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No Bruno they do have it aswell sadly.
I've never had it... feel a mite  of garden lime left in the bottom of the drinker works wonder... and I have heard all the anti and why It can't or shouldn't. Most in our club did... and y/b sicknes never raised it's head till last season or two ... and they were not of the ole school, so...
  Other than than I will have some of Bilco's X's special on hand.

I must have been lucky all the years I flew pigeons never had youg bird sickness

Quoted from shadow

I must have been lucky all the years I flew pigeons never had youg bird sickness

As Jimmy says, it was unheard of until 1990s?  Had birds in 1960s, 1973, and continuous now since 2001. It was known to be bad all around my area summer 2006 and stopped fanciers flying, but I've never seen it nor had it, then or now.

Hope its more than luck!  

I have noticed when young bird sickness hits a loft not all the young birds die so that has me thinking some young birds have a better immune system than others. I would like to know if the line bred or in bred have a higher death rate than the cross bred. Do the young from certain pairs die from it while the young form other pairs are not affected.

I was thinking the  same way as Jimmy and all I could think of was the food but that would not explain why only some of the young birds get sick and die.
I agree with him when he says there is no such thing as yb sickness, or to put it another way, no one thing that causes yb sickness. There are a number of viruses that cause young birds to get sick and also a number of bacterial infections. It could be a virus that is making your birds sick, and a bacterial infections making my birds sick. So that brings me back to the question why do all the young in the same loft not die ?
Very few lofts that breed small young bird teams ever get YB sickness I have never had it. What has numbers got to do with fighting off virus or bacterial infections? All I can think of is the less stress there is the stronger the birds health will be. Could it be that when the numbers drop the stress levels drop?

If people stopped propping up with medication every bird that looks ill and let their own natural immunity build up most problems would dissapear no sick birds in my lofts if go off they are put under the roses.

if you can control the level of stress that effects the birds that is one of the keys to good health and i think it is down to the individual fancier who should know when his birds are under stress for some reason , and have to agree with you shadow medication is alien to a birds body and can cause a lot of stress ,when you think of it how do some humans have adverse effects with antibiotics ,then in my opinion its the same with birds

Quoted from shadow

If people stopped propping up with medication every bird that looks ill and let their own natural immunity build up most problems would dissapear no sick birds in my lofts if go off they are put under the roses.

If a child was sick would you put it to under the dirt. If you had and infection would it be fair to say you will never be any good and therefor put you down. Did you ever think that maybe the birds get the infections because we keep them in lofts?

Was at a Moot where 5 top fanciers said that rather than seperate the birds they encouraged the over to peck up the others vomit etc. The sooner got the sooner mended! And been known for them to race wll within the week ...

Quoted from pigeonscout

If a child was sick would you put it to under the dirt. If you had and infection would it be fair to say you will never be any good and therefor put you down. Did you ever think that maybe the birds get the infections because we keep them in lofts?

I think the point Shadow was making was that continually propping up the immune system destroys the bird's ability to fight off even minor illness on its own. The young bird inherits its immune system from its parent, so there is a danger of breeding a loft full of immune deficient youngsters..

If you relate this to an earlier post of mine about a BHW article describing the illness in birds up to 2 yo, then what Shadow says definitely makes sense.

In another YBS thread the question was asked "where does it come from"? and one reply was 'the old birds'. If the viral part of the disease, circovirus, simply gets reduced to particles (viral inclusion bodies) in various organs, these particles may be able to be passed to the young bird either in the egg or during feeding, reconstitute the virus  in the young bird and start the YBS cycle over ... and over...

The point I was making is you don't kill a bird just because it gets sick.
You say the young bird inherits its immune system from its parent that is right but as you know it does not inherit one that will protect it against everything. Most healthy adults can fight of an infection and do so without even showing signs of having it, but that same infection can make the young sick so they may need a little help until they are strong enough to fight it. If a young bird is sick because of infection then I see no harm in helping it beat that infection. I agree that to many fanciers reach for the antibiotics just because the birds are of form.
I would not agree that you should kill a bird just because it gets sick, if someone does not believe in the use of antibiotics then they should give the birds immune system a chance to fight it. Bruno I find your posted very good reading and a lot of what you have said I have taken on board. I am one of those's men that has to get to the bottom of things and try to understand how and why. So I don't always agree with other people point of view unless it is made clear to me how and why something works. I don't have to tell someone like you that this sport has more opinions that fact. Can you imagine how a new start would feel if his young birds got sick and he was lead to believe the only thing to do was to kill them?

you have only to look in the homing world there is a pill or potion for everything where do you draw the line.

