Duck trouble

Over the past couple days, I have had trouble with two of our muscovie ducks. they are both young still, about 90% feathered or so. Anyway, ill go in and do an egg, water and feed check and things are fine. By the time I get hone from work, though, one duck is down with a back end caked with feces that's frozen solid and heavy. So, I brought the first one I found like this in, having noticed him initially because his foot was sitting funny. I put him in the tub, filled it with water and put him in, working the ball until it came loose. That duck is in the basement right now to get his strength back and completely dry off. part of the webbing on hus feet was hard and brown.

This morning, I checked for eggs, water and food, wandered around and went out with Moose to see family. by the time we got home, another duck had the same problen, from the same hatch. when I put him in the tub I was startled. his feet sounded like rocks and I realized his legs were frozen solid, he had fone down with his feet beind hin and its been -30 today.

he is drying off on my lap right now and able to move his feet since being in the water. I am worried both about the damage he may have to his legs and feet. in addition, what could be causing the caking, the rouens have not yet had this issue? when I search duck caking backend, I get pictures of duck cakes, not helpful.

It is always the youngsters that I have problems with. I had a late hatch of babies this year and although they are feathered out and in with lots of other ducks they are having the caking issues as well. I think part of it is they don't have the fat layer the older ducks have, they are taking all the energy they are getting from their food and putting it into their warming and not able to build fat. So they tend to sit for long periods in the same spot to keep warm, this causes them to poo in the same spot and then it freezes to their back end. I put a new layer of straw every day or two to keep the bedding deep and fluffy for them, but there is still one or two that have cold feet.
I had one young female a couple years ago get a frozen foot, she lost the entire foot, would just walk on her stub, we ended up butchering her that spring.

Not sure what a person can do other than providing a warm place for them to winter, I know personally next year I will not overwinter any young ducks, I don't have the facilities to keep them warm and I don't want to see them suffering. Anything that gets a frozen foot this year is going to be butchered right away.

Hidden River said just about what I was going to say
all you can really do is put more straw in ofr them and have it deep. as for the one that has the frozen feet watch the feet as they might be damaged . I know I put more straw in for the ducks today as well they seem to be doing good as of now sure glad they are saying -18 next monday
glad you were able to help your ducks

hey guys, thanks so much. Its so weird to be that I am not having this issue with the rouens, perhaps because they have their mother with them?

I think the one muscovie will be fine, but I will watch this other one even closer and keep it downstairs for now. I am just grateful, as my understanding is they have no nerve endings in their feet and thus don't feel pain, or at least as much. I was surprised that once they were in the cool bath water, it was able to move them. out of the water its far more difficult, but the other one with the one foot is showig improvement. No wonder people weren't hot after the younger ducks! shows what experience teaches you.

Thanks so much you two. good to learn this now rather than later.

That is very valuable info. I have a family of scovies and this is there 1st winter. So far they have been pretty good. They have been coming into the hen coop to stay warm and any stragglers have been sitting in the open or in the duck hutch. It was -30 yesterday and I was kind of concerned how they would handle it.

So far so good.

Sweetened wrote:hey guys, thanks so much. Its so weird to be that I am not having this issue with the rouens, perhaps because they have their mother with them?

Muscovy ducks hail from Mexico, Central and South America. Perhaps when they are young they are less able to handle the cold weather than the mallard-derived breeds.

I butchered a Muscovey hen yesterday,both feet were frozen solid,not sure why,they have shelter with straw but mostly lay outside.We also have some late ducklings,a hen flew out and nested in the trees,I put in a heat lamp but they don,t use it,they're alright so far

I went out this morning and of my 13 muscovies I noticed one of my young drakes has rock hard feet. This is the first time I have ever had this issue with my muscovies other than when the one hen hatched babies out in November while I thought she had been eaten by a coyote. When she brought the young ones home she lost them all but one little guy which I managed to save. He lost part of the webbing and part of one toe, but managed to get along just fine!

I was looking over the Rouen's yesterday, and they don't even have frozen webbing. When they sit, they pop their legs up underneath their wings, wereas the muscovies don't.

I think Sue and Hidden make valid points -- they're of mexican descent, and they don't have that fat layer. I butchered the one with both feet frozen. Even though she/he could still move them, they were unable to support their weight on their own and would lay with them back behind them if I wasn't propping or holding them up.

I'll be adding more grains into their diet for now, to try and increase that fat layer, and I rebedded the coop, even though it wasn't 'not' plush. They are, most definitely, an incredible interesting and new venture, but boy do they need special treatment. We're interested in giving them another go, but will not overwinter young birds and will need to figure out something else to prevent the water damming issue that has come about due to their messy drinking methods. HAH!

