Sour Crop again ....

sour crop again, a hen who had sour crop last year has got it again, i reckon its down to those boiling hot days we had during the week..........obviously she is susceptible to it now, shouldnt be a problem ive got all the "sh*t" out of her crop and giving charcoal tabs twice a day for a week, or longer if i think she needs them

hope you get her sorted David, like me you're too soft with them at times but end of day we treat them as pets

avidress 24/7 should sort it ,if given as stated you will probably not get it ...thing is it spreads to other birds through the drinker and avidress kills it off (yeast/fungal)it comes about when over sitting usually ,hope she settles down david

i give avidress all year round darren, and i always thought over sitting or sitting and not hatching was a major cause of sour crop, but this season she hasnt sat any eggs ...............so i reckon its always going to be a problem with her every year

oh right i see....strange eh ,maybe try a spartrix as it clears up varying strains of fungal/canker but emtril is the best but spartrix are good to ,just about the only decent product harkers make ,hope she gets straight either way atb

i think that extreme heat played a part in it, and exposed the weakness that will always be there .......

sounds like she is vulnerable to yeast/fungal david eh....spartrix and 15% ronizadole has cured the like for before now,once i got some new stock in and the lot went down with it but roni sorted it after 3 days i have had the odd one with it and a spartrix sorted it ....

I never try to tell an old dog new tricks David, get some garlic in the water every day , you will have no health problems after a while.

Never had any health problems for donkies years as can be confirmed by a friend who knew my pigeons well.

Regards.

first tablet of the day given, second one tonight ........says give for 3 days but ill give for a week, wont harm i shouldnt think

used to give garlic clove in the water years ago misty, but still got ill now and then, although i did like using it because i thought it did more good than harm.

read an article by a well known fancier about garlic, he said although a great thing, it shouldn't be used 24/7, 365 days a year, but who am i to agree or disagree.

Never realy bothered about any evidence etc; for the use of garlic in pigeons David just was aware it had been used by ROMAN soldiers who had to eat a clove a day. and I thought whats good for them etc; that more years ago than I care to remember. and was unaware if other fanciers used it, at the time.

I do know since that several top fanciers use it every day, one in the BHW grew his own and was the only thing he ever used, showed him picking it from his garden.

All I know my pigeons were never ill,won against top competition both at racing and showing and I could spend maybe half an hour a day tending their needs, the rest of the time I spent with them was for pure pleasure watching them having the life of Old Riley with no interference from me only to give them t*t bits etc;

Just as a matter ofi interest I have just looked up garlic for pigeons 365 days a year.

Apparently some experts??? say it is not helpful whilst others say it is of benefit all year round in particular, which all apparently agree it builds up the immune system.

So you takes your choice, I think if I had not use it every day I would have had health problems within the loft.

But I also used sharp sand and burnt lime deep litter, ( same deep litter for over many years and moved it from the old loft to a new loft at one time)

Many roads to Rome David, you takes the road that you feel the best.

Regards.

yes misty i agree, many different opinions on all things pigeon .....ive tried many of them over the years, but eventually cut things down to the minimum keeping things as basic as i can, thankfully my only problem in the past 8 - 9 years has been one hen with sour crop

David wrote:

yes misty i agree, many different opinions on all things pigeon .....ive tried many of them over the years, but eventually cut things down to the minimum keeping things as basic as i can, thankfully my only problem in the past 8 - 9 years has been one hen with sour crop

Not many can claim that David, many too busy filling their pigeons with aids to win etc;.

Another factor I feel plays a majpr part is introducing new pigeons into the loft on a regular basis, they introduce the problems as well as any benifit.

I very rarely introduced anythimg new, have paid reasonable amounts for pigeons and after isolation given them away.

One called the Stones Cock supposed to have bred countless winners I found had soft feather during isolation, how they concealed it I know not and gave it to a friend whenI said I would not have it in the loft.

Others I have killed, I bought a daughter of Iron Lady from a Jannson stud in Dover, the intention was to buy a Jannsen Cock, as the stud specialised in the breed, went through the lot on offer and told him I would not have one given.

Think the daughter of Iron Lady was a swap bird, and gave that one away as well.


Always looked at what I had and considered carefully if I had bought one as good or as we all do made a mistake.

Far better to be an idiot and buy a dummy and realise it and not give it a chance to ruin what you have.