Quoted from pigeonscout

The point I was making is you don't kill a bird just because it gets sick.
You say the young bird inherits its immune system from its parent that is right but as you know it does not inherit one that will protect it against everything. Most healthy adults can fight of an infection and do so without even showing signs of having it, but that same infection can make the young sick so they may need a little help until they are strong enough to fight it. If a young bird is sick because of infection then I see no harm in helping it beat that infection. I agree that to many fanciers reach for the antibiotics just because the birds are of form.
I would not agree that you should kill a bird just because it gets sick, if someone does not believe in the use of antibiotics then they should give the birds immune system a chance to fight it. Bruno I find your posted very good reading and a lot of what you have said I have taken on board. I am one of those's men that has to get to the bottom of things and try to understand how and why. So I don't always agree with other people point of view unless it is made clear to me how and why something works. I don't have to tell someone like you that this sport has more opinions that fact. Can you imagine how a new start would feel if his young birds got sick and he was lead to believe the only thing to do was to kill them?

There is nothing you have said that I do not agree with. I for one would never kill anything just because it fell ill. I think the point being made and which we both picked up on, was the case of a bird or birds and their progeny continually falling ill, and the continued use of antibiotics / medicines to cure these birds.

The best thing on health that a new start should believe is that his/her birds must be inherently healthy and come from a long line of healthy stock. The last thing he/she wants is to bring in a sickly bird, there is nothing more distressing for a new start than a sick bird, saving perhaps eventually losing it.

Quoted from pigeonscout

I was thinking the  same way as Jimmy and all I could think of was the food but that would not explain why only some of the young birds get sick and die.
I agree with him when he says there is no such thing as yb sickness, or to put it another way, no one thing that causes yb sickness. There are a number of viruses that cause young birds to get sick and also a number of bacterial infections. It could be a virus that is making your birds sick, and a bacterial infections making my birds sick. So that brings me back to the question why do all the young in the same loft not die ?
Very few lofts that breed small young bird teams ever get YB sickness I have never had it. What has numbers got to do with fighting off virus or bacterial infections? All I can think of is the less stress there is the stronger the birds health will be. Could it be that when the numbers drop the stress levels drop?

i would agree with you ,p,scout  i have definately noticed that the stress factor is a high risk one for so called yb sickness, i aso have noticed shadows posts over the last few years [dont know him] he kept small amounts of birds with plenty room, have noticed quite obviosly that fanciers with fewer ybs and more room i,e less stress are less likely to contract this, but still find your point interesting, on why all the ybs in the loft dont get it ,if some do , but in these cases i have seen it is usualy the weaker or younger birds contract this, my main concern is why most folk look for a cure rather than look as to why they do get this, my own opinion is ,overcrowding,wrong conditions of lofts, =stress, i would say is the biggest factor

If you really think meds are the case try this
give cider vinegar, garlic and probiotics! if you have them propped up as stated they probably arent going to live long anyway so what do you have to lose try them on cider vinegar 2 times a week and garlic once and probiotic the other 4 and see if they dont come around I did this although I dont think mine were that bad
If you are breeding this weakness into your strain you will be dependant on antibiotics forever and its just a matter of time before disaster strikes resulting in massive losses and catastrophic failure
then empty your medicine chest I think you will be suprised I havent treated my breeders with anything other than this for over 2 years now and havent lost ANY birds other than 1 that was 19 years old and I am sure it was just his time oops I lied I do treat for worms once a year

i used bayflox(broad spectrum antibiotic) after using nifurimycin which didnt touch them....after 3 days of using bayflox i was seeing big changes to the sick birds...cost me £19 a bottle but very strong and very useful...paul

HERE IN HEIDELBERG, SOUTH AFRICA WE ARE THREE WEEKS AWAY BEFORE OUR FIRST RACE.  CURRENTLY WE ARE BUSY WITH TRAINING TOSSES WITH THE FED.  BUT THE YOUNG BIRDS STRUGGLE.  I HAVE LOST 17 YOUNG BIRDS FROM TRAINING TOSSES AND YESTERDAY I SAW THE EVIDENCE WHY..... YOUNG BIRD DISEASE!!!!  THE YOUNGSTERS EAT THERE CROPS FULL AND THE NEXT MORNING YOU ENTER THE LOFT, YOU SEE THE FOOD LYING ON THE PERCHES (VOMITING), THEY LOOSE CONDITION AND ARE SKINNY.  I HAVE PUT THEM ON A COURCE WITH BELGAMCO DE WEERDT AND SEE IF IT WILL HELP.  ANY OTHER ADVICE HOW TO GET THE BIRDS READY IN TIME FOR THE FIRST RACE?  

Bilco's yb cure Xerok(? sorry Bill can't remember the exact spelling) it has been very successful over here at solving this problem, he's on this list send him a PM. Also Chevita do a very good product i believe for adnovirus, have a search of their website.
Bilco is probably your better source though because his will be cheaper and he will do his utmost to help.

Use some probiotics in the water and put them on a light diet for a few days. Then put them Cider Vinegar after that. If you can get Harkers Adenosan, that seems to work. Hope you get them sorted, as its a horrible thing to have.

THANX WILL DO SO.  I HAVE PROTEXIN (PROBIOTIC) AND WILL AD IT TO THE WATER AS WELL.  MUST THE BIRDS CONTINUE FLYING / TRAINING OR MUST THEY REST?