# Breeder Infertility Problem



## Kayt (Sep 19, 2003)

Hello Fellow Pigeon Fanciers,

My name is Kayt and I am writing here today to chat with other fanciers who may have experience with the trouble I am having with my birds. 

Firstly, let me start off by saying that I have owned, bred, shown and/or raced purebred pigeons for 27 years now. I am a licensed veterinary technician and my birds are impeccably cared for. My current breeds are German Beauty Homers, Show Racing Homers and Domestic Show Flights.

I have 14 pairs of very good quality breeders. This year I am experiencing a serious problem with infertility in my birds. We built a new breeder loft this spring and didn't get the birds in there until very early May but since then I think without looking at the records that my hatching rate is barely 20%. Most of the eggs are infertile. Others are fertile and the baby dies before hatching, sometimes even starts to pip the egg before dying. Three of my hens laid one or two sets of infertile eggs and now will not lay any more eggs. They just sit in their empty nests like they are incubating. One's mate even does it too. 

My new loft is very, very nice. It should be perfect for them, with the right amount of light, air and space. The birds appear very healthy too. I did have to treat the birds for coccidia this spring though as a fecal exam on one of the older birds showed an unhealthy number of the parasite. I treated them with Aureomycin/Sulmet. Fecal samples show the parasite has not reappeared in my flock. I feed Blue Seal pigeon food. I use Foy's breeder grit, poultry shell and Belgian pickstones which are available all the time except during times of medication. I also occasionally use Foy's Pigeon Builder in their water. 

I do not have any idea what the problem is this year. But it is very frustrating and disappointing. I had planned on doing more shows than usual this fall and will have only a few youngbirds to exhibit. Plus this morning I had my first egg bound hen. She is of course one of my best birds and we were fortunate to save her. I would love to hear from other breeders who have experienced these problems or anyone who may have any suggestions to help me resolve them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy e-mail and thanks in advance to anyone responding to it. 

Yours in the sport,
Kayt


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

I have no advice re your problem but i sure wish our flightless, unreleasable feral hen had this problem.....she pumps them out like clockwork. Why is it always the right road but the wrong street????


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

That sounds like a pretty high rate of trouble with no other visible symptoms. Usually, you read about problems like that with Paratyphoid carriers and vertical transmission, but it's typically more hit-and-miss. Have you run them through a course of Baytril? 

How has the humidity been there, this year?

Pidgey


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Kayt said:


> Hello Fellow Pigeon Fanciers,
> 
> My name is Kayt and I am writing here today to chat with other fanciers who may have experience with the trouble I am having with my birds.
> 
> ...


I have to say that the thing that popped out at me when reading your post, is the time factor. Early May.........even if that is May 1st........that's only 11 weeks. Of course I have no idea what kind of set up you have in the new loft........nest boxes, individual nest boxes/pens, or have any idea how you went about putting the birds into the new loft. So, what I'm thinking the problem COULD be depends on how the loft is set up. A bunch of birds in a new loft takes time for them to get settled. There could be a lot of fighting and cocks breaking up pairs trying to mate and they can't complete the deal. 
As far as the babies dieing in the shell, to me, it would depend on how many you're talking about. You've been doing this 27 years you say, so you know all too well that nothing is ever perfect. One or two eggs that do this out of 28 or 30 eggs, to me isn't a big deal.........however if it's 10 eggs out of 30, then, yea, there's probably and underlying problem there. 
To be honest, for someone who's a vet tech and has had birds as long as you've had them..........I wouldn't think that problem is THAT serious, meaning medically..........
So, those are my thoughts for what they are worth. 
I know that my best pair of birds........a 2000 cock and a 2002 hen, had two sets of infertile eggs last year. I was very afraid that my cock was done for. They had always been in an individual pen, but last year, they were left in the main breeding loft. After the two sets of eggs, I moved them to an individual pen, and, you guessed it. Got two babies. Turns out that they were getting "interupted" during mating and he was unable to finish the job, because this year, I put them back in the individual pen, and got three rounds of youngsters off of them.


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*Hi Kayt*

An old remedy for fertility problems is to add tamed iodine to the drinking water, just a couple drops or so to a gallon. I have seen new products for fertility but I noticed that they usually have iodine in the formula as well. I'm using it now myself, not so much for the fertility as for it's properties as a bacteria controller. In the heat of summer, it's not a bad idea to use this or something else to control the bacteria that can grow in the waterers. I would not use it with anything else, meds or vitamins in the same water, only when they are getting no treatments of any kind as I'm not sure how it interracts with anything else. It is completely safe by itself. Do make sure that you use "tamed iodine" which has been diluted. Being a vet tech, you probably know about this stuff.

Now, to share in your frustration, I am having some problems of my own and do not know what to blame. I seem to be losing too many young birds, some in the nest and some after weaning, they just go light and die. I've had my son taking care of the birds as my wife and I have been traveling quite a bit and don't know whether to blame his care or look for another cause. 9 youngsters died (in one week) under his care and I see birds that don't look well. I managed to turn a couple of birds around with Pepto Bismol tablets (one quarter tablet per day for a few days) and am doing this again with some birds that are going light but I may be fighting something else that I haven't recognized.

I started my breeding season late as you did, in May, as I took this flock of birds over from my son in about March. I completely remodeled the coop and started over, sold off a bunch of birds etc. I treated with Albon for two weeks and wormed them shortly after that. I'm trying to figure out whether I should put them all on Albon again or look to something else. I've had pigeons for nearly 50 years and have never had this kind of problem before, at least this extensive.

Pidgey mentioned a wet season and we've had what has been called a 500 year flood here in the Midwest. It has been horribly wet and the mosquitoes have been horrible. Whether this holds a key to what is going on with my birds or not, I don't know but I need to figure something out soon. Good luck with yours, any insight into my plight would be greatly appreciated.

Bill


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

It's been my experience that Salmonellosis/Paratyphoid is the most common cause of high chick mortality, including babies dying in the shell, even if the parents don't appear ill. Did you vaccinate for it? Even if you did, the vaccine is only about 75% effective. Any chance rodents have somehow gained access to your loft or feed? I can't imagine that with a nice, newly-built loft, but mice can squeeze into awfully small spaces. It's also possible that no matter how clean you keep your place, feed has been contaminated by rodents at the mill before you bought it. I know master breeders who have bred pigeons most of their lives and even they get a few cases of paratyphoid each year. I believe Baytril is still the drug of choice for treating it. It's not currently available to the public, but you can still get some from an avian vet. Good luck.


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