Pigeonbasics.com

hi ..i have just cankerd my young birds and now im giving them a probiotic..but on the corn instead of in the drinking water..could you please tell me if you think it would make them realy dry( as it got electolites in it)? i gave them a 15 mile toss earlier..useally takes about 20 mins from there....tonight it took a hour..and when they came home and landed on the house roof they looked like bags of sh**...lifless no cooing or oat ..just silence...got them in and fed them..but in the last hour theyve drank loads and loads of water...which they dont useally....thanks for reading mark... could it be the probiotic? ? ? ?

electrolytes help the body take on water and restore the bodys balance so it doesnt flood , your ybs will drink what they need and are inexperineced in taking on water for reserves , however think they may drink a bit more now , when canker is present there dung smells and they drink more water as a result .

sorry old yellow..sent you a pm..pressed the wrong button lol...yes sent my young birds droppings of last week ..got results back yesterday..all clear no signs of any thing..so was happy with that...

no use in treating blind just get them tested when i doubt , save far more money on the drugs you or your birds dont need , sicky birds are better removed as are usually the source of re-occuring re-infections

glad to hear there all clear must be good management keeping them that way

I'm no expert but sounds to me like early signs of YBS/virus, definately not the probiotic although i would recommend the entrodex above entrobiotic best wishes.

If you used a 'medicinal' canker product on your birds, chances are that it will have some side effect. For example, Flagyl is an antimicrobial for humans, that is also given to the birds to 'canker' them. 2 of our members were ill and put on a Flagyl drip in hospital . Both of them described feeling very weak after the Flagyl treatment. It is maybe a similar side effect that you are seeing in your birds.

On the thirst bit: there is a lot of misinformation (or misunderstanding) about electrolytes (salts & sugars in balance). These are designed primarily for human athletes, and we humans sweat during exercise, lose salts and that creates an imbalance which drinking electrolytes restores.

Pigeons are athletes too, but they don't sweat, they don't lose salts (they keep them in the blood to regulate body heat in flight)  what they lose is water - lots of it, and that creates a water / salt imbalance, too little water and too much salt  - which drinking water restores. It is reckoned a bird coming home from a race given free access to all the water it needs is fully rehydrated within 30 minutes.