Help a bit of advice needed

[Guest Paulo]

Hi all whats your take on this. Got my teams of young birds exercising well both natural and darkness going away raking for a hour plus. Let my natural team out at 5.00 am this morning and they were flying great flying up and down the valley racing one of the lads teams of widow hood cocks. Cleaned out and everything and then hears a shout after about a hour "saying paul you want to look at this''

 

Goes out and my young birds were bombing around the old club which is a derilict 3 storey building they are knocking down and trying to drop. Now I don't believe in flagging young birds so they are free to drop anytime they want but thye showed no sign of coming back to the allotment just flying around really fast but trying to drop on the club roof they didn't look tired at all.

 

Opened the doors and called them baclk and half came back went in and got their breakfast the other half made me wait 5 minutes and then came back and dropped in. One bird was sitting on the club roof but it looked like a strag that has been knocking around.

 

I would have thought nowt of it but one of the birds when it landed spewed two or three grains of corn out with a bit of green bile.

 

My first thought is young bird sickness but if so its struck really fast as the birds did a hour and a half Sunday night and you would think if they were really sick they would have refused to fly instead of flying like champs for a hour then trying to drop in at the club. Plus there was no spew there this morning and I’m not keeping the yb’s tight so they wouldn’t have eaten their own spew they get as much grub as they want.

 

Plus the darkness team had no spew in and looked in class nick and I’ve never had yb sickness before and you would think if I got it it would be the dark birds as its my first season trying the dark.

 

I’ve let them finish their feed as half had alreadly eaten then took the corn away and put Nystan in the water and instructed the loft manager (retired lazy old git fatha) to keep an eye on them and check if they are spewing. He as an old pigeon man himself reckons I’m overreacting and he’s had birds that spewed before and its been nowt.

 

The guy who saw it was loving it as he hasn’t got his ybs even kitting up yet so I got all the bollocks he was coming out with last year when I got more points in the ybs than him. “you have started too early birds shouldn’t be exercising more than a hour if so theres something wrong with them, *expletive removed*.’’

 

One things for sure if that strag keeps ticing them down its got to go.

 

 

 

[Tony C]

Paulo what you've described, pigeons acting strange/nervous & spewing up grub is classical behaviour of the onset of Y.B.S. Lock them up for the remainder of the day, feed as normal and check their crops/droppings first thing in the morning.

[Guest]

i would lock them up for the rest of the week

[Guest Paulo]

Thanks lads. Dad has rang back and said theres no signs of any spewing and droppings look ok but I'll leave it and see what happens. Hope its a false alarm as just got them coming into condition

[Guest IB]

I've never had YBS. I have had one or two birds bring stuff up on an odd occasion, especially little rounded polished stones of spent grit, but I do not believe that that is any big deal requiring medication or worry - if it has eaten something it shouldn't have, a healthy crop will eject it, and everything else in there at the time, plus sick birds don't fly, certainly never for an hour plus  

 

Only thing I'd do would be to pop this bird in a box for 24 hours to keep an eye on it, and make sure I'd picked up and had a sniff at what was brought up, for example an alcohol smell tells you its started to ferment so its been held in the crop for a while. An ordinary 'mushy' smell means its reasonably fresh.

 

Agree with your ol man - antibiotics in the drinker is an over-reaction, probably done birds more harm than good.

[jimmy white]

Paulo what you've described, pigeons acting strange/nervous & spewing up grub is classical behaviour of the onset of Y.B.S. Lock them up for the remainder of the day, feed as normal and check their crops/droppings first thing in the morning.

