healthy youngbirds

Healthy Young Birds

To insure success in the upcoming young bird (YB) race season, fanciers must have their birds in supreme health. Here are some tips and recommendations to keep your YBs fit for the demands of racing.

I recommend putting YBs on the floor of the breeding loft at 14 to 16 days of age. Here they are pumped by the breeders and quickly learn to eat and drink on their own. Scalping is always a threat, but is actually a rare occurrence.

When they are almost fully feathered under the wing at about 23 to 28 days of age, the YBs are moved to the YB loft. At this time I usually treat for tichomonas with 1/4 of a 250 mg tablet of metronidizole (Flagyl) for 2 to 3 days or a Spartrix tablet for 2 days. I also give 1 teaspoonful of Clorox (or any regular, unscented bleach) per gallon of drinking water daily to help slow down water borne disease transmission and acidify the droppings You can add bleach to the water all year long except when giving other medications.

Vaccinating YBs is very important. I usually wait until the entire YB team is bred and moved to the YB loft, then vaccinate the whole group for pox, paramyxovirus (PMV) and parathyroid. I am reluctant to give all 3 vaccines at the same time, preferring to give pox and PMV together , then parathyroid a few weeks later. Parathyroid and PMV vaccinations are repeated after the YB season in late October. It is important that the pox vaccine be given to all the YBs in your loft at the same time and that bathing be curtailed for 10 to 14 days after this vaccine because pox vaccine is a live vaccine and the pox virus will be transmitted to untreated YBs.

I do not routinely recommend antibiotics unless a problem arises and then I try to select the appropriate medication based on culture and sensitivity results. However, I put the YBs through a medication program 2 to 3 weeks before the first YB race using Aureomycin (or another tetracycline such as doxcycline), Tylan powder, Corid, and Ridzol. I then repeat this for 2 days every other week during the season. (See the summary below for dosages). Remove grit from loft when giving tetracyclines since the calcium in the grit neutralizes the medication.

One final thought on keeping YBs healthy -- YBs are stressed by moulting, training and racing, making them susceptible to disease. We must pay close attention to the early signs of disease and practice sound management, including keeping the loft clean, uncrowded, well ventilated, and dry.

Young Bird Health Program Summary
Wean YBs 24 to 28 Days of Age When Feathered Under the Wing

Administer Spartrix (1 tablet daily for 2 days) or
Flagyl (1/4 of 250 mg tablet daily for 2 to 3 days)
Clorox (or unscented bleach) in water daily (1 teaspoon/gallon) except when giving medications.

Have droppings checked for intestinal parasites every 4 to 6 weeks and treat accordingly with Ivomectin at the rate of 0.1 cc in the mouth of each bird and repeat in 2 weeks.

Vaccinate the entire YB team at one time

Administer Intervet for pox and Maine Biological or Colombovac for PMV according to manufacturer's directions

2 to 3 weeks later administer SalBac for parathyroid

Repeat PMV and parathyroid treatment after YB race season

Race Season: Treatment for 5 days
Two to three weeks before races begin, administer the following for five days:


2 teaspoons/gallon Aureomycin (or another tetracycline such as doxcycline) and

One teaspoon/gallon Tylan powder along with

One teaspoon/gallon Ridzol and

One teaspoon/gallon Corid

Then, give Aureomycin or tetracylcine and Tylan for 5 more days. Again, remove the grit. for five additional days.

Repeat treatment as a preventative 1 to 2 days each week or every other week with all 4 drugs during the race season.

In areas where Haemoproteus (pigeon malaria) is prevalent, use anti-malarial drugs (like Quinacrine) for 30 days prior to the race season, then 1 to 2 days each week during the season. Follow the manufacturer's suggested dosage.

Dust with permethrin dust (Insectrin GP) every 2 weeks to control pigeon flies, lice and mites.

thanks ian, very interesting reading........

was reading the part where it says ybs are under stress whilst racing, training or moulting........as my bird with one eyed cold was moulting, do you think this could have caused it ?

most definately david i tend to leave alone to see if they pick up there natural ammunity before i treat but sometimes you have to treat

i once did have a bird with one eyed cold and didnt know what to treat it with because they had stopped making the old hand tablets...........i left the bird and eventually it cleared up its self but the bird never seemed the same i lost it training soon after, with this latest hen i treated as soon as i could and the difference even over night was fantastic.......

must admit david iam a great beleiver in treatments mind you dont think them old hand tablets were much good but thats all there was then know there is much better products on the market unfortunately much better prices,