# Any way to fix a broken duck leg?



## snoozy

Coyote grabbed one of my ducks, but my dog chased him off. Meanwhile, the duck has a broken leg. Is there anything I can do?


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## 1sttimemom

I don't know about ducks. but I did fix a broken rooster leg very nicely. In our case the roost in our coop collapsed and this poor fellow must have gotten hit my it. His leg shaft was snapped above the ankle where you could wiggle back & forth COMPLETELY to a 90 degree angle each side (if that makes sense?). The skin wasn't broken. I put the leg in place as best as I could. Then I used a splint made out of a stick covered with duct take. I ran it along the back of the leg and extended it a little farther than the foot so when he stood on it he actually stood on the splint instead of foot. I held it in place with vetwrap. I kept him in a very small cage for about a month. I checked splint regularly to make sure it wasn't cutting in to him. healed VERY nicely. He is still here a year later fighting off the other roos so I think I did well. 

P.S. I probably wouldn't have done all this except at the time this roo was a youngster we hatched with our kids and he was the ONLY red one. He was a fav of theirs. When we went to let chickens out that morning and I saw what happened I told kids we would have to put him down. The kids started bawling and said "but mom you can fix him cuz your a nurse". Ummm...ok...:smack I am glad I did tho because he is a beautiful rooster and my kids think I am AWESOME!!!:bow:


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## KSALguy

where is the break, is it down in the lower leg part or up in the upper part in the thy portion? if its down in the lower leg you might be able to splint it but if its up in the upper leg you will have to line the bone up and then fold the leg up into the body like it would be at rest then strap or tape around the body to make that leg immobile, I have done a turkey this way once, kept the leg folded and inplace for a couple weeks until I felt it was healed enough to move, it worked pretty good, but turkeys are built different than ducks and idk if he could get around very well on one leg, is it a heavy breed duck? I would keep him in a small cage pen so he doesn't have to move around much at all anyway, just keep him clean and fed and it should work fine


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## snoozy

How long do you think it would take to heal, if I were able to splint it? Ducks REALLY hate being isolated from their flockmates.


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## fishhead

Birds seem to heal really fast. In the meantime you could crate him and put the crate in with the others so he wouldn't be alone as much.

I once kept an badly injured muscovy in the basement all winter by herself. She did fine.


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## snoozy

Update: I kept her in the fenced garden along with her buddies but didn't try to splint her leg or interfere in any way, and while they did sometimes fly out during the day, she stayed in and healed herself. She was quite gimpy for a bit. Then one day, maybe 6weeks later, after they flew out, she also just had enough and flew out and hobbled about. It was so delightful to see it! Now you'd not be able to tell that she had been injured.


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## GrannyCarol

You are very lucky. Most of the ducks that I have had with injured legs have never healed and had to be put down eventually. Duck legs are pretty easily damaged, they are meant to be water fowl and don't have very strong legs. Usually the breaks that didn't heal were high up and in the larger birds. I'm glad that yours did!


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## StockDogLovr

I had a duck with a broken pelvis and crating worked for her. Apparently they can mend in about 4 weeks compared to mammals which are more like 6 weeks.


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