# sick birds



## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

i am continuing to have problems with sick birds in my loft. i have lost one bird, and i am afraid that i will soon lose two more. symptoms as follows in

bird 1:
very thin, i spend time with my birds everyday, and this seemed to come from nowhere
yellow discharge on face, can't see if its from eyes or nostrils
very clumsy, drunk like when flying to perch
young bird
bird 2:
starting to get thin
stays on the floor instead of perching
clumsy but not as much as bird 1
this is an adult bird
crop is STUFFED full of water

i have baytril on hand, these birds all just went through a 1 week 4 in 1 treatment, that now apparently seems to have done nothing, as when i started the treatment only the bird (that is now gone) had symptoms. i don't have a good means of separating birds at the moment. please let me know what my options are if i have any.
thanks,
aaron


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It sounds like paratyphoid to me and maybe canker.Or...is there a possibility they have gotten into bad /spoiled feed? Is the breath and poop stinky. I would start them on baytril.
Personally, I think 4 in 1 is worthless.


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

*administration*

Charis,
How do you recomend to give it to them? should i treat them all since i can't really separate them? or just the ones with symptoms? is this something that will spread to all the birds or just something that birds with low immunity will get? i still don't have a good handle on whether this is a bug that is always around or if its one that gets brought in?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It is brought in by rodents. I have to leave and will check in in about 1 hour.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I would start them all on baytril. I missed that in your post as I read it quickly. This seems to be affecting all the birds, young and old. I'd treat them all ASAP.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> i don't have a good means of separating birds at the moment.


It is very important to isolate the sick birds from the healthy ones to stop the spread of disease. Can you put the sick birds in cat carriers, or in boxes and take them indoors?

Cynthia


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

cyro51 said:


> It is very important to isolate the sick birds from the healthy ones to stop the spread of disease. Can you put the sick birds in cat carriers, or in boxes and take them indoors?
> 
> Cynthia


Cynthia, don't you think that at this point that there's a strong chance that most all of his birds will come down with whatever is going on. This started a week ago. It would be a shame to isolate the ones that "appear" sick and treat them, only to have the rest get sick 2,3, 4 days from now and have to start them too. I don't usually recommend doing this, but his situation sounds pretty desparate to me and IMO, I believe treating EVERYBODY is the best course of action right now. He's got sick young birds, sick old birds,......JMHO.....


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Aaron, What kind of baytril do you have?


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Renee,

I didn't recommend treating only those that were obviously sick. But I strongly believe that they should be isolated from the rest. This is because we don't really know what is causing the illness and whether it will respond to Baytril or to any other antibiotic

Although there may be a strong chance that most of his birds have already caught whatever it is that is causing this illness it is by no means definite that they have. Leaving the obviously sick birds in the loft will increase the chances of them all becoming infected.

Cynthia


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

*baytril*

i have liquid baytril, 2ml per quart of water is the dose on the bottle. i put the first dose in the water tonight.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Are you able to separate the sick ones?
Are mice getting into you loft?


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

I did not separate them as I am treating the whole flock with baytril, is this not right? I have never seen any mice or any sign of them, but I guess I can't be sure.


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

I spoke to the breeder that I got all the white birds from, she said they were all vaccinated for pmv and paratyphoid. Can a bird still get these things after being vaccinated? Only one of the birds that is sick is from this breeder, the one with the discharge. Is it possible that he has something else? Could the others have pmv, the ones not from this breeder? They haven't had the discharge.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Don't suppose you could post a picture of one of the birds with the discharge?

Pidgey


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Did the breeder say how long since the birds were vaccinated?
I would separate the sick ones. Sick birds will not eat or drink and you need to make sure that they are eating and drinking. Separated from the flock is the only way you can offer supportive care and monitor them.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

*Copied from Siegels*

What should a fancier know about E. Coli?

E. Coli, also called Collibacillosis, is now thought to be more prevalent in pigeons than once suspected. E. Coli is caused by gram negative bacteria which can invade the loft through infected dust particles, in rodent droppings, and through infected pigeon droppings coming contact with eggs in the nest. Infected adult pigeons will emit the bacteria through their droppings, so that E. Coli can be spread quite readily throughout a pigeon loft.

Symptoms of E. Coli are diverse, because the E. Coli bacteria can manifest themselves in any part of the pigeon’s body. Most often, young will die in the nest. Adult birds will become listless and lose weight. Their droppings will become loose, mucousy, and greenish-yellow in appearance. Sometimes the droppings will have a foul odor. Occasionally, some birds may nave nasal discharges and respiratory problems associated with this disease.

To prevent E. Coli, maintain good loft hygiene and keep rodents away from feed and water. Keeping dust and ammonia levels down will also help to control any outbreaks.


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

I spoke to the breeder that I got all the white birds from, she said they were all vaccinated for pmv and paratyphoid. Can a bird still get these things after being vaccinated? Only one of the birds that is sick is from this breeder, the one with the discharge. Is it possible that he has something else? Could the others have pmv, the ones not from this breeder? They haven't had the discharge.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Yes, they can still get the diseases, but it usually means that they'll have diminished symptoms, or that out of the entire loft, you'll only get a few sick birds instead of losing a lot.

Pidgey


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Aaron, Did you read my post about E-Coli? It can manifest with varying symptoms between birds.


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## aarongreen123 (Jan 26, 2005)

*woops*

no i hadn't seen the post regarding e-coli until just now. what is the treatment for that?


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Baytril will work. It's a similar enteric pathogen like Salmonella.

Pidgey


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