Botulism Poisoning in Waterfowl

I have been accused of being too attentive to the animals entrusted to my care. I will admit that I am not one of those people that acquire animals just to corral them behind a fence and forget about them, letting them fend for themselves. You can learn a lot about animals if you take the time to observe them on a continuous basis. You can even learn their "language". For instance I know when there is something threatening in the yard by the noise my little 1 1/2 pound bantam rooster makes. Certain noises from him send me to the window or out the door to check.  It is the reason I have him. He may be small but he does all the rooster things that the big boys do including defending the girls.see story here I know when one of the hens has been cornered by one or both of the ganders after trespassing on their territory by the kind of racket the geese make. It is different from the other vocalizations they make and I have had to rescue more than one chicken who has had the misfortune of getting on their bad side. Ducks on the other hand don't have as many vocalizations as geese and chickens so I have to depend on knowing visually if something is amiss. This I have learned the hard way.

This year I decided to increased my duck flock so that I could meet the demand for duck eggs. After raising 9 ducklings and  finding homes for 4 drakes I have ended up with a total of 8 ducks. Three of them are my original girls that I got last year and the other five are new and about 3 months old. Starting about 10 days ago my young ducks started getting sick one at a time. The first time, I had stuck my head out the door to check up on everyone which always brings them running. One of my Rouen ducks was missing and he was never separated from the flock so I went looking. I found him floating on the pond barely able to move and just minutes from drowning. He was unable to lift his head out of the water and he was paddling feebly with one foot. I quickly grabbed a leaf rake and placing it under him pulled him to the edge of the pond where I could lift him out. (I was ready to go in after him if it had been necessary.)  Since I had already been through this last year  I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with him. So into the house grabbing the "pet" towels as I went, I placed him on the kitchen island and started giving him Epsom salts water with an eye dropper. (2 Tbs. dissolved in a cup of water). You wont use all of it but this is a good amount to make. By early next morning he was recovered and ready to go out with his friends.

Now about this time you are probably wondering how I have so much time to baby sit my birds. I probably wouldn't have noticed this ducks absence if it hadn't been for an incident a few days earlier. A coyote had crept onto our property and after attempting to snatch one chicken and getting only a mouthful of feathers it successfully snagged another one on its way out. Lucy the WBG

Lucy,WBG (like Phd. for dogs)

(wanna be guardian) dog was in the house and barking like crazy and since it was one of those rare times that I decided to attempt taking a power nap it took me about 30 seconds to get up and see what she was going nuts about.  By the time I made it out the door all we found were two piles of two different colored feathers, a slightly injured and terrified chicken hiding in a bush and a dying flapping chicken at the edge of the woods where the coyote had dropped it. I didn't see the coyote but a predatory bird does not try to snatch two chickens at the same time. I am really glad Lucy wasn't outside.  I really didn't need her tangling with a wild dog. But then again maybe it wouldn't have happened if she had been there. So yes, when I found the duck I was being especially attentive to what was going on in my yard.

Botulism poisoning seems to be fast acting. Especially if you don't recognize the early signs. Often by the time you notice something is amiss it is too late to save them and if your duck or goose happens to be swimming when symptoms begin they will drown. The earlier you get to them the better your chances of saving them. That said here is a list of symptoms listed in order.

The bird starts moving slower and starts separating itself from the rest of the flock. You will question weather or not you are seeing something off in your bird.
They seem to not be able to see you when you approach them.
They will take a few steps then sit down.
They become unable to walk or walk like they are drunk.
When they sit you will notice their head starting to waver around like they are drunk. This gets much more pronounced as symptoms progress.
Eventually they are unable to raise their head progressing to laying flat with legs out behind.
Twitching and convulsing.
Inability to swallow.
Death.

Convulsing duck throws its head around. 

