We lost our juvenile (~1 yr) drake cinnamon teal yesterday. My wife found him floating on his side in the duck pool having difficulty holding up his head. His mate and the drake/hen green wing teal that share the duck pen with him, at last check, are doing just fine. The cinnamon drake was doing well prior to my wife finding him in his pool. Unfortunately, he died while she was holding him. All of the teal have been with us for approximately 2 months and are/were in great shape.
The drake cinnamon teal displayed all of the symptoms of botulism (limber neck, inability to control balance, went into comma, etc., etc.) when my wife found him in the pool.
The outside temps have not been excessive; <85 degrees during the day, and in the 50-60s in the evenings. They are in a 20x10 chain-link pen with flight netting overhead and poultry netting attached 3’ up the sides and buried 1’ out from the bottom of the fence line. Half of their pen is covered and provides shade. Their pool water gets replaced once a week. They are on a diet of cracked corn, millet, and sorghum. Occasionally they get lettuce. Their drinking water gets replaced every morning. Their feed is mixed with water in a separate bowl (they prefer it wet vs dry) and is replaced every few days. Each pair has nesting boxes. Their food bowl, water bowl, and nesting boxes are located on a platform off of the ground and under the covered portion of the pen. The ground in the entire pen is covered in lush green grass that is off of the fence line about 4 inches to provide the ducks some dirt to root around in and get their necessary grit. The pen is on virgin soil (no other poultry has been raised there). The grass has not been fertilized and no herbicides have been used in this area of the farm. The ducks are not in contact with any other poultry, and come from a very respectable hatchery.
I was thinking whatever killed the drake cinnamon teal had to have been ingested as he was well protected and showed no signs of external injury. Again, he had all of the symptoms of botulism and no other symptoms to indicate any other type of disease/toxic virus. Their feed isn’t moldy and we replace it as needed. The only thing I can think of is conditions in the pool water/feed bowl were just right for the botulism to occur at a high enough rate to kill the drake. Maybe from the corn that is thrown into the pool for the ducks to eat, or their “slurry” of grains in their feed bowl? Maybe a piece of old lettuce he found somewhere in his pen?
We have replaced the pool water, drinking water, and food in ALL of our duck pens. We are at a loss and will be contacting our farm vet in the morning to discuss/consider blood work.
Anyone experience this w/their waterfowl before?
Thanks
JD & Carolyn OdellThe drake cinnamon teal displayed all of the symptoms of botulism (limber neck, inability to control balance, went into comma, etc., etc.) when my wife found him in the pool.
The outside temps have not been excessive; <85 degrees during the day, and in the 50-60s in the evenings. They are in a 20x10 chain-link pen with flight netting overhead and poultry netting attached 3’ up the sides and buried 1’ out from the bottom of the fence line. Half of their pen is covered and provides shade. Their pool water gets replaced once a week. They are on a diet of cracked corn, millet, and sorghum. Occasionally they get lettuce. Their drinking water gets replaced every morning. Their feed is mixed with water in a separate bowl (they prefer it wet vs dry) and is replaced every few days. Each pair has nesting boxes. Their food bowl, water bowl, and nesting boxes are located on a platform off of the ground and under the covered portion of the pen. The ground in the entire pen is covered in lush green grass that is off of the fence line about 4 inches to provide the ducks some dirt to root around in and get their necessary grit. The pen is on virgin soil (no other poultry has been raised there). The grass has not been fertilized and no herbicides have been used in this area of the farm. The ducks are not in contact with any other poultry, and come from a very respectable hatchery.
I was thinking whatever killed the drake cinnamon teal had to have been ingested as he was well protected and showed no signs of external injury. Again, he had all of the symptoms of botulism and no other symptoms to indicate any other type of disease/toxic virus. Their feed isn’t moldy and we replace it as needed. The only thing I can think of is conditions in the pool water/feed bowl were just right for the botulism to occur at a high enough rate to kill the drake. Maybe from the corn that is thrown into the pool for the ducks to eat, or their “slurry” of grains in their feed bowl? Maybe a piece of old lettuce he found somewhere in his pen?
We have replaced the pool water, drinking water, and food in ALL of our duck pens. We are at a loss and will be contacting our farm vet in the morning to discuss/consider blood work.
Anyone experience this w/their waterfowl before?
Thanks
