| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| JonO |
Poorly Duck - Help requiredOne of our 4 indian runners was looking very poorly this afternoon. Seemed fine in the daytime but later on she was sat in a corner looking weak, eyes glazed, drinking lots of water and not good on her feet. Checked her over and there are no outside signs of anything but she appears to be stooping her head and neck about a bit weirdly. Any ideas of what this could be ?She has been seperated. We installed a pond last winter and it has run quite low at the moment with the heat, also with a lot of green algae, could this be related ? We had a chicken about a month ago that we found was unable to properly lift up its neck and appeared quite glazed and weak and we put it out of it's misery the day it got sick as it seemed quite terminal, thought it was something more physical at the time as it was prone to jumping fences and there was a new one up that day. Any help or ideas appreciated ? 
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| judith |
It sounds awfully like botulism or "limberneck" to me. There is some information here (you need to scroll down some way).
If it is, it sounds like the pond could be the problem. 
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| JonO |
Thanks Judith, from a quick scan on the net I think your right. We have sealed off the pond from the other birds and we will see if we can keep this one alive as some of them do recover. The pond will be drained and cleaned on the weekend and the filter will be replaced. Here's hoping it works. I will post back results. |
| judith |
Good luck - I hope it works. |
| dougal |
For any poisoning, trying to get it flushed through the bird ASAP can be useful. Fresh water a-plenty. If you have a syringe and appropriate tube you can put 20ml or so at a time down its throat. (Don't get carried away and repeat this too frequently!) It might sound strange, but you can tell if a bird has got a digestive upset by the strange smell of the droppings. If so, medication would likely be needed.
I'm more used to this sort of treatment for oiled guillemots, but I think it should hold up for ducks. |
| mochyn |
How is she doing, JonO? One of my runners is on 7 eggs at the moment and I worry about her not eating/drinking enough, but your problem sounds much worse.
Good luck with her. |
| JonO |
Well the update is good. Pond was sealed off and the duck got plenty of water last night and today, this afternoon she was fit enough and looked back to her old self ! Hopefully completly recovered, apparantly shade and water can bring them around quite fast.
I know with birds they seem to go so fast usually but it looks like if caught in time they can actually heal OK fairly fast ! They will re-gain there pond again next week and we've definatly learnt a lesson to keep it much cleaner and well topped up. I'm guessing that there's rotten vegetation at the bottom of it as thats usually a catalyst for this disease, combined with it running low it starves the oxygen and causes this bacteria to release the toxins that cause the problem. Cheers for the help ! |
| judith |
Glad to hear there is a happy ending. |
| bodger |
Our ducks swim in a propped up fibreglass boat with a ramp up to it . Every so often we take the bung out and drain it .
It works really well and visitors get a real kick out of seeing ducks swimming in a boat ! 
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| dougal |
Delighted she's better.
Easy to forget that C Botulinum, usually thought of in connection with food poisoning and which thrives in oxygen-depleted environments, is found in under oxygenated ponds... I know little about ponds - but I recall that there are particular aquatic plants that are used deliberately as pond Oxyenaters. But I'd expect that you are always going to have anaerobic conditions in the pond mud. Water temperature in the pond also plays a part - the hotter it gets, the less Oxygen the water can hold. Hot summer weather can be lethal for fish for just that reason. While there isn't an antidote to the poisoning, it does seem helpful to supply copious quantities of water. |