Pigeons Gaping

[peter pandy]

What causes pigeons to gasp as if they are trying to breath with their mouths agape and throats trembling ???.

 

I would be obliged for theories before giving my opinion on an experience.

[just ask me]

canker or respiratory or both

 

 

needs a test done though

[OLDYELLOW]

can also do it if over weight

[andy Burgess]

What causes pigeons to gasp as if they are trying to breath with their mouths agape and throats trembling ???.

 

I would be obliged for theories before giving my opinion on an experience.

possibly due to being un-fit ,or heat ,i understand its the only way they can cool themselves down due to not having any sweat glands .?

[DJWa]

can also do it if over weight

 

overweight and unfit birds do this

[dal2]

overweight and unfit birds do this

Deffo. Dont go rushin for tests just get them in the hand and make yer judgement!!!Have they been locked up for long?

[ovy1255]

give us some more info ---your birds -------racers ---tumblers ------how long had they flown ---------what was weather like ---have they been flying out all winter -----------are they feeding young------------when did you last treat and for what.then the guys on here can give better assesments .

[victorious]

What causes pigeons to gasp as if they are trying to breath with their mouths agape and throats trembling ???.

 

I would be obliged for theories before giving my opinion on an experience.

 

can be caused by being to warm, ive seen this many times in heated halls at shows etc its their way of cooling down.

[peter pandy]

Perhaps I have been a little scarce with information so will rectify !

Loft 1. Birds out every day during winter months and flying no longer than 5 minutes before landing and gaping !

Loft 2. One bird in loft gaping !.

Different lofts and environments. By the way every reply so far was what I had assumed to be the problem.

[geordie1234]

Do you have a bop prob because nervous or scared pigeons can do this too?

[andy Burgess]

Perhaps I have been a little scarce with information so will rectify !

Loft 1. Birds out every day during winter months and flying no longer than 5 minutes before landing and gaping !

Loft 2. One bird in loft gaping !.

Different lofts and environments. By the way every reply so far was what I had assumed to be the problem.

so what do intend to do ?? ,reduce the feed ,or lighten it by maybe adding barley or ??

[dal2]

Perhaps I have been a little scarce with information so will rectify !

Loft 1. Birds out every day during winter months and flying no longer than 5 minutes before landing and gaping !

Loft 2. One bird in loft gaping !.

Different lofts and environments. By the way every reply so far was what I had assumed to be the problem.

Birds that have been out in winter for exercise will/should not be over wieght!!! Resp if you have a touch of damp?

[peter pandy]

Do you have a bop prob because nervous or scared pigeons can do this too?

 

" SPOT ON "

[dal2]

" SPOT ON "

Wot was attacking them?

[peter pandy]

Wot was attacking them?

 

Stress !! Will give my conclusion shortly.

[dal2]

Stress !! Will give my conclusion shortly.

Lost?

[peter pandy]

I had never seen this problem till I went to work for C.J.Williams in the Cotswolds. Loft 1. The birds would execise for no more than 5 minutes and I assumed it was possibly unfit birds however handling told me differently and I booked an appointment with Garry Spavin taking a basket of the worst offenders for his perusal and tests. All proved negative so I decided to keep them flying for an extra 5 minutes per day whilst I fired off a shotgun at every attempt to land on the loft. The gaping stopped after the 1 hour of excercise was reached say a fortnight of forced flying and the problem never recurred mind you I had the shotgun with me at all times to ensure the 1 hour excercise was reached and maintained. I had to assume that it was respiratory and I had cured it.

 

Loft 2. Last week I put a folding down chair in the loft and a bird managed to put 1 foot between the chair legs and was trapped upset down for a couple of hours. When I released it it started gaping for 2 days solid which brought me to the conclusion that gaping is stress.

 

Back to Loft 1. It never occurred to me that we were plagued with Sparrowhawk,Peregrine and Goshawk making the birds stressful on every occasion they were out excercising and with the forced excercise gave them the confidence to stay in the air. The shotgun certainly played its part.

Whether I am right or wrong confidence not medicine is the cure !!.

[billt]

Well the shot-gun would certainly keep BOP at bay, they hate and react to loud noise

[andy Burgess]

I had never seen this problem till I went to work for C.J.Williams in the Cotswolds. Loft 1. The birds would execise for no more than 5 minutes and I assumed it was possibly unfit birds however handling told me differently and I booked an appointment with Garry Spavin taking a basket of the worst offenders for his perusal and tests. All proved negative so I decided to keep them flying for an extra 5 minutes per day whilst I fired off a shotgun at every attempt to land on the loft. The gaping stopped after the 1 hour of excercise was reached say a fortnight of forced flying and the problem never recurred mind you I had the shotgun with me at all times to ensure the 1 hour excercise was reached and maintained. I had to assume that it was respiratory and I had cured it.Loft 2. Last week I put a folding down chair in the loft and a bird managed to put 1 foot between the chair legs and was trapped upset down for a couple of hours. When I released it it started gaping for 2 days solid which brought me to the conclusion that gaping is stress.Back to Loft 1. It never occurred to me that we were plagued with Sparrowhawk,Peregrine and Goshawk making the birds stressful on every occasion they were out excercising and with the forced excercise gave them the confidence to stay in the air. The shotgun certainly played its part. Whether I am right or wrong confidence not medicine is the cure !!.

