Sweating

[Ronnie]

Do pigeons sweat? or any birds come to think of it.

[ALF]

I WENT OUT WITH A BIRD YEARS AGO THAT SWEATED DIDNAE LAST LONG THOUGH ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Guest TAMMY_1]

I WENT OUT WITH A BIRD YEARS AGO THAT SWEATED DIDNAE LAST LONG THOUGH ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

BECAUSE SHE HAD TO DO ALL THE WORK AND THATS WHEN SHE HUNTED YOU

[Guest]

Avian variety don't have sweat glands in their skin. That's a mammalian thing, I think. Body temperature reduced by cooling effect of sweat evaporating from skin surface.

 

Birds have a number of ways of cooling their body temperature. They can hang a leg in flight. Don't quite know how that works but there's a lot of blood vessels there that either lose heat to the air movement around the leg, or act as an 'air cooler'.

 

Main method and the one we're most likely to see is 'panting', especially on a hot day. They lose body heat (and water) from the lungs.

[GROVEHOMER]

I'm pretty sure pigeons don't sweat. they lose fluids through passing urine (with the faeces ) and through exhalation, this moisture lost through the airways is the main concern as birds suffering from respiratory trouble fly with their beaks open causing dehydration at a greater rate than healthier birds.

  

[Ronnie]

Thanks guy's

[mosslands1]

when you get your widowhood cocks super fit / when they come back from a race they feel as if to burn your hands then they sit in there boxes for a while then they go damp and shine so watch out for it

 

[mosslands1]

when the birds are flying they open and close their feathers to lose heat so when they get home they get hot and attract moisture from the air and get damp this heat also makes the oil in the feathers go to the tips and thus makes them shine

[THE FIFER]

just like when a bird has a tempreture it fluffs its head feathers to let cool air in i believe this is what happens.

[Tony C]

I've read a few articles on the pros & cons of giving pigeons electrolytes after a race, some vets say its a waste of time and in fact you are doing more harm than good by administering them after a race. Their argument is that pigeons don't lose salts as they cant 'sweat'. By giving them electrolytes after the race you are overloading their body's with salts, doing the reverse of the desired affect your after.

[Guest]

I think the replies to this thread show one thing: different people look at the same thing in a pigeon and have a different undestanding from others in what they are actually seeing.

 

For example:

 

(1) I always thought the fluffed-out feathers were a means of keeping the pigeon warm in cold weather. Others think its a way of keeping cool. Honestly don't know.

 

(2) Sweating is a mammal's way of reducing the body temperature (keeping cool) and it loses water and salts in doing this.

 

(3) The faeces / urine are methods of eliminating wastes from the body rather than losing heat (keeping cool). The pigeon has a third element in this process is ... urates, the white pasty bit on top of the dropping ... which is the method of eliminating excess / used electrolytes from the pigeons body ... 'salts'.

 

(4) Tony raised the question of giving electrolytes after a race. There was a huge debate on pigeonbasics on this issue. During flight the bird doesn't lose electrolytes either in sweat [it doesn't sweat] or in droppings [eventually it won't do that because the body can't spare the water for it].

 

The bird is losing water thro the lungs to the air, which helps keep it cool at a cost ... dehydration ... and it also uses the urates as a means of keeping cool. Urates are retained and recycled by the kidneys and absorbed back into the bloodstream. The blood becomes thickened by these retained salts.

 

So the obvious way of rehydrating the pigeon after the race is to give it access to as much water as it needs on return from the race. As Tony says, worst possible thing you can do, is give it more 'salt'. Scientific studies have shown even the most dehydrated pigeon becomes full rehydrated in 30 minutes after being given access to 'plain' water.

 

 

 

  

[kev01293]

as a novice who has yet to start racing i thought brunos and tony c,s comments on sweating/electrolytes made sense but then i am only a novice, anyone else want to comment on this subject ??

                                                kev

[Guest slugmonkey]

I have oft wondered about giving birds electrolytes and am now convinced not to I always thought it would be best to give before the race as I don't think that when a bird comes off a race you can do any better than plain water