Dear Sir,

This is indeed a problem that occurs more with the live paratyphus vaccines but can also occur with dead vaccines. It means that the birds were already infected with Salmonella before the vaccination. The live vaccines are already a serious immunity challenge on their own. If there is a virulent Salmonella present, it can result in serious side-effects, in other words it is an outbreak of the disease itself. That is why if you vaccinate with live vaccines you should certainly do a 10 to 14 day antibiotic treatment before vaccination. But also with dead vaccines a treatment is indicated when there are problems with paratyphus. Certainly the first vaccination it is absolutely necessary. For the booster vaccinations the treatment is not always necessary. With dead vaccines you can do the injection also during the antibiotic treatment.

I doubt these pigeons will be able to become normal healthy pigeons and be able to perform on the level they were genetically able to.

Kind regards

Dear Madam/Sir,

From the information you give me, I would first think of a traumatic injury f.e. a bad fall, that is causing the nervous symptoms. Nevertheless it is still possible she is suffering from paramyxovirus infection or paratyphus. That is why it could be wise to vaccinate your stockbirds for paramyxovirus only to be sure and treat with antibiotics and vaccinate for paratyphus, this in accordance with your veterinarian.

Kind regards

Bonjour Madame/Monsieur,

Les symptomes peuvent indiquer une E. coli problème. On doit aussi penser à la trichomonose, paratyphose ou herpes. Avec E. coli on peut traiter avec f.e. un sulfonamide avec trimetoprim (ou amoxicillin) pour 8 jours et/ou essayer de laisser faire une autovaccin.

Mes salutations sportives

Dear Sir,

Salmonella can cause problems in the wings, there can be a swollen articulation and this can give the symptoms you describe. Although you treated right away (with what kind of product?), the injury that has been in the articulation can remain there for a much longer time. Most of the time the pigeons become thin also, droppings not as it should be etc…

Also Streptococs can give problems with the wings and than the treatment will be different in comparison with the salmonella.

It is important that you know the right diagnosis before treating.

There is also a possibility that the pigeon has injured his wing, in this case, it should be better after some days, week.

Don’t hesistate to contact me for more info

Dear Madam/Sir,

Your suspicion of Salmonella is probably correct, but nevertheless an autopsy could give more clarity and/or another diagnosis. In case of Salmonella I would treat all your birds and vaccinate them twice with four weeks in between.

Kind regards

Dear Sir,

To diagnose your problem, I would recommend to do a necropsy on a dead pigeon, because without a good diagnosis, it is impossible to treat like it should be.

Death can be caused by many different agents, such as  adeno type II, Coli, Paratyphus, eating of toxic materials, etc….

I would surely recommend to test the droppings, checking the presence of wurms, coccidiosis, also to do a culture of a 5 day droppings, searching for paratyphus.

A vet can may be diagnose something on a living pigeon also, tricho,… 

Don’t hesistate to contact me for more information

Dear Sir,

I cannot make a diagnosis without seeing birds and taking samples, but I can give you some information what possible diseases could give the problems you are seeing with your birds.

As possible diseases I'm thinking of paratyphus, trichomoniasis and adeno virus. There is a big chance the birds are also infected with circo virus and therefore lack the immunity to cope with diseases. You can find more information on these diseases by clicking on the corresponding tags. Let your birds be examined by an avian vet to get a correct diagnosis.

Kind regards

Dear Madam/Sir,

The symptoms you describe are indicative for a throat inflammation. This can be caused by trichomoniasis, herpes, candida and/or other bacteria like E. coli, staphylococcus, pelistega. A simple diagnostic examination by a vet could show if the birds are infected with trichomoniasis or candidiasis. It is always first important to rule out canker (trichomoniasis) before you can take other steps. When the pigeons are free from canker or candida and the symptoms remain, you can give antibiotics for bacterial problems. Lincomycine-spectinomycine and amoxicillin are mostly good antibiotics for these indications, but an antibiogram (after isolation of pathogenic bacteria in throat swabs) could give more information on what antibiotic is best. But even then we should not underestimate the influence herpes virus could have on the symptoms, even an underlying problem like paratyphus could be of great importance. Try to rule out all of these causes and give the pigeons enough space and fresh air.

Kind regards

Dear Madam/Sir,

The symptoms you describe, indicate a problem of trachea infection and throat (perhaps also lungs and airsacks). This is normally not ornitosis for which doxycycline is effective (more upper respiratory and eye infections, sometimes general sickness). There can be a number of causes for this kind of infection f.e. staphylococcus intermedius, pelistega europea, E. coli, herpes, (trachea mite), and if the lungs are also infected and the birds are losing weight you should certainly also consider paratyphus. An antibiotic treatment like amoxicillin, perhaps followed with enrofloxacine, and after this paratyphus vaccination, can be of great help.

Kind regards

Dear Madam/Sir,

I'm against preventive antibiotic treatment on a weekly base and certainly with a broadspectrum antibiotic as enrofloxacine, that should be kept for life-saving treatment. Although this kind of strategy will often give very good results in the short term, I guarantee you that it will leed to a lot of problems in the long term, both for racing as for breeding. The first year with this method is in a lot of cases an excellent racing year (if there are good pigeons present), the second year has ups and downs, the third year results are very bad, the pigeons get sick very easily and not much medication is still effective (depending on the kind of antibiotics and resistance). It also seems general immunity of the birds has declined and often wrong choices have been made in breeding strategy, which means the pigeon strain is not much worth. New pigeons have to be brought in to stay succesful.

For long distance racing it is certainly not a good strategy, as it seems that too much antibiotics for too long, is very negative for racing results. Sometimes for a short period of time or for one long distance race results can be good after an antibiotic treatment. In a lot of cases not a lot of antibiotics have been given beforehand! Actually this always means there was a (slight) infection present (mostly respiratory) and the birds were able to come in super condition.

Long term usage of enrofloxacine also seems to have an important negative effect on breeding results, both for males as females. Especially the sperm quality seems to diminish.

In my opinion enrofloxacine with pigeons should be mainly used for salmonella problems in pigeon colonies and for other difficult to treat infections (respiratory or other - mostly after an antibiogram).

If you have a lot of problems with respiratory infections, the loft construction has to be adapted and, when necessary, a shorter treatment with different kinds of antibiotics have to be given, in which it is important to change products (always an other antibiotic than previously used). Try to keep it to a minimum and use in cooperation with your veterinarian.

Kind regards

Dear Sir,

There is a big chance from what you describe she has an infection on her ovary duct and more specifically in the region the calcium layer around the egg is produced. This can be caused by some bacteria like salmonella, streptococcus, E. coli. There is also a possibility there is a tumoral problem so it doesn't always have to be an infectious problem. Nevertheless in practice it is almost always an infectious problem. Depending on the bacteria it can be more or less infectious for other birds on the loft. Always be alert for the paratyphus problem (salmonella). Bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. For salmonella enrofloxacine is mostly very effective, but it is advisable to choose your treatment in accordance with your vet.

Kind regards

Dear Madam/Sir,

Normally the bird should be free of the virus. If the birds you put him with are vaccinated, there is absolutely no danger. If the bird gets nervous signs later on, there is still a possibility the bird has the paramyxovirus, but other infections like paratyphoid should also be considered.

Kind regards