by Terry A. Tuxford
At a recent presentation I expressed the view that,
unfortunately in my experiences, when one of our Budgerigars are
noticeably unwell, then the chances of the bird showing a 100%
recovery and being useful in a future breeding program is
somewhat less than 50%. Sad though this is, it is undoubtedly
true and you can bet that the sick bird that you have noticed is
one of the better examples that you own.
There are two reasons why most sick birds are lost. Firstly,
when a bird looks ill, it really is ill and very often the
approaching symptoms are undetectable. Secondly, diagnosis of
the problem from which our bird is suffering is based on
guesswork (experience that could be wrong) and hence the
treatment is based on opinion also. In addition, many of the
medicines that we provide are water soluble and sick birds don't
tend to drink. Few fanciers inject medicine directly into the
crop where it will do the most good.
Prevention is the key to health management in any aviary. The
routine of the health program should take place twice per year
and the areas covered should be:
-
Trichomoniasis
-
Fungal Disease
-
Internal
Parasites
-
External
Parasites
It should be noted that on no account should antibiotics be fed
on a routine basis. All this will do is kill the friendly
bacteria that are in the flora of our bird's gut and leave them
potentially open to infection that can now invade. Also, the
routine administering of antibiotics may result in creating
harmful organisms that are immune to the antibiotic.
Finally, it should be remembered that medication of any kind is
liable to upset the delicate balance of the natural bacterial
flora within the bird's gut. To counteract this, the provision
of a soluble probiotic for our birds would be a sensible action
to take.
Many fanciers believe that treatment of sick birds is futile and
consider them as a potential risk to the entire flock and so the
bird is immediately dispatched to the "great aviary in the sky".
Others attempt treatment, only to be frustrated by the fact that
the bird dies anyway. Whatever your views or practices are
regarding your actions in association with illness in the
aviary, the introduction of a preventative program would seem to
me to be a sensible addition to our management system.
