March/April 2025

43 – Purebred PIGEON A Better Approach To Health Management Ron Teixeira – Spencer, Massachusetts When I started in pigeons fifty-odd years ago, the medication of choice for salmonella and e-coli was nitrofurazone. Today, nitrofurazone is little more than pigeon candy as regards its effectiveness as an antibiotic. If you are curious as to why, the simple answer was the indiscriminate use of this drug generally, and its wide- spread use in “medicated pellets.” Predictably, bacterial pathogens like salmonella soon developed a resistance to the drug. Sadly, the same thing appears to be happening with newer antibiotics as well. Consider broad spectrum drugs like tetracycline and oxytetracycline which were once popular but soon became ineffective and are now generally unavailable. Additionally, it appears salmo- nella/e-coli is developing a tolerance for the highly effective drug amoxicillin. Initially available in a 10% potency, it is now available in 20% and 50% potencies. In addition, the treatment duration of the 10% version was once 5 to 7 days, but is now 21 days. All of this is to say that rather than “preventative- ly” treating for disease on a routine basis, or throwing multi-drugs like 4 in 1, or All in 1 etc. at any suspected health issue, there is a far better approach in my opinion, namely education. I’m frankly shocked at the num- ber of fanciers who don’t even have one of the many excellent pigeon books available, many of which cover every aspect of the hobby, including disease diagnosis and treatment. The best of them, in my opinion, is the “bible” of our hobby, The Pigeon by Wendell Levy but, a close second is The Pigeon by Dr. Colin Walker. Each book not only describes disease symptoms but also photos of sick birds. In addition, for those willing to make the investment in a basic microscope (less than $100 on Amazon), instruction is provided for accurately diagnosing non-bacterial/ viral diseases such as canker, thrush, coccidiosis and worms. Why should one of these books be in every fancier’s library ? Because, accurately diagnosing a bird’s illness allows for targeted treatment, thereby saving both time and money while avoiding exposure to medications intended for bacterial diseases like salmonella. In addition, single purpose medications are more effective because that same drug, if part of a combo, is of a lower concentration than as a stand-alone drug. So, if the problem is canker, you’re better off using metronidazole or flagyl, not 4-in-one. The same would apply in the case of cocci and worms. Now, you might ask why is this such a hot button issue with me ? Well, almost 30 years ago I introduced a hen from a prominent west coast breeder into my loft. Naturally I quarantined and treated her for all the usual diseases then put her in my hen pen over the winter. In the spring I paired up and between February and Sep- tember I produced close to a hundred fertile eggs, and banded precisely one youngster. After wasting an entire season throwing every known antibiotic at the problem (baytril, amoxicillin, furaltadone, trimethoprim/sulfa and various combinations) I finally sent the body of a hatchling to Dr. Zollars of Illinois for a necropsy and drug sensitivities. What I learned was that this particular pathogen just laughed at all of the usual antibiotics,