| Author: Bob Rowland | Title: Yeast and Fungal Problems |
| Date: 2003-06-13 21:57:04 | Uploaded by: webmaster |
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The following question was sent to me:
WOULD YOU GIVE ME YOUR OPINION ON YEAST IN PIGEONS YEAR AFTER YEAR. I KEEP GETTING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY BIRDS EVERY TIME I HAVE THEM TESTED THEY COME BACK WITH A YEAST PROBLEM ALSO FUNGAL PROBLEMS. COULD YOU ADVISE ME ON ANY NATURAL PRODUCTS I CAN USE TO COMBAT THIS PROBLEM. IT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.
I thought about this for a while and without having the yeast infection positively identified as to what type of yeast infection or what fungi are present, it is virtually impossible to give an exact answer or perhaps even a reasonable conclusion as to what this is. However, many pigeon flyers are probably suffering from a similar situation because of the overuse of harsh chemical "cures" for what they guess may be a problem.
If I had to venture a guess at what is creating this problem, I would guess overuse and indiscriminate use of drugs, which have also killed all the friendly bacteria in the pigeon's system. It has become fashionable to throw many different drugs at our pigeons in hopes that we stop a problem, whether it is a real one or not and whether they need these for a cure. Only with absolute identification of a problem can we treat for a cure. If for one thing we treat with one type of drug but the pigeons have something else, which we have not identified and if we are using the wrong medication for this problem, what have we gained??
When racing, indiscriminate use of drugs is also the method that most lofts use to be able to race effectively but how would they have raced if they had not treated? This is the reason I have a microscope and it should be common practice to identify a problem before we treat but this is not what most do. Even with a microscope, there can be additional problems that could require cultures to be grown and the findings determined by those with a much greater knowledge than we have. However, we throw something at them in hopes that this shotgun approach has hit something and a cure is in place. Are we creating more "SUPER BUGS"????
There are many natural cures that have become popular as many are tired of riding the continual merry go round in hopes of stopping a problem before it begins. The use of such natural cures as Apple cider vinegar, elderberry extract, even bleach (which is not what I would consider a natural cure) have now become a part of many different loft routines. This is all in an attempt to keep the immune system more effective. Much of this is certainly beginning to approach the proper direction. I certainly believe that probiotics are a better solution than the use of antibiotics without knowing the problem.
Before I go any further I would like to say that I do use some herbal and medicinal plant cures and have a financial investment in a company that produces these formulas so I do not want people to think that I am only writing about natural cures as a way to fill my wallet. I do however use only them and not because they are less expensive than some of the other chemical treatments. In some cases the initial cost may be greater but in the long run, I keep less pigeons! (Except for this year because of an enormous amount of Gulfcoast Classic entries sent to me from friends and customers!) I use these products because they are easy on the normal immune system and the cure from these has been exceptional.
Before we even think about using any cures, there are such things as proper hygiene in your loft. Then we need to look at genetic deficiencies in some pigeons. Without doing the basics, are we going to cure anything?? These and many more similar problems can have us chasing our tail around in a circle like a crazy dog that tries and tries but never does catch his tail.
Recently a customer of mine had some problems with trichomonosis in his pigeons and he told me he was using my products but still had tricho. In questioning him further, we found out he was not dosing properly and he was only cleaning out his waterers one time per week. This is what he admitted to and perhaps it went even longer than that. So this little note is to say that you must determine if you are doing the proper thing for your pigeons or using the lazy approach and allowing the hygiene and follow-up to be less than desirable.
Some lofts use a deep litter system very effectively and when you get a certain amount of droppings in your loft, it is said that a certain enzyme is created from the droppings that fights certain bacteria that the pigeons may get. I have heard this but have no scientific data to back this up. I do know that this method is extremely tough for a person such as myself to use as the dust from the droppings and perhaps even the enzymes of these deep litter droppings make it very hard for me to breathe in such a loft. If I go to visit someone and their loft is of this type, within a few minutes, I can not breathe and it is my thought that if this effects me as such, is it any better for the birds??
Getting back to genetic deficiencies is one that is closer to my heart. When reading the book on the Janssen Brothers it is said that natural healthy vitality was a key-determining factor for them of their pigeons. When we think about this, I think that this should be about every living animal as even our food source is kept alive with certain drugs and now the run off from those drugs through defecation and urine has ended up in our water sources. I would prefer to eat food that was as free from antibiotics as possible but many times we don't even know what we are putting into our mouth.
If any of you have ever had eggs from a chicken that is free to roam in the wild and free range and forage for their food, one will notice that the yolks of their eggs are a much more vivid shade of orange as compared to the normal anaemic colour of chickens that are held in captivity for egg production. This is because the diet of the captive chickens is not what they would eat in the wild.
Considering the above, we are now finding out that our diet is way out of whack!! (What's a whack??). Anyway, because of this we have such problems as diabetes, heart attacks, high cholesterol, cancer, and on and on. For lack of a better term let's just call this Syndrome X. No one knows how many of these are inter-related and created because of certain diets or health regimes but we are finding out that through a change in our diet, many of these are corrected or at least show improvement in our health.
What science is finding out is that there are many natural things that were a part of our diet or the diet of animals for thousands of years. These were the stepping-stones that allowed these to go forward and not die off. If our very existence could not continue because of a lack of certain natural things, then only a few of us or the animals would have existed and reproduced.
We don't think about such things as bark from trees that fell into the rivers and from this we got our drinking water. Or how about roots and berries that became part of our diet or better yet, the plants that required some of these things to give them a healthy and reproductive life. Our very existence has been determined by the plants or animals we eat and from where they got their nutrients to grow. And now we change these things and only feed certain things to oneself and our pigeons and we soon find out that these may not be proper. Health problems have increased and new bacteria has taken hold because we gave tried to trick Mother Nature.
So in conclusion, try to keep your pigeons and our self as natural as can be. Use caution as to what we do and how we depend on cures and antibiotics to continue the existence of our pigeons rather than eliminating these problem carriers from our breeding programs. If we follow some of these very basic rules, within a few generations our pigeons will get stronger and their natural ability to stay healthy will improve. Unfortunately we cannot eliminate the carriers of problems from us as humans but we can alter our diets and intake of certain things and it is my belief that from this, the future will produce better offspring.
Hope this answers a few questions:
Bob Rowland
SpringHill, Florida USA
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