 

interesting post , i like the way you "think outside the box" am un-sure as to wether i would have taken this route tho .

Well the shot-gun would certainly keep BOP at bay, they hate and react to loud noise

very , very true Bill.

[Guest stb-]

Over weight to hot unfitt , and stress can cause this . I have seen the birds on the loft roof

all panting and shacking when the percy is circling above loft aswell or percy has chased them down to ground my birds can be terrefied going out and gape and pant with fear .

 

just noticed your post about hawks yes your right

Edited April 13, 2012 by stb-

[dal2]

I had never seen this problem till I went to work for C.J.Williams in the Cotswolds. Loft 1. The birds would execise for no more than 5 minutes and I assumed it was possibly unfit birds however handling told me differently and I booked an appointment with Garry Spavin taking a basket of the worst offenders for his perusal and tests. All proved negative so I decided to keep them flying for an extra 5 minutes per day whilst I fired off a shotgun at every attempt to land on the loft. The gaping stopped after the 1 hour of excercise was reached say a fortnight of forced flying and the problem never recurred mind you I had the shotgun with me at all times to ensure the 1 hour excercise was reached and maintained. I had to assume that it was respiratory and I had cured it.

 

Loft 2. Last week I put a folding down chair in the loft and a bird managed to put 1 foot between the chair legs and was trapped upset down for a couple of hours. When I released it it started gaping for 2 days solid which brought me to the conclusion that gaping is stress.

 

Back to Loft 1. It never occurred to me that we were plagued with Sparrowhawk,Peregrine and Goshawk making the birds stressful on every occasion they were out excercising and with the forced excercise gave them the confidence to stay in the air. The shotgun certainly played its part.

Whether I am right or wrong confidence not medicine is the cure !!.

 

The loud bang certainly works for scaring the hawks and falcons but for flaging pigeons?????

Could it be that when under stress the heart pumps harder, obviously, hence heating the poor wee buggers heat up until gaping? simple explaination?

How do you mean it never occurred to you that the birds wer being attacked? surely you would have seen a sparr attack?

Peter your ideas and experiences are very different reading from the norm, well done on yer alternative thinking.

[greenlands]

Would that amount of stress not bring on canker ??

[Guest IB]

Panting is a normal reaction to stress - heat stress. It is one of a number of ways available to the bird to keep its body temperature with certain limits. It is said a bird’s body temperature rises dramatically during flight, (and take-off is also said to be the most strenuous part of it) so other measures come into play which still allow the bird to ‘breath normally’ and continue flying. David Parsons posted on it:-

.

 

Not sure about the "curtain" at the back of the throat acting as a fan. I believed the fringe on the back and possibly the curtain itself to be important in ensuring that food goes the correct way.

 

The panting in very hot birds can continue on as the "Gular flutter". In this instance, air is taken into the oesophagus (throat) which has a very good blood supply. this allows heat to be transferred directly from the body to the air. This is a trick utilised by pigeons and doves as well as other birds such as quail and pelicans. this enables the bird to lose heat without upsetting respiration…………

 

David

 

The reference to the curtain at the back of the throat vibrating was in answer to a post of mine where I mistook the ‘vibrating throat’ to be the curtain at the back of the throat vibrating, and acting like a fan. The correct term for ‘vibrating throat’ is gular flutter. Gular is the name for the region of the neck just behind throat (going towards the crop). Note what David said about the oesophagus - thats the gullet, the pipe between the throat and the crop. That's where the air is taken to for this heat exchange, not the normal one, the windpipe.

 

I therefore regard panting as perfectly normal.

[ovy1255]

young birds this year---------i breed early and always treat loft and old birds well in advance to try to ensure healthy old birds for breeding---but this year my young even though i had treat for cancer as i parted them would gasp after about 5 mins fly[we did get some hot days]--so i retreat for cancer but instead of tablets i used chevicol [spelloing] nothing visable down throat no gurgleing at back of neck when extending neck forward ------but still not 100% happy with them so treat with doxy for 3 days -the difference was immediate and birds looked better---since then the whole flock has been inoculated PMV kept in for 3days as it snowed up here and laid for a while.

they have had cytacon in water some days multivits others and sometimes cider vinigar but always clean water between.

last night most of the young birds flew over an hour ---no flags-most are now through the body moult and that gapeing seems a long time ago .

 

 

 

SO MY OPINION IS RESPITORY IN MY CASE.

[Rooster J. Cogburn]

I have found that birds excercising for an hour or more at a time will pant on occasion.Not in any way through the excersion put in during the excercise.

 

Have seen it in cocks seperated from their mates.If the cocks go away ranging and return to the loft with strangers(some of which hens),on landing some will pant-excitement/stress??

 

these same birds will fly for an hour the following day and land with no signs at all of this panting.So it can happen without it being an illness and its not alway related to fear of attack in my opinion.

 

Have never seen the same behaviour in cocks settled and paired if they return from ranging with strangers.