# Yellow boils



## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

Hello everyone, 

I have been hand rearing a wood pigeon squab that I found when he was about 7 days old. 

I went away on holiday for 10 days and a friend hand fed him and kept him warm and gave him interaction. 

I arrived back yesterday and I couldn't wait to go and pick him up, I did so straight away and my friend told me that he's been doing really well but she'd noticed some yellow lumps near his bottom..

Can anyone please advise me on what it could be or what I should treat it with. Could it be pigeon pox? He has 3 at the moment and they look like yellow warts ?. He doesn't have them anywhere else other than near his bottom. 

Any advise would be amazing please x (very worried pigeon mama here)


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Could you get a clear photograph?

Pox is generally on unfeathered parts around the face and on feet, so cannot be sure what it is. Maybe pox, maybe some kind of warts, maybe something else


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## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

Please excuse the colour someone told me to add a little coconut oil and turmeric to the boils to dry them
Up xx


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

That is canker on the navel. Canker can form on the navel when the squab isn't kept in a dry nest. It should be treated with something like Spartrix, or a product containing ronidazole or metronidazole.


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## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

Oh really! Poor baby! 

Where can I get that from? Do regular pet stores sell it? Or is best off somewhere like Amazon or eBay? Xx


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## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

If I buy the tablet form will it cure the naval too?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Haven't seen Spartrix on shelves for a while, and pet shops don't stock it unless they are also corn/feed stores that cater for pigeons. Best bets are Amazon UK or Hyperdrug for Spartrix.

The others noted by Chuck are not available here except with vet prescription. They may be available from a place such as Mercasystems (which ship from outside the UK). Would take maybe a week to arrive.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Mercasystems sell Meditrich 

http://pigeons.mercasystems.com/index.php/medpet-pigeons-products-meditrich.html

which is Metronidazole

and

various forms of Ronidazole

http://pigeons.mercasystems.com/index.php/catalogsearch/result/index/?p=1&q=ronidazole

Have not used the Ronidazole

I would go for Metronidazole, personally, but that's just my preference.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Metro works better than Spartrix anyway. At least that has been my experience. But you will have to split the pills and split them again. It comes in 100mg, and the baby would need about 30mg once daily for at least 10 days. Then see how it is looking. The Meditrich quartered would be 25 mg, which should be fine. How old is he now?

Maybe the parents had canker which was passed on to the baby. It isn't wet nests that cause it, unless that water contains high levels of trich. Normally when a parent with canker pumps too much water into the baby, which is of course going to cause the baby to put out a lot of water, containing high levels of trich, and the nest gets wet, and also contians high levels of trich, and the baby is sitting in this, can cause the canker.


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

We can get Spartrix in the states, but my experience is that it isn't the same effective formula or canker has mutated to the point it is resistent to the Carnidazole in Spartrix.

I had three birds come down with a form of canker this summer that I have never had in the birds before. These three birds were valuable to my breeding program, and I tried Spartrix, Avio-nidazole (Ronidazole&Secnidazole), Fish Zole (metronidazole), and Dimetryl+(dimetridazole). None of the four would cure these three birds. I tried the different meds multiple times over about three months, and although they would stall the development of the canker it returned even after I scraped the growth from their mouths. I ended up having to euthanize all three to make sure it didn't spread to the rest of the flock.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Chuck, how long did you treat for each time? Sometimes using 2 of them together will work. Like Metro and Spartrix. Canker is becoming more resistant to these things, unfortunately. I'm really sorry you lost them.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Chuck, very sorry to hear about the three birds you lost. If any get resistant canker again suggest you test for circo. Chloe had canker we couldn't get rid of last summer and on autopsy had circovirus. I hope you never encounter it but it is contagious so now I have any new birds tested and quarantined because it is not treatable.


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## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

I have purchased something called Hankers Harkanker soluble. Should be arriving in a few days! I really hope I can save my little pigeon, will be absolutely devastated if he passes away, I've really grown attached to him  

Gutted that my friend didn't tell me sooner, she said he looked as though he had a slight lesion in his mouth but didn't think to tell me whilst I was away! 

