
SPCA stands for the Society for Protection of Cruelty to Animals and is one of the biggest public protectors of birds and wildlife animals. You can certainly call SPCA to give the duck that has suffered a broken wing. They will transfer the bird to their premises and give it top treatment according to international veterinary standards. Calling them could be the best thing to do when you don’t know the treatment plan for a duck with a broken wing. They have all the expertise to heal the duck within a few weeks and let it return to its natural environment.
Conclusion
Treating a duck with a broken wing is not expensive or difficult. The duck with a broken wing will surely suffer sometimes as she won’t be able to fly or roam around freely but she can be treated and healed. A duck with a broken wing must be isolated for a while, and checked if she has any other injuries rather than the broken wing, she should be taped and treated in a warm place for one to three weeks for complete recovery.
