Sick pigeons

[Rick1951]

I have started back with pigeons about six months ago,my flock was healthy because I bought from reliable breeders that sold birds current on meds and vaccinations!
I just purchased 8 young old classic frills two weeks ago,when they arrived two were sick with real bad congestion,I placed them separate from the rest of my flock,I released the other six with the rest of the flock as I had no room to keep them separated,I usually only buy a pair at a time,two more came down sick with congestion and I built another cage and separated them,I was treating them with meds and they didn't improve,then 3 of the new birds I found dead on the loft floor,he sent me seven young just weened and one older hen,she is doing fine,symptoms sounds like young bird death,another I had quarantined died this morning,so four of the eight are dead and three are really sick. None if the birds out of the eight except one had been wormed and vaccinated,all if my original flock are healthy and sitting on eggs or raising young,I am stumped as to what is going on,would live some impute!

 

[av8torcrj]

There is a forum called " pigeon talk" that gets a lot more activity than this one and I feel confident someone there will have some suggestions regarding the disease in your birds. It sounds like the birds arrived in different stages of illness and whatever treatment they are recieving is ineffective. I hope whatever it is won't get transmitted to your healthy stock. I once brought home some sick chickens and within a few days the entire flock was ill. Im sorry about your losses. I'm sure you are very frustrated.

 

[jak2002003]

Sounds like they have an underlying disease... and the stress of transport and moving to a new loft caused it to surface.

You need to always house new stock separate from your others for at least 6 weeks to prevent diseases spreading. I hope your other birds will be OK.

It does not sound like young bird death.... as there are little to no signs of the birds getting sick with that 'disease' up until the final hours of life.. They just kind of shut down and die.

What are their poops like? Are the birds lethargic and puffed up? Are they eating and drinking normally?

Don't buy any more birds form that supplier... as its likely all his birds have this disease.

The best you can do for now is separate all the new birds. Take one of them to an avian vet for a proper diagnoses if you are worried about loosing more valuable birds.

I had a lot of health problems with new birds I bought over the last few years. The worst was salmonella infection from apparently healthy birds that passed it onto my stock.. with many losses... some much loved 'pets' pigeons .. many I hand raised myself.

I hope your sick birds recover.. wishing you luck.

 

[Rick1951]

Sounds like they have an underlying disease... and the stress of transport and moving to a new loft caused it to surface.

You need to always house new stock separate from your others for at least 6 weeks to prevent diseases spreading.  I hope your other birds will be OK.

It does not sound like young bird death.... as there are little to no signs of the birds getting sick with that 'disease' up until the final hours of life.. They just kind of shut down and die.

What are their poops like?  Are the birds lethargic and puffed up?  Are they eating and drinking normally? 

Don't buy any more birds form that supplier... as its likely all his birds have this disease. 

The best you can do for now is separate all the new birds.  Take one of them to an avian vet for a proper diagnoses if you are worried about loosing more valuable birds. 

I had a lot of health problems with new birds I bought over the last few years.  The worst was salmonella infection from apparently healthy birds that passed it onto my stock.. with many losses... some much loved 'pets' pigeons .. many I hand raised myself.  

I hope your sick birds recover.. wishing you luck. 

 

[Rick1951]

It has spread to one of my birds,found dead today,all the birds I just bought about 2 weeks ago are quarantined,they came sick and supplier said he had a few sick and they bounced back,the sick ones are only getting worse,only option left is maybe treating with baytrill and that is a powerful drug,do you think I should put the sick down? They are puffed up,runny green watery stool and some have stopped eating, I am treating now with Foys 4 in 1 powder. Just don't want to lose any of expensive birds or their youn. Supplier offered to send me a few more young birds but I don't want them.

 

[loftkeeper]

first it is to hot to ship birds sounds like a feather merchant looking for the dollar not the birds health dying like that sounds like a virus only way to get true treatment is vet work a dead bird sent to a lab would be the best hope baytril works

 

[willygog]

Sorry to here of your situation, that would be my worse nightmare.. and i would have lots to say to the seller.. starting with a refund...

 

[JackDias]

Hello, when my pigeon or chicken are sick, like they lost control over they body, turning eyes, like they are about to faint, I give them amoxicillin, its a pill, usually in red and black, it works all the time, I would like to know why? Its not a doctor advice, It saved my cousin Chicken few days ago, only one pill. I used it about 15 years ago when my Danish tumbler was about to die, i was a kid and saved money for months to buy him, so desperate times, desperate measures, i gave him the pill, and in minutes he was better than ever.

 

[Rick1951]

Every bird I got from the seller are quarantined away from my flock. Every bird I got from him 2weeks ago is sick,using foys 4 in 1,they have respiratory infections and that's led to other things,the birds were shipped in a old container,the filters were rotten and gone,they were sick when he shipped them and stuck in the box for over 48 hours didn't help,I am medication my loft birds with aviocox,then with probiotics after and hope for the best,if the remaining birds I got from him don't pull thru I'll ask for a refund! I usually only buy from Dennis Khune or Danny Joe Humphrey.

 

[jak2002003]

I had a similar experience when a pigeon 'breeder' sold me some fantails. On opening the box they were all sick.. covered in poops and underweight. He must have know they were like that when he sent them. There are some very unkind people out there.

Please have some hope for your birds. Pigeons are very tough and hardy birds and they may well surprise you and recover.

But you need to take one to a vet to get 100 percent proper diagnosis and the correct medicine.

Once you know, you can treat ALL your pigeons with it.

It sounds similar to the Salmonella disease my birds got.. they had green runny waters poops.. they got very underweight and stopped feeding and drinking. Some also had breathing problems. It was easy to treat when I found out what it was. But I left it too late, trying home remedies and various poultry medicines before I finally took a bird to the vet. I lost many birds and was very upset. But thanks to the vet visit and was able to save a few good birds.. that have since repopulated my stock with big strong (and hopefully salmonella resistant) young.

Good Luck and keep up all posted.

And get your money back from that guy! You will need it to buy the medicines!