Vaccinating YBs

this will be my first season racing young birds for a few years.......I`m not really clued up o vaccinating them, can anyone tell me when they vaccinate, and what they use...?

thanks

If you can get columbovac that's the one for me but nobivac is OK but sometimes leaves a greasy mark on the back of the neck and vaccinate them as you part them off I've never had a problem and its easier

We have been using Nobilis Paramyxo P201 for the last 4 years and we have had no problem.

However - I do NOT inject into the back of the neck, I do not believe it is a good way of doing it. I hold the bird in the normal way but turn it upside down so the breast is facing upwards.

Then at a very acute angle I push the needle just under the skin so you can see the needle going in. Then SLOWLY inject, watching the stuff going in. Before taking the needle out, I gently massage the liquid around a little.

The only drawback I can find is, it takes TWO people to do it, but normally that is no big deal. After all, you are supposed to have someone sign the injecting off and they could help you, if you cannot find anyone else.

Hil and I do it together and it is all over very quickly.

All the best.

Phil

that's the only problem when weaning, if they are not all weaned at the same time your forever vaccinating them, and if like me, who cant do it them selves someone else would have to do it for me, so from the nest wouldn't be good for me, altho` I would prefer it that way.

I used to vaccinate many birds for clubs etc,. Then the clubs got their own guns etc,. Very many years ago. Been over 10 years since I vaccinated pigeons. Own included.

blueskylofts wrote:

We have been using Nobilis Paramyxo P201 for the last 4 years and we have had no problem.

However - I do NOT inject into the back of the neck, I do not believe it is a good way of doing it.  I hold the bird in the normal way but turn it upside down so the breast is facing upwards.

Then at a very acute angle I push the needle just under the skin so you can see the needle going in.  Then SLOWLY inject, watching the stuff going in.  Before taking the needle out, I gently massage the liquid around a little.

The only drawback I can find is, it takes TWO people to do it, but normally that is no big deal.  After all, you are supposed to have someone sign the injecting off and they could help you, if you cannot find anyone else.

Hil and I do it together and it is all over very quickly.

All the best.

Phil

Each to their own Phil If one is careful, I've never really had any issues with jabbing them in the neck etc. Have a cradle here, made out of 4" pvc pipe which allows me to do mine when I choose & so easy, easy from my perspective.

markevans wrote:

If you can get columbovac that's the one for me but nobivac is OK but sometimes leaves a greasy mark on the back of the neck and vaccinate them as you part them off I've never had a problem and its easier

yes I also like to use colombovac as oppose to noblis as its easier to syringe but be careful which one you use as they have different dosage...I did mine as they were weaned over last year as oppose to doing them all in one hit once last yb was weaned and it was much easier so will be vaccinating as they get weaned over ...I also give vitamins for 3 days to once they been vaccinated

A friend and I used to take it in turns to buy the vaccine colombovac, the very first time you had to vacinate a vet friend did mine and he said it should be done in the kneck.

I vacinated my young ones about three weeks before racing to give their own immune system chance to develope.

Never had any problems at all.


Regards.

I was under the impression that vaccinating helps the immune system kick in ,for all said and done coloumbovac instruct to vaccinate at 6 weeks old

colombovac for me, jab them in scruff of neck when they are all parted roughly 8- 10 weeks, they get life aid in water for few days after

Vacinating does not improve the natural immunity passed on from the parents, it is specific to the illness involved and can in fact be detrimental to the natural immunity developing just as removing the young too soon from the parents can, you cannot beat nature and nature tells the parents when to stop feeding their young and whilst feeding they are strengthening the young ones immune system.
Regards.

MISTY wrote:

Vacinating does not improve the natural immunity passed on from the parents, it is specific to  the illness involved and can in fact be detrimental to the natural immunity developing just as removing the young too soon from the parents can, you cannot beat nature and nature tells the parents when to stop feeding their young and whilst feeding they are strengthening the young ones immune system.
Regards.

I think you have taken me out of context I never said/meant it improved it what I actually said was it makes it react....start... my ybs leave the nest around 28 days not everyone has the luxury of leaving them until they decide they want to leave or neither do they do things your way,theirs nothing natural about racing pigeons whatsoever atb

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I for many years wrote and said that youngsters are taken from their parents too soon, if the parents are still feeding them when you take them away it is basically against nature, just as there are concerns about breast feeding in humans etc;

Of course there is nothing natural in keeping and racing pigeons, just as there is nothing natural in many human activities, but in my opinion, through experience it pays to keep as near to nature as possible.


