Because we could no longer cope with the increase in the number of questions and fanciers had to wait (too) long for an answer, we have decided to close off our question section. Furthermore, the great majority of new questions submitted has already been answered in the past.
As we want to keep offering interesting medical information to our readers, we will now concentrate more on those general Ask The Vet articles which have already been published on our homepage in the past. In addition, our Ask The Vet archive, which contains numerous questions and answers, is a mine of information which will still remain at your disposal.
Dear Sir,
It would be advisable to treat the birds also for trichomoniasis (f.e. with ronidazole 400mg per liter water) and paratyphus (f.e. with enrofloxacine). Were the birds vaccinated for paramyxovirus, herpes and paratyphus? If not it could be wise to do so.
I cannot be sure of a diagnosis without seeing the birds, but there is a good chance by taking care of these diseases your problem will be solved.
The treatments you had to give, accounted only for candidiasis, streptococs and other bacteria (salmonella temporary) and coccidiosis.
Kind regards
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,
It is advisable to let your birds be examined by an avian vet. Possibilities are paramyxovirus, paratyphus, endoparasites. Are your pigeons vaccinated/treated for paramyxo and/or paratyphus?
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
Dear Madam/Sir,
Although the racing condition during the week and for short training tosses seems to be fine from the information in your question, it is still very probable a disease or syndrom is causing the problems you are talking about. I am thinking about streptococs, paratyphus and/or herpes. These diseases are not easily detectable on normal diagnostic examination. More information on history of the loft and diseases is necessary to get a complete picture and to be able to find the cause.
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 Madam/Sir,
There could be a possibility the bird has had paramyxovirus when he was young. In that case there has been kidney damage and the bird always produces watery droppings. This doesn't give any problems for breeding.
There is also a possibility the bird is a paratyphus carrier, it means it carries the salmonella bacteria while seeming healthy. The bacteria could give chronic intestinal problems.
Also make sure the bird is free from parasites like worms and coccidiosis.
Kind regards
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
Beste,
Hoewel streptococcen een oorzaak of een complicatie kunnen zijn voor uw probleem, zou ik toch eveneens paratyphus niet uitsluiten. Ik zou u aanraden om naast een volledige amoxicilline-kuur in samenspraak met uw dierenarts (dit is zeker zonder probleem te verkrijgen), ook een paratyphus behandeling uitvoeren mét dubbele inenting! Indien de problemen verder aanslepen of als u nu meer uitsluitsel wil, is zeker autopsie van zieke duiven aangewezen.
Sportieve groeten
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,
Try to treat your birds for two weeks with enrofloxacine. After that you can vaccinate, but indeed the kind of vaccine could give different results. Here in Belgium I have good results with colombovac Paratyphus from Pfizer. You should vaccinate twice with four weeks in between.
Kind regards
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
Beste,
Waterige mest met sterfte van nestjongen wordt vaak veroorzaakt door E. Coli. Andere oorzaken zoals paratyfus, coccidiose, paramyxo, trichomonas of een intoxicatie kunnen echter niet uitgesloten worden. Het is daarom aangeraden om dit verder te laten onderzoeken. Controle van de oude duiven, van een staal uitwerpselen en autopsie van gestorven nestjongen door een dierenarts kunnen hier uitsluitsel geven over de oorzaak. In afwachting van de resultaten geef je electrolieten en mineralen ter ondersteuning. Ook start je best met een antibioticumkuur tegen E. Coli en secundaire infecties. Eens de resultaten van het onderzoek gekend zijn, kan de strategie in functie van de uiteindelijke diagnose aangepast worden.
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 Sir,
I would suggest a good treatment for paratyphus (antibiotics + two times vaccination) could be of a lot of help for your problem f.e. enrofloxacine for two weeks following vaccination, repeat the vaccination after one month.
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,
A diagnostic examination of the birds by a veterinarian
is important. With the symptoms you describe, there are some possibilities. It is important to know if there is/was any vomiting, problems flying or nervous problem. From the info I have from you I think mainly of adenovirus, paratyphus, endoparasites, perhaps paramyxovirus, streptococcus or another infection. There is also a possibility the young birds are weakened by the circovirus so any infection can cause severe problems, as this virus takes away the pigeon's immunity.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 Madam/Sir,
There is a possibility that your birds are coping with the pigeon specific salmonella or paratyphus. It could explain the symptoms you describe. Nevertheless there are also some other diseases or combination of diseases that can give the symptoms you describe. In such cases it could be interesting to let a sick bird be necropsied and/or to let do a full examination and blood tests to find out what could be wrong.
If you have no possibility to let your birds be examined by an avian (pigeon) vet, you can try by giving antibiotics for paratyphus and vaccinate the birds immediately after that.
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 Sir,
It is probable it is the same disease. It would be wise for you to let your birds be examined clinically by an avian vet. The most probable causes from the info I got from you could be worms (capillaria), paratyphus, candidiasis,etc...
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