youngbird sickness

what do you think is the cause of youngbird sickness , some people blame it on putting youngsters on dark system do you get it with natural youngens , dont know as ive always been on dark with youngens , whats your verdict .

ian, i have spoke to other fanciers about the same thing...this is what one of them said to me.......

I raced the darkness for about three seasons and won loads on it. I reverted back to natural solely because I was fed up with YB sickness and touch wood I have not had it since.

what does anyone else think to it, ive never had yb sickness so far and when i race next season ill be going onto the darkness system......wondered what others think of it ?

darkness wasnt thought of 20 years ago, y/b sickness was around then

have spoke to lots of members who dont go on dark and have had youngbird sickness so that rulesthat one out

maybe we treat too much therfore reduce there natural imune system

ian wrote:

maybe we treat too much therfore reduce there natural imune system

i think this has a lot to do with illnesses

like i said before ian i had it years ago with natural young uns,never had it for a while now and its the first time on the dark with the whole team last year and as you know i do not treat unless i have to

well I have said this before but I have never been on darkness, and my lofts are kept clean and always clean everything spotless, I had ybs last year but only a few birds 85% were fine, But I put this down to the fact as soon as a bird gets sick in my loft it leaves. Thats the only way they will never be anything and you wont get others catching it and it will be isolated.

when i had yb sickness it killed most of them anyway,i had about 45 ybs but ended up with only 12 or so to race,but these turned out to be good birds the year after.this was when it first came out and we did,nt know much about it,not that we know that much more now.i spay my yb perches every day with a disinfectant and this seems to help mine,plus i do,nt over feed them now like i used to,how much can you do really

i have never lost any birds through youngbird sickness i always manage to treat them before it sets in fast , as to cleanliness it makes no difference whether you get it or not its in the air

but it must be transmitted through the race baskets mustnt it.....? ive had pigeons for 2 years now and not had it .....maybe because they never come into contact with anyone elses birds.....?

i know a fancier that hadnt raced for 3 years with his bird last year he raced for the 1st time e only managed 2 races so i agree the birds pick it up in the basket i use aviform 7 in 1 for the last 4 years toatch wood iv not suffered with it say that avifor helps protect the birds from yb sickness weather this is the case or not i wouldnt like to say

hi rene, when i kept pigeons 20 years ago i never remember yb sickness, unless it has been around and nowadays they have given wet droppings and vomiting a new name......?

Ian I totaly agree with you, I clean my lofts because of me and not the pigeons. you can clean everything ever day and still get ybs, and other things I learned that a long time ago. But one thing I do think is when you get a problem regular cleaning really does limit the damage and spread. So does getting rid of sick birds within seconds of finding a problem. I bred 45 birds last year and had 7 confirmed ilnesses with something or other. so thats not too bad 38 made it to training.

yes your right i clean out everyday aswell like a clean loft also i find burning out once a month helps keep infection down , when i say burn out a flash over boxes perches and floor with blowtorch

i like to scrape out every day too, i dont know if it makes any difference to winning but i would think a cleaner loft would be a healthier loft.......i visited a fancier a few weeks ago and he rarely cleans out by the look of things, the loft stunk like a farm yard and guess what..........he never wins anything.

my loft gets cleaned out twice weekly only.all the drinkers get steeped in bleach.never went over it with a hot torch but i might start doing it if it clears up coccidiosis.although i dont have it in my main loft.just in 4 breeding boxes which are in my garage away from other birds.

hope you get them sorted soon geordiejen.....

cheers david if it gets into my main loft then my breeding season is finished.right now im not sure if it is cocci.i have treated the birds and a bird which has no watery shit has now come down with it.still no resultsw back from the vet.WASTE OF BLOODY TIME AND MONEY.vets only know about catsw and dogs.the mate has just had a seven hundred pound bill for his dog getting a growth cut out.rediculous

6 days i week i scrape lofts except sunday, i just feed, water sit with y/bs longer

Young bird sickness is an airbourne virus, no matter what ur loft hygeine is , i always dred the first youngbird race, as this is the first time my birds come into contact with anyother birds, the air at this time of year is humid the birds are confined in baskets, remember not everyone will hold pigeons back if unwell, so on return from this race i will give my birds antibiotics to over come this if i can help it
Ken

hi ken, so you would routinely give antibiotics on return from this first race regardless of how they look or how they are....? do you think this first race is very dangourous for getting the yb sickness then ?

as you point out, not everyone will keep their birds at home if they are not 100% will they...

Yes david i will routnely treat them on return from the first race, they can come back looking well full of vigour, but by tuesday they look like hell, only had it once dident need a scraper more a mop and bucket, and this was from a first race, so since then ive always treated them on return, also dont forget they are still babies so the immune system is not yet upto full strengh, Dont get me wrong i dont like trating birds for no reason, but once you have had a full blown version of youngbird sickness you wont want it a gain
Ken

yes ken, good point and good info.........these are things i have no knowleage of, so could you tell me what you treat with and for how long.....? do you give a course of vitamins afterwards too?