Thanks everyone, for your input, experience and help!

I'm sure I'm NOT on board with the Mexican descent. I have a flock of 13, 2 adults and 11 babies(6mths) plus 2 old, loud, nasty Rouen/Khaki X's we just did a pretty bad cold spell and most of them stayed outside with exception to the odd one that hangs out with the hens.

They sit with their legs tucked under/ up behind their wings on the snow. Their appetite is good, drinking is great. If I let them they will bath in -30. I don't but its not for a lack of them trying.

Its nothing really of value but its what I have experienced with mine so far.

I've found as long as I provide lots of straw or hay inside and outside for them to sit on and put them in there house at night an bad weather they've done fine. This last blast of -40 weather we lost one smaller babies from a late hatch.

Just did chores there are Muscovies and Anconas together,the Anconas are more active and comfortable in this weather.A few years ago I butchered both breeds one day,hated to do Anconas but hatched out 8,7were males typical luck,the Anconas had a much thicker hide and also a layer of fat which you don't see on Musccovies,that a nd their badass attitude helps them survive very well.

We put out heat lamps for them and put them, dried off, back outside. This morning I went in to find the ducks using the heatlamps as intended, however one was doing so with his feet out from under them. Thus they are frozen solid, UNDER a heat lamp! I brought him in the house and will butcher him up.

The other one tasted amazing, as an aside -- I've never had duck before.

I'd think the bringing them into the warmth and getting them wet would just make for more shock to their system when they go back out into the cold.  Can you just pluck feathers or use something to clean the gook off without washing??
I don't have any experience with muscovies I just keep mallard derived breeds.  In the real cold I don't allow water they can swim in.  I use a deep heated bucket and cover the middle so they can dip heads straight down but not flip it out all over themselves and fling it everywhere.  They still make mess but not as much.  I also put the water as far away from their shelter as possible so they don't bring the wet into their shelter.  I don't heat their shelter just provide deep dry bedding to snuggle into although they rarely actually use the shelter except when its really windy.  Mine all tuck their feet up into their wings to warm them up.

They are not able to have outdoor access right now. Thanks to the dogs, all the birds are free run until I get a pen built over the spring.

I can't fathom ripping out the amount of feathers that would have needed to have been pulled over their caking issue. The water they were put into was barely luke warm and in the house. I dried them off using the space heater, a towel, and a good bit of time rubbing each of them until they were puffy. They then stayed in the basement, which is, maybe 5 degrees or so, all together on soft bedding so they could huddle. I moved them back outside yesterday to the heat lamps with all new bedding and so on. they still sit, unmoving, just under the heatlamp, but seem to push their feet out from under them when they bed down, instead of laying on them like our Rouens.

Hmm not sure what else to offer in help Sweetened sorry.  I have read that muscovies are great ducks for meat because they are less fatty so probably why they're not as winter hardy.  Do muscovies not put legs under their wings like mallard type ducks??  I know my ducklings love to lay their legs out under the heat lamp but don't usually see adults do it unless its a super hot day.  If you have a piece of heavy board over the water so they only can fit head down to clean face but not splash it would help with water mess.  Ducks are impossibly messy with water    Hope your weather warms up a bit for you.  It's warmed up to a cozy -9 here LOL with a heavy snowfall warning in effect.  My ducks are out laying on the frozen solid snow sunning themselves before the sky dumps on us

LOL. I just wonder if these ducks didn't have a mother and thus never learned? Maybe it's not natural for them since they're warm weather beasts. My rouen's do that. Watching them was funny, they actually pop their feet our from under them so their up like a cartoon and then cover them with their wings. I had a close look, they don't even have frostbite on their webbing.

They are using the chicken waterer, and can't climb into any water source at all, I made sure of that after reading here, before we ever got ducks. It must be a fat issue, they definitely didn't have much of a fat layer at all, so maybe they just can't get their feet warm at all. I have added oats to their feed in hopes to fatten them a bit, the ones who don't kill their feet first since they like to lay like they're flying.

How about corn to fatten them up a bit?  We add cracked corn to our bird feeders when its really cold to help them keep warm.  Its my understanding that corn fattens and helps in the cold.  Maybe someone else will correct me if I'm wrong but thats what we give as an additive when its cold

You're right, nothing to correct. I'm trying to stay away from GMO's, so I've avoided the corn. With the ducks, I might have to make an exception though, good advice