He's an absolute fighter and is still eating and drinking, he's only around 25 days old but has learnt to pick up seeds on his own and drink water on his own too. Xx


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

The canker on the navel doesn't usually kill them at least not quickly. The canker in the mouth and throat can stop them from eating and kill them fairly quickly. It sounds like you have time to get it treated. I have never heard of the product you have coming so I can't say how well it will work.


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

Jay3 said:


> Chuck, how long did you treat for each time? Sometimes using 2 of them together will work. Like Metro and Spartrix. Canker is becoming more resistant to these things, unfortunately. I'm really sorry you lost them.


I have Spartrix three days in a row two different times. Spartrix didn't work at all. I was used to giving one tablet, and the canker would be gone after one treatment. 

I gave the Fish Zole about five days in a row, and nothing.

The Dimetryl+ is supposed to be very hard on the birds, and they recommend it be given no more than three days. I did that the first time with no result, but since that med is water based and I was out of options, I decided to give a higher dose for five days. It still wouldn't touch this canker. It was supposed to be the go to drug for drug resistant canker. I had all three birds isolated from the rest, but I got worried about it spreading among the rest of the flock and disposed of them. It was strange because these birds are a fairly close bred (inbred) family. Two of the birds were mother and son. The son was bred off a brother / sister mating. I think they may have lost resistance due to the inbreeding. The rest of the birds never showed any signs of the illness.


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## Chuck K (Jan 12, 2013)

cwebster said:


> Chuck, very sorry to hear about the three birds you lost. If any get resistant canker again suggest you test for circo. Chloe had canker we couldn't get rid of last summer and on autopsy had circovirus. I hope you never encounter it but it is contagious so now I have any new birds tested and quarantined because it is not treatable.


I don't think it was circo. I have not lost any other birds this year to disease. Some years I have a problem with the type II adeno that I think is related to the mosquito infestation around here, but this year was relatively dry so no losses to anything except this canker.


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## Rosequartz (Jun 29, 2016)

Hello! Thank you rescuing that baby pigeon! Well it would be very helpful if you can post a picture of him. That way it could be easy for us to know what problem he is facing


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## Rosequartz (Jun 29, 2016)

Is the yellow substance hard or soft? That way we can distinguish between canker and pox.


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## Rosequartz (Jun 29, 2016)

I did some research. Actually according to me what your baby bird is facing is actually pox. Because for once the protozoan canker does not survive outside the pigeon body and second canker nodules do not appear outside the body. Well there are many experienced members here who can help you through this problem


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Chuck K said:


> I don't think it was circo. I have not lost any other birds this year to disease. Some years I have a problem with the type II adeno that I think is related to the mosquito infestation around here, but this year was relatively dry so no losses to anything except this canker.


Chuck, if the birds get sick again you might want to make sure they don't have malaria which showed up easily on a blood smear when Chloe was sick. I put mosquito dunks in any standing water now because I didn't know birds could have malaria. I think it is easily treatable. I know, think zebras not horses but there are a few zebras around.


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## Aysh_xo (Oct 5, 2016)

Here is a picture. It is apparently naval canker that pushes through from the inside! This is what I've been told lol xx


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Chuck K said:


> I have Spartrix three days in a row two different times. Spartrix didn't work at all. I was used to giving one tablet, and the canker would be gone after one treatment.
> 
> I haven't had good luck with Spartrix alone, but the more resistant cankers often respond to giving the Spartrix alone with the Metro.
> 
> ...


If 2 of them were mother and son, then she may have had a high trich level which she passed to her son in feeding. That wouldn't mean that they had lost resistance, just that her trich level went up being stressed, and in feeding gave it to him. That is what often happens.


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## Rosequartz (Jun 29, 2016)

Ok then if you think it is canker its fine because I don't know how your baby bird is felling right now and you might know a lot so you can go ahead with your choice. Well I will pray for you baby pigeon to get well soon


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