I have become quite expert at seeing the early symptoms because in the last week I have had 5 ducks affected and lost one. The last time I had two ducks showing symptoms at the same time and it is because I was working out in the yard that I noticed something just a little off. The sooner you get to them the faster they recover and it is much easier to get them to take the Epsom salts water. In fact they seem to actually want it and will drink out of a bowl if you find them at the very early stage. However you will need to direct their bills into the water because they don't seem to be able to see it. My last two ducks took two hours for the one that was only showing signs of blindness to 8 hours for the other one that
was beginning to stagger.

 

Paralyzed  flat duck

I have no idea what it is in my yard that is causing this but for now my ducks are going to stay locked up in their pasture with only an occasional supervised walk to go play in the pond. Botulism poisoning is usually caused by ingesting rotting or spoiled things such as dead animals or produce. I don't have either on my property but I have noticed an abundance of mushrooms and toadstools lately. Probably brought on by the rain we are having. The duck that got sick last year got sick at the same time almost to the day as these and it only seems to be the young ducks that are affected. Maybe they don't know enough to not eat the mushrooms. So far this week we have had no sick ducks for about 4 days and counting. Either they have learned not to eat the bad stuff or locking them in is keeping them safe. It is sad to watch them stand at the fence gazing longingly at the pond. Especially since the geese and the older ducks get to go play in it. I will let them out again when I feel comfortable doing so. I will also be watching them like a hawk.

The Ultimate Prepping Tool

The man surprised me with this. He has surprised me with little gifts before. Flowers, candy, the usual stuff. I was never that excited about flowers that were going to die and candy that would make me fat but I always appreciated them. I think he has finally figured out that I get excited about weird stuff like this. YA! buy me a new bird or a pressure cooker, or a great book or take me for a ride on the Harley. THAT I can relate to. Now I know his idea of the ultimate prepping tool is a motor home but that is a lot more money than a cooker and now that the kids are older we don't use that as often. So we sold ours. We will probably buy another smaller one for our selves since we like to go and we will be able to use it on what ever property we end up with after selling this one. But that will be after the girls leave for college.

I was going to can chicken soup this weekend but the directions are so confusing that I think I will look for a cook book that is a little more helpful than the manual that came with it. Braeburn apples are on deep discount at the store this week and my kids will only eat home made chunky apple sauce so I will probably start with that. Maybe even make some pie filling. What I really wanted it for was to can salmon. I have salmon in the freezer that we haven't eaten and I would like to get it out of there. It is an All American pressure cooker/canner (made and manufactured in the US) so anyone with any tips, please leave me a comment.

Speaking of new birds here is an update on the geese. The second batch of eggs were also not fertile. As I suspected both the duck boy and the goose boys are done for the year. Although the duck will occasionally perform. So both my girl geese are still trying to sit on the nest. I have done everything I can think of to discourage them but as soon as I open their gate at night they go right back and they spend the day walking around the fence line trying to figure out how to get back in to the non-existent eggs. Being the chump I am I felt sorry for them so the other day after the man had gone to work I crept down to the feed store knowing they were getting a new shipment of ducks that morning. I thought I would get some Black Cayugas because I really loved the one I had years ago. The hatchery had only sent one in their order and she was tiny. My intent was to put them under the geese but she was so small I was afraid she would get hurt or worse. So I got two Rouen because they were bigger and two more Khaki Campbell (because they are exceptional egg layers) and took them home. I tried putting them under the girls. The ladies were willing but those little ducks kept popping out from under and would have none of it. I tried until the little bugs got cold and finally decided I was going to have to raise them.

Rouen are stripped 

click to enlarge

So meet Lola and the crew. She is absolutely ADORABLE! The rest are just cute. For those who don't know what a Rouen is it is a mallard derivative and looks a lot like a mallard. I don't know what I am going to do with them yet but will probably sell them or just find them good homes since they will be pets.

I will be teaching a class at the end of the month for an organization that is putting together classes on old fashion life skills for people that want to be more self sufficient so I am teaching "Basic bread and cheese making." Because I have been asked for another recipe from a reader I will include the recipe in my next blog.  Here is the picture.