Could have had youngsters free from top fanciers but never accepted them.

Did accept the loan of some on the odd occasion but only from fanciers I was aware had no health problems.

Hope the hen recovers David sure like me you have a real regard for each and every one in the loft.

Regards.

yes misty, i made the decision not to bring in any new birds a few years ago.......the only ones over maybe the last 5 - 6 years are 3 one loft birds and 1 from darren which i know was illness free, as i know he keeps them in tip top condition .

ive no real need to bring any more birds into my loft, my plan over the last few years has been to keep a couple of ybs back for future stock as my breeders arnt getting any younger .

very good point misty about new stock ,one of the biggest culprits in bringing a loft down ,always best to isolate for 3 weeks

Hi old strain,is there anyway I can PM you privately,was seeking your advice on the natural v dark system,cheers mate

Be nice to know your age etc; Buster 58.

How long you have bren in our sport etc;

Regards.

I'm 60 Yr old ,had the birds for over 30 year but the last 3 years the dark system has completely failed me ,cheers

nice to hear a bit about you buster, i restarted with pigeons after a 22 year lay off, and things had completely changed this time round..........in the 12 years ive been back with them ive probably had a dozen races, doesnt really bother me racing.

i did try darkness but it wasnt for me, either i was doing it wrong or the birds wernt good enough.........anyway all i do now is breed ybs every year and sell them on the internet, have had some good feedback from the fanciers who bought them .

hi buster you can pm after 10 posts on the forum i think but feel free to ask here in the meantime atb

Buster58 wrote:

I'm 60 Yr old ,had the birds for over 30 year but the last 3 years the dark system has completely failed me ,cheers

Good to hear you are in your prime of life.

If all members in a club are on both Darkness and Widowhood then it is obvious that the winners will be on one or the other.

If you had success prior to tying the Darkness system, why change?.

Widowhood is completely against nature, think you know better than nature and you have problems, in particular health problems.

Can assure you both Widowhood and Darkness pigeons can be beaten.


Sure oldstrain will be able to help in how to impliment the Darkness system to the best advantage.

Best of luck choose what you choose.

Regards.

i would never adopt the darkness system again,much better to breed later and let them pair if they wish,i have had some very good results with both sexes doing this...trapping is very important with ybs ,well it was for me with a T3 but it never stopped me winning ,i did do the darkness system but found it to restrictive for my lifestyle what with the wee fella and the wife ,i used to loft fly very early morning at first light 5-6 am and trap with pin head oatmeal then let them get a drink for an hour then toss and rested up for rest of the day,none of this loft flying in intense heat and certainly never a need to flag them...pigeons loft fly best at first light imo,give it a try and see for yerself ,anyway must dash as alfie is champing at the bit as we have a meeting with his new football manager ...

oldstrain wrote:

i would never adopt the darkness system again,much better to breed later and let them pair if they wish,i have had some very good results with both sexes doing this...trapping is very important with ybs ,well it was for me with a T3 but it never stopped me winning ,i did do the darkness system but found it to restrictive for my lifestyle what with the wee fella and the wife ,i used to loft fly very early morning at first light 5-6 am and trap with pin head oatmeal then let them get a drink for an hour then toss and rested up for rest of the day,none of this loft flying in intense heat and certainly never a need to flag them...pigeons loft fly best at first light imo,give it a try and see for yerself ,anyway must dash as alfie is champing at the bit as we have a meeting with his new football manager ...

when you say breeding later darren, at what sort of time would you pair up ...? if i ever do race young birds again i certainly will not be trying darkness, but would have paired up early so they had more or less moulted out their bodies and most of the wing, putting them in the similar position as darkness birds (i thought)

why would you pair later darren, and not early ...?

hi david, did you manage to sort the sour crop problem, what did you treat the bird with, was it something from the pigeon suppliers or a home remedy .

thanks in advance.

mid febuary right up until end of may ....i mean weaned end of may not laying around that time and pairing mid feb....i did do a natural darkness one year by pairing mid december and they had all but moulted out come training ,a few were carrying the last 3 flights though right up until the following year so this can effect the moult and would not advocate a natural darkness type of thing ,i found breeding later and letting them sit later on in the yb programme that most kept good feathering and won for me at 200 mile (last yb race)