Pigeon Disease – The Eight Most Common Health Problems in Pigeons

The eight most common health problems with our pigeons are:

Paratyphoid, Paramyxovirus, Canker, Cocci, Worms, Adeno-Coli Syndrome, Ornithosis and Candida.

1. PARATHYPHOID (Salmonella)
Paratyphoid can be caused by un-sanitary conditions and the contamination of feed by rodents. It also can occur when introducing new pigeons into the loft, without checking first if they are healthy. Before putting new pigeons into the loft, isolate and observe them for 5 days and put them on a preventive medication.

Symptoms of Paratyphoid:
Loss of condition and weight.
Green slimy droppings.
Swelling of the leg and wing joints.
Limping
Infertile Eggs.
Twisted neck (seldom)
One eye blindness (seldom)

Products for Prevention and Cure:
Furaltadone & Colistine 5% (DAC)
Trimethoprim ? Sulfa (DAC)
Parastop (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Parastop (Pantex)
Pantrim (Pantex)
Para-Mix 1 (Travipharma)
Sal-Bac Vaccine (Bio-Mune)

2. PARAMYXOVIRUS (PMV)
To prevent Paramyxovirus from coming into your loft, it is recommended that all birds are vaccinated at least once a year. Young birds should be vaccinated at 4 to 8 weeks of age, but no later then 4 weeks before the young bird race season. Re-vaccinate all birds 4 weeks before the breeding season. Once a pigeon has Paramyxovirus, there is very little you can do, vaccinating at this point will not do any good. We recommend that those pigeons that have the disease are treated with La-Sota, that has shown some success. This can be done individually by putting a drop in each eye for three days, or putting it in the drinking water for flock treatment.

Symptoms of Paramyxovirus:
Loss of weight
Watery green slimy droppings.
Parastop (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Twisting of neck and head

Products for prevention or cure:
PMV1 Vaccine (Lohmann Animal Health)
LaSota (Lohmann Animal Health)
*NOTE: If a visible Paramyxovirus problem occurs, you may try the following remedy. This was recommended by several of the leading pigeon veterinarians in Holland and Belgium. Vaccinate the effected pigeon 3 x in one week, with PMV-1 killed virus vaccine, 0.5 cc per shot in the neck, on Sunday, Wednesday and Sunday. After treatment, keep pigeon isolated for an additional week, to make sure all symptoms are gone. Remember, that the bird will always remain a carrier.

3. CANKER (Trichomoniasis)
A yellow cheesy substance, generally seen in the mouth, however 10% of Canker is external, while 90% is internal. Breaks out at any age, also in youngsters still in the nest. It is caused by a flagellate, living on the mucous membranes of the throat and the crop.

Symptoms of Canker:
Loss of appetite
Problem digesting

Products for Cure:
Ronidazole (Ridzol)(DAC)
Metronidazole (Flagyl) (DAC)
B.S. (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Ronidazole 10% (Pantex)
Ronidazole 40 (Pantex)
5% Cure (Travipharma)

4. COCCI (Coccidiosis)
This problem can be caused by unsanitary conditions in the loft and letting your pigeons go picking around on the ground.

Symptoms of Cocci:
Loss of weight.
Slimy dark green droppings
Lethargic
Poor flying
Thirsty

Products for Cure:
Multi-Mix (Global)
Dacoxine 4 in 1 (DAC)
Trimethoprim/Sulfa (DAC)
Coccimix (Pantex)
Cocci-Geel (Pantex)
Cocci-Mix 1 (Travipharma)

5. WORMS (Hair, Round & Tape Worms)
Cause generally are un-sanitary loft conditions or letting the pigeons, pick around on the ground. They will maintain appetite, as the worms consume most nutrition in the pigeons system.

Symptoms of Worms
Loss of Condition
Loss of Weight
Bad dropping

Products for Cure:
Combi-Worm (All worms) (Global)
Belga-Wormac (Hair & Roundworm)
Wormmix (Hair & Roundworms) (DAC)
Worm-Ex (Hair & Roundworms) (Pantex)

6. ORNITHOSIS
Over 50% of young birds have problems with the Ornithosis complex. Loss of desire to fly, loss of pigeons in the races and poor results, both with old and young birds.

Symptoms of Ornithosis:
Lack of condition
Nasal secretions
Decreased desire to fly
Scratching the head and beak
Swollen eye lids & wet eyes.
Sneezing, rattling and coughing
Discolored wattles
Slime in the throat

Products for Cure:
Respiratory Plus (Global)
1 + 1 Cure (DAC)
Spiradac (DAC)
Tylosine (DAC)
Orni-Special (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Ornithosis 3 (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Ornimix W.S.P. (Pantex)
Ornimix DS (Pantex)

7. ADENO-COLI SYNDROM
In the last 10 years, this has been the biggest problem in young birds from 6-9 months in age. Up to 70% can be infected and show the symptoms. The disease is a combination of an Adeno-Virus, which opens the way for the suddenly aggressive E-Coli bacteria, often a Circo Virus is also involved. The same symptoms can be seen in Paramyxovirus, however in that case the pigeons drink more and may have some central nervous problem, like twisting of the head. Although there is no known cure for Adeno and Circo Virus. Several of the products shown below, have proven somewhat effective.

Symptoms of Adeno-Coli Syndrom:
Decreased appetite
Clear watery droppings with small fecal
matter in cent
Vomiting
Rapid loss of weight.
Dying in matter of days.
Although the below listed problem is not common, it can occur when certain condition are right and should not be overlooked, as it is generally done

Products for Cure:
Belg-Amco (Belgica-DeWeerd)
4 in 1 Mix (Belgica-DeWeerd)
Dacoxine 4 in 1 (DAC)
To prevent dehydration that the 4 in 1
is mixed with the following product.
Belgasol (Belgica-DeWeerd)

8. CANDIDA
When problems occur in the loft, the first thing a fancier looks for is signs of the more common problems like Canker, Cocci, Worms, Paratyphoid, Respiratory, Ornithosis Complex, Adeno Virus or E-Coli. Many will quickly grab for a medication and do what I call ?blind? medicating for these diseases in a very short time. This can destroy the healthy intestinal good gut bacteria increasing the chance for bad germs to take hold. This can cause a condition named Candida, which is a mould and yeast infection of the crop and the intestines.

Symptons of Candida:
No desire to fly
Poor performance in the races.
Losses in Training and Races.

Products for Cure:
Glostatin (Global)

Pigeon Disease – The Eight Most Common Health Problems in Pigeons