With less than a month of quail season remaining, you have a homework assignment. We are soliciting quail heads/specimens to screen them for eyeworms and cecal worms. If you’ve been following our Facebook page you’re probably already on task. If not, it’s time to hit the field.
We believe the eyeworm has reached epidemic status over this past season, at least across much of the Rolling Plains. By screening quail across the state we hope to learn just how widespread the problem is/was.
See our website for the protocol and data sheet for handling/shipping specimens to us for this free service. We anticipate receiving perhaps 2,000 specimens so be patient for your individual results; it may be June before we get all of the specimens necropsied.
Jess Newsome (QM ’17) provided this report (and tip) from Kent Co. last month.
“Encouraged by the eyeworm focus of your January RPQRR newsletter, I made my first attempt at eyeworm inspection this week on six bobwhites harvested in central Kent County. All six birds were infected, ranging from 5-27 worms. I only collected worms from the front of the eye, under the nictitating membrane; I did not remove the eyeball. The inspection was done approximately 2-6 hours after harvesting the birds. I observed worms from 1/8″ to 7/16″ long; some still wriggling. I also found that a soft pick (with tiny barbs) used for dental cleaning was a particularly handy probe for collecting the eyeworms especially for an old man with bifocals and shaky hands.”
Any questions, please e-mail d-rollins@quailresearch.org or call me at 325-653-0311 or RPQRR manager Lloyd Lacoste (325-660-6551). Instructions for submitting samples are found on our website (www.quailresearch.org).