Another Example of "It Takes A Village"

So call me crazy. Call me anthropomorphic. Maybe I am just reading too much into this but....

Bella, one of the female Sebastapol geese decided to set on eggs. Up to this point I have been collecting the eggs as they were laid because I read that if you got goslings the first year just count yourself as lucky since the boys are usually not up to the job. It just doesn't usually happen. It's not that they don't try. They're just not fertile yet which is probably true because I had two under a broody hen for 5 days and nothing was happening with them.  But Bella had two eggs and I had one that had not been refrigerated yet so I put that one in the nest too.

The two big ganders are standing guard just outside the gate when it's open and inside the run when they are locked up. Nothing too unusual about that other than the fact that they are working together to "kill" anything that comes near. The weird thing is that the other female, Mimi, seems to be helping Bella set on the eggs. She gets in the nest and sits then Bella gets off to go eat and walk around a bit. Sometimes for up to an hour. Then she goes back and Mimi gets off the nest and hangs with the boys or takes a bath in the pond.

This evening I went out to put the birds away for the night and feed them their usual rations. Normally they hog down the whole thing in 15 minutes. I tried to get Bella to come out and eat too but she would have non of that nonsense. About an hour later I happened to go out there and there was still food in the dishes. This alarmed me because to have food left usually means someone doesn't feel well. Then I looked in the nest. Mimi was on the nest again and Bella was eating while the boys watched. It was as if they saved it for her. Now, I know that geese have strong family ties and wild ones will cooperate when migrating by switching off flying the lead. A couple of geese will even leave a migrating flock to keep a sick or exhausted goose company until it either recovers or dies before migrating on and catching up with the pack. But this is really weird. Like I said call me crazy but this has been going on for two days so far. I don't think the eggs are viable and I would like to get in there to candle them but I will have to get past at least one of them (mom) to do that and although I have no doubt that I could but I would hate to disturb her and have her desert the nest if she had any good eggs. Guess I will just see if I get up the nerve. It would also help if it would quit raining so I didn't have to kneel in the mud!

(two days later)....
Yesterday Bella didn't leave the nest all day so when it was time to feed the geese I moved the feed dishes and water over to within about 5 feet of the nest to try and get her to come out and eat. The others ate but she stayed on the nest. She did stand up to check her eggs giving me the opportunity to see what was in there. She has 6 or 7 eggs that I can see!

I went back in to the house to continue making dinner and about 10 minutes later noticed that Bella was walking around the pen. So I went out to see where Mimi was and as I suspected she was on the nest. Ten minutes or so later Bella went back to the nest and Mimi was out with the boys again. I swear they are all doing the tag team parenting thing. This morning I noticed Mimi has made herself a sitting area just outside the nest box and is sitting with Bella. Gotta kinda wonder if she has eggs under there. I'll keep ya posted. Who knows maybe we will end up with baby Sebastapols!

Update on the baby ducks. They are growing so fast. Mother hen still fusses with them and bosses them around but they are at least as big as she is now. She finally gave up trying to get them to perch and she just perches next to the box where they spend the night. Because it is still pretty cold here I have been bringing the ducklings into the house for swimming lessons. (Alright, someone has to do it) They seem to take to it like a duck to water. Oh ya.....they are ducks. I gave my oldest the job of making sure they were good and dry before taking them back out to the coop.

Lucy was very interested in the bathing ducks

                                     

Duck and Remodel Update

The sun peaked in and out all day yesterday and I took the opportunity to put the babies and mom outside just long enough to change the bed and water in their brooder box. One of the ducklings was shivering right away and I have to admit it was chilly but I thought they would get under mom. She was more interested in getting some scratch time in so babies just followed her around picking at the grass too. They were only out for about 5 minutes though because the sun disappeared as fast as it had come out. It was working up to a wind storm with another cold front coming in. So we got blustery weather during the night with some little power outages here and there. The three older babies will be a week old late tomorrow. Sure goes fast.
                                                                                                                 

I am thinking about temporarily reducing the size of my chicken flock and re-homing some of them. I found a home for one yesterday through craigslist. Someone was looking for a companion for her hen. The reason is I have come to the conclusion that I could do a better job of getting a productive flock that would fit in better with my preparedness goals. I love the different breeds but some of them are just resource suckers. Meaning eat more produce less. More on this subject in another blog.

