Pigeon Care

***Pairing Aggressive birds****

Sometimes when we pair new birds. They do not pair easily. Often, one of the birds is aggresive. So how do you pair them? It is very simple. Just tie the legs of the aggressive bird (like a handcuffed person). In 1 or 3 days or max in a week they stop fighting and start mating. This technique will save you a lot of time. Believe me !!!!

***Clean your pens easily***

Want to save time and make sure that your pens (made of wood) are clean and tidy? Then use fibre sheets as the floor of the pens. You can scrape the bird droppings very easily and your pens will look clean and tidy. Trust me !!!

***Make your birds defecate where you want them to ***

Everyday we let our breeding pairs out for feeding, but as soon as you leave them out what happens? They start defecating wherever they want to. So, how do you stop them from defecating everywhere? Use "Jhaap". "Jhaap" (in urdu)is a wired cage of height 2-1/2 feet and 3 feet x 3 feet (length and breadth)with a door on top having dimensions of 6 inch x 1 feet (length and breadth). It will be open from bottom (i.e., it will not have any floor).

In the evening, before you let your breeders out for feeding, put them in this wired cage. They will start defecating immediately inside this cage. Then just simply lift the cage to free them for feeding.

***Splayed legs in squabs/young birds***

To correct splayed legs in chicks. Tie both legs with a woollen thread(like a handcuffed person) in such a way that they can stand in a normal standing position. After some days, the splayed legs will get corrected and the pigeon will be able to walk properly. The splayed legs are due to deficiency of vitamins and minerals in the pigeon feed.

Treatment:- Give one cod liver capsule to the squabs every alternate day and multivitamins(viselam or vimeral) for 3 consecutive days every week and soaked green gram in the evening after feeding the grains without fail until they get well.

***Monsoon: The Danger ***

As the monsoon arrives, it also brings many diseases with it, mostly viral in nature. In the year 2008, I lost approximately 50 birds. And it was because of a deadly virus called Herpes virus(Avian Paramyxovirus type-1). It can look like Newcastle,Paratyphoid and Canker all rolled into one. It affects the digestive tract and nervous system of the pigeons.

One of the experienced fanciers,Jack Barkel, has given explanation regarding this disease. Mr. Barkel advises all the fanciers to use Virkon-S. It is a disinfectant and it kills most of the bacteria and viruses of the pigeons.
Its dosage is 5 gms in 10 litres of drinking water for three days, followed by flora treatment to replace the good germs in the tract. It is very inexpensive and it works. So don't waste time and try this disinfectant in your loft to get rid of the bacteria and viruses.

***Pedicure for pigeons ***

Sometimes pigeon droppings get attached to the toenails of pigeons and it becomes hard. And when you try to remove these hard droppings from the toenails, the nails come out and start bleeding. There is a simple way to clean the toenails. Use a noseplier. Gently press the bird droppings with the noseplier. Care should be taken while pressing with the noseplier, otherwise, if you press the noseplier very firmly then the pigeon might get hurt.

***Wired floors***

If your pigeons are getting weaker and sick very often, and dying, then its time for instrospection. We, as human beings, often think that we have taken all the best precautions to protect our pigeons and no disease can kill our pigeons,but still our pigeons get sick. Why? It is all because of the way we keep the pigeons in our lofts.

Most of the fanciers use sand as flooring material. If a fancier is using sand as flooring material then he is doing the "BIGGEST" mistake of his life as he is spreading PMV and Paratyphoid to the entire loft "unknowingly". How? You may argue? I will explain, and the reason is very simple.

When a pigeon gets infected with PMV and/or Paratyphoid, and such birds, when defecate, their droppings fall on the floor and gets mixed with the sand. And we all know that pigeons have the habit of eating sand, as they need calcium, and while doing so the healthy birds also get infected with the deadly PMV and/or Paratphoid disease thereby spreading the disease in the entire loft and these birds do the same thing to the other birds by repeating the same process. Many a times, fanciers say "I have lost some 50 or 100 birds at a time". It is due to the same reason. They should blame themselves for causing such a huge mortality in their lofts.

And to prevent this there is a solution and that is " Wired Floors". If wired floors are used a lot of pigeon diseases can be prevented and also the pigeons will remain free of worms, as the worm eggs are also ingested by them when they eat the sand. The wired floors should be 6 inches or more in height from the floor so that when the pigeons defecate, their droppings would pass through the wired mesh and fall on the floor. The pigeons cannot eat the contaminated feed fallen on the floor or sand as the wired mesh floor does not allow them to do so. This will help them to stay clean and healthy.

***Trimming pigeon beaks***

Sometimes the pigeon beaks grow abnormally. In such a case, you need to trim the extra beaks. Trimming the pigeon beaks is same like trimming our finger nails. Both are made up of similar material(keratin). Take a nailcutter and cut the extra beaks like we trim our nails, but be carefull while trimming the beak as there is a possibility of bleeding if you cut the beak too deep. Just like our nails have flesh underneath them, the pigeon beaks also have flesh underneath its beak. If you cut the beak very deep, there is a possibility that you might cut the flesh beneath its beak also and bleeding might start. So take care while trimming the beaks.

***Deworming***

Worms in the gut(intestines) of the pigeons makes the pigeons weak and reduce their performance. They absorb the nutrients from the food eaten by the pigeons. They are attached to the walls of the intestines. When they multiply in large numbers, they block the intestines preventing the movement of food inside the gut (intestines). Sometimes, the worms also come out of the vent along with the bird droppings.

Treatment: -Albomar (Albendazole) is the drug of choice to deworm the pigeons. It should be dissolved in water and given to all the pigeons except breeding pairs who are raising chicks. Mix 10 drops of Albomar solution to 1 litre drinking water. This diluted Albomar solution can be given to 15 birds. It should be given continuosly for three days. If you have more birds, then increase the dosage according to the ratio given above. If the worms are in large numbers, you will see many worms in the bird droppings on the first day when they defecate. The worms are expelled only after 24 hours through vent/anus when the birds defecate. Deworming is recommended every six months. Do not use sand/soil as the flooring material in the loft as the worm eggs are ingested by the pigeons which are present in the soil when they eat sand.

***Arrest Bleeding***

To arrest the bleeding, apply turmeric powder on the injured area. The bleeding will stop immediately.