Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[geebs]

Birds are at risk... Sick birds at show... don't buy....

Cornish.. Born sick looking... BLECH

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
This is why I don't show. It has been bugging me since you said something about it before and I have been waiting to see if someone would respond. I would have reported it to the first person in position I saw and I wouldn't have moved until something was done about it....but that is the kind of person that I am....sorry but bubbles coming out of the eyes is not something I want to see at a bird show...don't care how big the show is or isn't.

 

[geebs]

birds are to removed from the premises immediately..that is protocol.. sometimes they wait to be vetted out.... Might be you saw them before they vetted out... Stress of shipping can upset the birds into illness as it is...

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
FYI. Cornish bubble from their eyes on occasion and it is not necessarily an indication that they are sick. Hunched over with their eyes shut is not a good sign though.

Walt

 

[gilavina]

flgardengirl,

I agree that its been bothering me too...when I read it, it left me rather confused why nothing had been done about it previously.
Growing up we never really worried too much when it came to showing birds because the superintendents at the shows I went to were always on top of things like that. My mom and dad were heavily involved in a poultry club here and so I grew up behind the scenes of a lot of shows being put on, and the smallest sign of any sickness or sneezing or anything that was out of the ordinary was dealt with pretty immediately. Most of the time it was an exhibitor that had seen something and the info was passed along to one of the officers, whether it was the secretary or etc. and things were dealt with accordingly.
Its never an easy conversation I'm sure when they have to confront someone on the health of their birds, but I personally think that it does fall in the responsibility of the the ones hosting the show to deal with issues like that swiftly for the safety and health of the other birds.
I think too if there were a situation where something hadn't been done and one of my birds was in close proximity to the bird in question, I would probably pull my entries. I know it means I would lose my entry fees, but if no actions were being taken on the show's part, I would do what I can control. I've never had to do this, since I know most of the people that run the shows I go to, but if it came up, I would do it. Losing a few dollars is better than losing an animal for me personally.

 

[flgardengirl]

Okay good information. Next time I see something like this I will find someone to check the birds out. I wasn't sure what you were supposed to do.
I didnt know that cornish had eye bubbles, wierd. The dark one in the cage truly looked sick his feathers were all fluffed up too in addition to the other signs/symptoms. The other bubbly one was laying down most of the time. There were lots of people around me acting like all was normal..I kinda felt like I was in the Twilight Zone just staring at them like OMG, LOL!

ETA: These were in a sale tent away from the show tents and far from the Marans tent, luckily. I have no clue which illness they would of had and how far the 'bugs' could travel.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
FYI. Cornish bubble from their eyes on occasion and it is not necessarily an indication that they are sick. Hunched over with their eyes shut is not a good sign though.

Walt

WoW! That's crazy Walt......thanks for sharing that, I for one had no idea. Why does this happen? Are Cornish the only breed that this happens with? Does it have something to do with their size?

 

[Mountain Mel]

I never even thought about sick birds at a show. To be honest, I never gave any thought to disease transmission among flocks until I was ready to go see Pinkchicks' birds for the first time. Believe me when I tell you -- she is very careful about that kinda' stuff. Last weekend when I went to pick up those chicks and the cockerel she had the cockerel sitting at the house on the porch and when she got the "little fuzzies" I stayed at the house, even though I was wearing clean (non-birdy) clothes and shoes. I guess we can never be too careful, for everyones sake. I would hate to imagine how bad I would feel if I accidently introduced something to her flock....

 

[fowlman01]

Quote:
The head structure of Cornish can cause this bubbling. I am a California Poultry health Inspector and this is specifically mentioned in our training. I have also raised a lot of Cornish, so I am aware of it from personal experience. Out here we inspect birds before they go into a show at ALL fairs etc. At the big open shows I walk around and do a visual inspection of the caged birds. It would take forever to inspect 1000+ birds outside. Anyone seeing a sick bird should report it immediatly to the show management and demand that it be removed. The show management should than remove all the birds in that location and move them to a new location.....hopefully very far away from the show in some type of isolation until the owners can remove them. The exposed area should then be sprayed with Oxine or some other kind of disinfectant.

Here in CA there has NEVER been a reportable incident of a sick bird infecting another bird at any show. NPIP is not mandatory either.

Walt

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
When I go to a show, I take along some Denagard and Oxine. I spray the cages my birds are going to be in with the Oxine first, then give them water with the Denagard in it while they are at a show, to ward off any bugs that might come in contact with them, and continue the denagard for 3 days after the show. Since I have been doing this, I have not had a bird bring something back from a show.

Also, if you have some cardboard, I try & put a piece of cardboard between my cages and the cages next to my birds. Just to prevent any "direct sneezes" from landing on my birds.

It may be overkill, but I've seen to many sick birds at shows to not do it.

When I was a 4H educator, and found a sick bird at a show, I made the owners take it home. I didn't win any points doing it, but hey, they have to learn somehow.

Sue