The bathroom is coming along and I am happy with the progress. The man isn't. He wants it done now. He only gets two days off a week (and they aren't consecutive). He also has a real problem not having his bathroom. We have a powder room that would temporarily suffice for doing things like brushing teeth and drying hair but the only other showers are upstairs in the girls bath (and he doesn't want to go there) and up in the apartment over the garage which means going outside in his bathrobe. He doesn't want to do that either. So I think I need to get the shower ordered and ready to install and the pocket door too. The idea is for him to take a couple days off sandwiched around his normal days off. With four days off he should be able to get the door installed and the sheet rock installed over it and the shower with the doors installed over that and hopefully have the tile guy in to tile the two walls in the shower. He may have to use the girls shower a couple days but it wont kill him. Especially since they are usually gone by the time he needs it.

                     

 We do have another girl moving in this Thursday though. One of the kids has a friend that wants to stay with us until she and the oldest move out this fall. We will call her Em for this purpose. We love Em. She has been a friend for a long time and she is a great kid. Always helping out and jumping in to do things voluntarily. She went to a private college this year. It was her first year and she found out it was just too expensive.  She attended two quarters and is already 10 grand in debt because she had to take out a student loan to pay for her dorm, a requirement for first year students. Our oldest attended running start during her senior year of high school, attended the same junior college and lived at home her sophomore year and has a significant amount saved for this fall when she moves out. If she is accepted she will be attending the University of Washington her junior year and so far no debt. Em realizes that this is a better idea or she is going to have a killer student loan debt when she gets out of school. However she is already in debt and kind of behind the eight ball already. But living here over the next few months she can get some prerequisites out of the way and work somewhere so she can save up a little for next fall. Working and going to school full time is really hard.

So not only will the man need to use that shower but he has to do it with another girl living here. The problem is all in his head but we will just work around that. In the mean time I will be stripping the paint from the claw foot tub and looking for the shower.

Hatching Update

Mama didn't like me invading her nest. 

My youngest wanted to go see how the duck eggs were doing after school today. I had given someone 12 duck eggs to incubate in an incubator last month and they only hatched 2 out of 12. So I told her not to get too excited that I thought we either had 3 live eggs and 1 rotten egg or 1 live egg and 3 rotten eggs because 3 looked alike and 1 looked different. (I had not candled them). We had also started out with both Silkies with two eggs each but the black one got sick and I had to put all four under the white one. She didn't mind but I had my doubts that she could cover all four of those big eggs.

When we got past the attack geese (ya the geese go after everyone but me because it's breeding season) and into the coop I took mama off the nest for a food and water break and we started looking. Damn if one didn't have a crack in it. I thought maybe mama had done it though so I picked it up and I could feel the little

You can see the raised spot in this photo that is the crack 

guy moving around and pecking. I held it up to her ear so my youngest could hear the pecking. Then said "we have at least one live one". Then we heard it peep. She was so excited. I decided to check the others and I could feel something in the second one too. When my daughter felt the last two she could feel life in them also but much fainter. So if they all manage to finish we have 4 potential ducklings on the way. Last week the black silkie had climbed back in the nest to help but only lasted a day and got off. But she will get her chance.  Guess I better go find a brooder box and light for them because we had a cold front move in today and it is suppose to get down to 30 degrees tonight. It would be nice if they were all girls. The duck eggs are proving to be very popular with my egg customers. And last night my girls and the man wanted to try deviled goose eggs with dinner. They were almost a meal by themselves.