 

i would tend to agree with this post paul,,[ unfortunately] its really amazing how quick this can take a grip,,overnight really, i think the old fella is right and think your doing the right thing, but i would keep them in and feed lightly , one thing in your favour is ,,the birds have been or still are flying well and should be more" capable of shaking this off" than younger birds that havent been flying well ,if i were you i would take every precautonary measure in the book ,so to speak , keep the loft spotless and use an old" flash spray" filled with virkon ,s , use it freely [a fine mist spray all over the loft] and a footbath at the door with virkon,s in it and wouldnt let anyone in the loft or even visit any other lofts , i really hope this is just a minor set back , but taking these precautions wouldnt  do no harm ,, as you say , you could well be over-reacting ,,,,but better safe than sorry,, best of luck

[Guest strapper]

one thing that many fanciers believe  is,  that if one bird is showing illness then all other birds in that loft will be ok as long as the bird is removed!

a bird will take a few days to become ill to an extent where it shows signs of lillness,thus making it most probably others have that illness also but not yet at the point of illness the 1st bird is.

if ur bird that spewed up hasnt eaten that morning and come back from a flight(where some has shown reluctance to come back in)then its showing signs of summut aint right!

remember..not all yb,s with sickness spew up!! and those that have might have their spewed corn eaten by others..hence the quickness of the sickness.

youngbird sickness isnt the killer!..its a secondary infection brought on from being sick that kills..mainly ecoli..please remember,that youngbird sickness can also affect old birds(they can get it!) but dont suffer the same effects as their imune system quicky manages to combat it.

youngbird sickness was 1st discovered in y/birds...because of its severity in them hence the name .

its only my advise and ur entitled to do wot ever u please with ur birds, but id be lent towards keeping a keen eye on them and have some treatment ready for use.

cider vinegar has good qualities for fending off y/bird sickness.but it wont cure it!

[Roland]

Well never had y/b/s, and a great believer in garden lime allowed to settle over night in the water.

Most in one club did and y/b/s doesn't seem to rear it's head at all... other clubs I'm in have had some... go figure. But lime does - reportedly have the effect of soothing and caalming. And no forget about E Coli mythss...

But if it was y/b/s then I wouldn't remove any seeds brought up, but allow all to eat, the sooner had and got over the better ... do the lot in one go, nothing worst than waiting for another attack.

[Merlin]

Me, I think you should heed the voice of experience and wisdon "Grasshopper"in this instance your Dad.

[tom corrie]

I AGREE WITH ROLAND THERE IS NO CURE ONCE THE FIRST BIRD SHOW SIMTOMS NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DISINFECT OR BLOW TORCH THE LOFT IT WILL TAKE ITS COURSE JUST KEEP THEM IN AND KEEP THE FEED VERY LIGHT WITH SOME PROBOTICS ON IT AND SIT AND SUFFER  

ROLAND THE LIME IN THE WATER MAKES SENSE AS IT TAKES THE ACIDITY OUT THE SOIL HOW MUCH DO YOU PUT IN THE DRINKER

[Guest Paulo]

Hi everyone there's been no more spewing. My dads had them out yesterday afternoon and they went away raking for a hour. I checked their crops last night and the feed had digested. Then fed them and took food out.

 

Went in this morning and crops are all empty. Crap looks ok not perfect but not waterly. So kept them in and fed them and will see how they fly tonight.

 

Some look a bit fluffed up but aren't using weight and it is cool up here for summer at the minute.

 

Put gemphanax in the water to replace the good bacteria after the nyistan yesterday and will just have to see how they come on.

 

Other team of darkness yb's look fine

 

Thanks for everyones help

[Guest]

Paulo, i think your birds just saw a straggler (and/or one of the widowhood cocks) on the old club building that was feeding on some old corn or worse vermin poison, (the small grain stuff that is blue/green in colour), and they decided to join him!!

 

If it was vermin poison should do little harm, this is designed to only be lethal in large amounts to birds and vermin, it contains a poison that will gradually bring on organ failure.

 

Forget YBS if i were you.

[Merlin]

Just cant resist,

                Paulo listen to the wisdom and knowledge of the wise old sage,you have on tap there more often,ie your Dad

[Guest IB]

Interesting thread. I can't agree that you should leave a suspect bird (that you suspect has 'something' wrong with it) amongst your other birds. You are surely there to prevent any disease spreading amongst your birds, not to encourage it? And how do you know what disease you are dealing with? What if you misdiagnose and its not an 'over-in-24 hours-thing' but something real nasty that puts you out the game for the rest of the year?