Regards.

how do you find it when the parents go down again do you have many get scalped or broken eggs etc... I find when I have left the odd yb in the loft with the parents they do indeed flourish and usually feed up to 6 weeks of age ...I have read your writings elsewhere and value a lot of your opinions ,I too try to keep things as natural as possible regards medications etc...but do prefer to have separate ybs and old and find that 4 weeks works well for me as a weaning guide...my old dutch friend (god bless you henk) used to adopt your system of young and old together and never separated through the winter and was a advocate of distance racing atb

MISTY wrote:

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I for many years wrote and said that youngsters are taken from their parents too soon, if the parents are still feeding them when you take them away it is basically against nature, just as there are concerns about breast feeding in humans etc;

Of course there is nothing natural in keeping and racing pigeons, just as there is nothing natural in many human activities, but in my opinion, through experience it pays to keep as near to nature as possible.


Regards.

As my mate Phil here said, recently each to their own Misty . But your way/system just would not work down here on average I'm as my breeders start laying again around the 8/10 day mark etc & some even sooner at times.

Agree with Knackeroo up to a point. It is pretty simple to switch eggs. Mine I use a majic marker on. Chill them then switch.

I have two points to make re the last 2 postings:-

1. Knackered - my stock birds often lay again then the youngsters in the nest are only 9 or 10 days old.

2. Hal - I have been told by a few, that using marker pens on make eggs is a bad thing as they contain alcohol. Do you know of any type of pen that is OK to use?

Hal - when you chill your eggs down, how cold do you keep them at, and how long can one safely keep them chilled for?

Phli

Iv switched eggs for 40 year and never have a problem as long as the dates are near enough
i go for about 10 days sitting but have switched sooner at times.
Any imunity the get they get it from the pigeon thats feeding them.

Never had a problem with a permanent marker pen or a blob or nail varnish the clear one's are good if a egg gets cracked out of a pair you want if only a small crack seals it up no problem

Phil. Chill eggs. Leave mine out overnight, back room. Just above freezing. I do not want them to hatch. Need the birds to sit them long enough then leave them. That way I can control what nest position they are in to race.

halcanada wrote:

Phil. Chill eggs. Leave mine out overnight, back room. Just above freezing. I do not want them to hatch. Need the birds to sit them long enough then leave them. That way I can control what nest position they are in to race.

Hal - So you don't take the eggs away as soon as they are laid then.

How old can the eggs be before you take them away and chill them please?

Phil

oldstrain,

I think the reason I did not have any propblems with scalping etc; is because there were always far more pertches etc; than pigeons and over a period of time the pigeons sort out an order of seniority and dominance and if a lesser dominant is about to be subjected to attack it just submits and goes to a place where it is accepted.

I feel for the fanciers of today, they will never experience the good times we have and the more commercialism has become involved the more the sport has deteriorated in every respect, but looking back, so has society as a whole, what a great pity.

Regards.

MISTY wrote:

oldstrain,

I think the reason I did not have any propblems with scalping etc; is because there were always far more pertches etc; than pigeons and over a period of time the pigeons sort out an order of seniority and dominance and if a lesser dominant is about to be subjected to attack it just submits and goes to a place where it is accepted.

I feel for the fanciers of today, they will never experience the good times we have and the more commercialism has become involved the more the sport has deteriorated in every respect, but looking back, so has society as a whole, what a great pity.

Regards.

thanks for the reply...makes sense and allways a good idea to have more perches than birds etc...as for society ,yes its in a pitiful state at present atb

Phil. Depends question. I like to let them sit dead eggs unless want to fly to youngsters, hatching eggs etc,. Have a calander with the race dates on. What bird or pair in what condition it should fly best in. That way I have some idea when to pull eggs etc, to set them up. Difficult to do with the amount of birds I have now though. So yearlings will go first on ten day eggs then week after near hatching. Older birds different states as I know them better. Not a system but does work quite often.

PS to the above. I use Apache Office. (Free download.) Use a spreadsheet. Along the top are the race dates/stations. I write down all the birds sent to a particular race in the column below. Then position. Usually just the first 5 clocked.
Beside each bird sent is a number. Example cu/402. 2. 3rd.
Bird band number then nest position then clocked to loft.
1 =1 week eggs.
2 =7 day eggs.
3= hatching
4=1 week yb
5=2 week young bird.
6=driving.
Can see at a glance what it working for a particular bird.