Saturday, September 3, 2011

Angel Wings


The ducklings as a few months old
Sometimes ducks and geese develop a condition known as "angel wings" where their wings tips will point outwards from their bodies. Know one seems to be very sure what causes it, either genetics or maybe too much protein in the feed. Either way, as we learned, it can also just be a growth spurt.

It didn't slow her down!
Dewie developed a problem where her wings were dipping as her feathers grew in. It did look a lot like angel wings but instead of carrying through with the treatment (which involves wrapping the duck's wings while they are still growing) I left it alone and watched very careful. Her wings became more and more normal as the days went by so I was sure it wasn't angle wings.

Getting better week by week
You'd never know she'd had a problem!
The wings have grown completely normally. 
When choosing to interfere or not you have to consider how much stress you are going to cause the birds. As well as the fact that you are going to restrict the muscle growth in the wings. Both of these lead me to the conclusion not to act on what was a minor cosmetic detail. If it was been more sever I would have wrapped her wings.

Now we just need to come up with a new name. She's definitely female so I don't think we're keeping the 'Dewie'


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