 

Any pigeon will gobble up anything that another bird brings up in the loft, or outside; that spewed grain & stuff could be contaminated, so if others eat it, it'll spread. If that bird does the same in a spare box, no other bird can get at it, it lies there till you clean it up, and you can disinfect the box.

 

You can watch that bird - how much it is eating, how quickly its droppings are forming up, how it looks etc. A lot easier to look after 1 suspect pigeon and clean & disinfect 1 box every day, than look after a loft full of suspect birds and clean & disinfect the whole loft every day.

 

[mosslands1]

are you shure you havent been nobbled . pigeon on the building roof cant fly attracts your youngbirds onto roof where there is food laced with say rat poison or somthing you never know you best listen to your old man lollol

[Roland]

I just sprinkle half a hand full to a 5 litre, and shake up, then leave to settle over night.

I also have a 5 gallon Drum - Wine one with a Tap. The top has four 4 inch long by 2 inch deep under the lid cut away. This, left over night, also allows the the tap waters' added killer Chlorine to be got rid off and then A. Good bacteria will survive in the birds gut. It also means that any treatment can be more effective at least. - many treatments are ruined simple because tap water is used

 

quote Chlorine is a powerful oxidant and is used in bleaching and disinfectants. As a common disinfectant, chlorine compounds are used in swimming pools to keep them clean and sanitary. In the upper atmosphere, chlorine-containing molecules have been implicated in the destruction of the ozone layer.

 

[Roland]

In England and Wales, two thirds of drinking water comes from surface water, including reservoirs, lakes and rivers, and the rest from ground waters. The latter come from aquifers, which are underground geological formations that store rainwater. The rainwater seeps through porous strata such as sandstone and chalk. Water companies drill wells or bore holes into aquifers and draw water from them.

Major cities are usually supplied from the larger volume surface waters, whereas ground waters supply smaller populations, although this is not always the case. There are also areas that receive water from a mixture of sources.

Water is treated at water treatment works before flowing through water mains, sometimes over considerable distances, to arrive at your home. Samples are taken at each stage of treatment and distribution along the way, and tested by the water company to make sure that you receive high quality water.

Water is not taken from sources that are highly polluted, and water for drinking is drawn only from good quality surface and ground water. But all water must still be treated before it is safe to drink. Contaminants can come from agriculture or industry. They may, for example, include treated sewage effluents, and traces of agriculture chemicals in areas where farming is practiced. All sources are disinfected to kill germs, known scientifically as pathogens, which may have entered water sources from human or animal wastes.

 

Ground waters are usually of higher quality than surface sources. However, they can contain traces of agricultural chemicals and a few may contain toxic chemicals, which occur naturally in some aquifers.

Waters in large lakes or storage reservoirs undergo a natural purification stage - factors such as sunlight help eliminate pathogens naturally. These waters are usually retained for up to six months before being treated.

Tap water IS treated to make it safe to drink?

There are a wide variety of water treatment processes available. Those used are tailored to the quality of the water source that has to be treated. Ground waters usually require very little treatment. River water tends to require more comprehensive treatment to remove chemical pollutants. All sources require disinfection with chlorine to kill pathogens, including bacteria and viruses.

Treatment of most commonly used stages of treatment are where  companies offer guided visits to their’ water treatment works where visitors can view the processes. For more information, contact your water company.

Clarification is a complex process that removes silt, algae, colour, manganese and aluminium, and various other matter that may be present in the raw water. A chemical called a coagulant, which is usually an iron or aluminium salt, is added to the raw water and combines the material that has to be removed into larger particles. These are removed either by settling them out (sedimentation) or by using air to float them to the surface (flotation). Clarification also removes about 90 per cent of pathogens from the raw water. Etc. Etc.