Vet Care

Blindness can be the result of age, injury (especially from chickens, other ducks, geese or birds poking at eyes), genetics, cataracts or disease. After an initial vet examination to properly assess the situation, you should continue to visually inspect any injured eyes on a daily basis. If you see inflammation, swelling, moving cataracts or any other changes, contact your waterfowl vet. Your duck or goose may be experiencing pain and require further assistance or medication. Cataracts can sometimes be removed surgically by an experienced veterinary ophthalmologist, but it is often difficult to find a qualified vet of this sort who is willing to work on waterfowl.

During The Transition

Ducks and geese may demonstrate signs of fear, aggression or depression during the onset of blindness—or if blindness is sudden, during the period immediately following their loss of vision. You will need to be their support system during this time by offering love, companionship, stability and security. It is vital that you maintain/establish trust during this time. Your feathered friend needs you. Remember your birds need the same thing you would: time, patience, love and security.

Creating a Safe Pen

Ducks and geese should not be kept in free-range situations without supervision, and blind waterfowl are no different. They require completely predator-proof pens and a safe nighttime lock up as well. You will need to keep all digging, climbing and flying predators out of your waterfowl pen.

Assuming your duck or goose is already in their predator-proof pen, you will want to enhance it to make it safer for them. As with any waterfowl pen, make sure there are no pointy objects in their pen. Remove any rocks, sticks and tripping obstacles or anything they can stub their toes on (including a door jam leading into their house). Inspect their pen daily and fill any small holes in the ground that they can stumble into. Try to keep ground surfaces smooth and free of debris. Additionally, ramps are not safe for a blind pet; remove them. Remove anything the duck or goose can bump their head on or fall off of. You may need to modify/enlarge entryways leading into their house.

Routine & Consistency

Ducks and geese thrive on routine—blind waterfowl rely on it. Drinking water should be made available 24/7 to all ducks and geese. We highly recommend making food available 24/7 for blind waterfowl as well, so they consistently know where to find it.

Food and water should be easy for them to get to. If you do insist on a feeding schedule, keep to a strict schedule. If they eat all of their food, leave their empty food dish in their pen—do NOT remove it. Environmental consistency is vital. Always keep food and water bowls in the same location in their pen. Furthermore, keep EVERYTHING the same in their pen. Do not move things around or you will disorient them. Try to keep your interaction with them on a schedule as well—including topping off food and water bowls, so they know when to expect you and what you will be doing.

Rubber Mats to Guide Them

One tactic you can use to help your duck learn their way around their pen is by using textured rubber mats. You can make a path that leads to their food and water bowls or create a path into their house. These will act as tactile signals for them as to where they are in the pen. Be creative and help them utilize their sense of touch. Just remember to keep the mats in the same place; do not change them around.

Mats can also be very helpful around trees or bushes that you do not want them to bump into. Speaking of trees and bushes; be sure all plants are well pruned. You want a tall trunk, so that any branches and foliage reach well over and above the head of your blind duck or goose. You don’t want a branch sticking out that can poke an eye or cause injury.

Water Safety

Pool safety is vital to avoid drowning. Remember ducks and geese trapped on water can drown. Kiddie pools sitting on top of the ground are not safe even for healthy ducks who can stumble over them and suffer leg injuries while getting in and out. They are not safe for blind ducks or geese either. If you insist on using a kiddie pool, it is vital that you dig a hole in the ground and sink the pool into the ground. This removes the tripping obstacle while getting in and out. Small kiddie pools set up in this manner tend to be safe for blind geese, but blind ducks can easily become trapped in a kiddie pool (especially during the molt when they drop their primary wing feathers and lose their flapping power). Even a kiddie pool that is sunk into the ground is not safe for an un-chaperoned duck. There are two solutions, either keep the kiddie pool sunk into the ground in a gated section of their pen that they cannot access unless you are present, or build a special pond just for them.

To build a quick pond, you can dig out a small cavity into the earth with a slightly inclined ramp at one end. Then use a thick mix of concrete to seal the pond with a two inch surface all around. Now your duck can safely walk into their water source and get back out. Close monitoring is vital until your duck has mastered the pond’s location and can enter and exit it with ease.

We highly recommend placing a one foot cement lip around all edges of the pool to prevent your duck from pulling dirt into their pond while they are sitting on it. This sort of ducky fun will quickly make a muddy mess of things. This lip will also will give them a reliable signal when they are getting close to the water’s edge.

The great thing about his pond system is you can easily cement a small PVC outtake pipe in place at the deep end of the pond to create a drain. Then, to clean the pond, simply run a hose down into the deep end of the water and turn it on. The fresh water will flush out and replace the old water.

The one drawback of a concrete pond made in this fashion is, in colder regions, the pond will crack over the course of winter and will need a quick re-facing every spring. Keep in mind also that neither ducks nor geese should be allowed to sit on a small pond that can freeze over while they are in it. Sunk-in kiddie pools and small non-circulating, freezing ponds should be drained in winter and filled with hay or safely covered over to prevent a flock member from falling inside of them.

Use extreme caution when taking your blind duck or goose outside of the safety of their pen. If you insist on taking them for walks in the yard, you should invest in a high quality, well-fitted duck/goose harness and leash. When blind waterfowl get spooked, they tend to flap quickly across a yard and can put themselves into immediate danger; you will need to have constant control over them outside of the safety of their pen. Once you have your harness and have trained and made them familiar with it inside of their pen, you can begin to take them outside of their pen. Start out small. Don’t go far and don’t stay out long. Remember to keep to a routine. Walks should be on a timed schedule and the walk should be directed on the same path every day. You can go further along the path as your duck becomes more comfortable, but do not stray from the path.