How to prevent and treat fungal diseases in pigeons?
Common fungal diseases in pigeons include candidiasis, aspergillosis, and mycotoxin poisoning. In recent years, their prevention and treatment have received much attention. Cases of mass mortality are rare, but the economic losses caused by their harm to ordinary pigeon farms still cannot be underestimated. Based on the actual production situation of local pigeon farms, this article offers the following brief discussion on their prevention and treatment.
1 Climate issues
Fungi are widely distributed in nature and have low requirements for survival conditions. As long as there is a little carbon and nitrogen, they can grow and reproduce. They grow best at an air temperature of 25-30°C and a relative humidity of 80%-90%. This area lies in the transition zone between the tropics and subtropics, where the warm, humid, and rainy climate lasts for a relatively long time, making it a high-incidence area for fungal diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the concept of persistent, unremitting efforts against fungal diseases, conscientiously improve feeding management, pay close attention to weather changes, and remain constantly alert to the occurrence of such diseases. Experienced pigeon farms avoid the rainy seasons of spring and summer and choose early autumn for keeping and breeding stock, effectively safeguarding the healthy growth of breeding pigeons and their future production capacity.
2 Environmental issues
Fungal diseases are environmental diseases. If the environment is divided into software and hardware, then the pigeon-raising site, sheds, cages, and other facilities are the hardware. Ordinary pigeon farms, especially rural pigeon farms, may be limited by conditions, and their existing sites may not be ideal, but they should still make appropriate renovations to the sheds and cages as far as possible so that the layout is reasonable, lighting is sufficient, ventilation is dry and comfortable, and it is easy to regulate temperature and humidity and to clean and remove waste.
The software of the environment refers to procedural work such as feeding management, cleaning and disinfection, and disease prevention and health care. If these software measures are inappropriate, management work is not done conscientiously, feed and drinking water are contaminated, sheds accumulate dust, cages accumulate grime, and manure and waste pile up, then no matter how good the hardware facilities are, @#@247@#@'s living environment will still be poor, and the mold-prevention effect will also be unsatisfactory.
3 Feed issues
Mold prevention in feed has always been a major issue in the breeding industry and is also a key focus of mold-prevention work on pigeon farms. At present, the main method is still to reduce mold contamination and toxin content in feed as much as possible. For ordinary pigeon farms, techniques such as feed testing, adsorbents, and enzymatic degradation are still not easy to implement for the time being, but based on the characteristic that molds cannot reproduce when the feed moisture content is below 12%, the following practices should be feasible.
3.1 During warm and humid rainy seasons, avoid purchasing too much feed, and make sure the feed purchased is fresh and dry.
3.2 Strictly prevent stored feed from becoming damp. Pigeon farms with the means should build standardized feed warehouses, and rural pigeon farms should also try as much as possible to choose dry, cool places that are easy to moisture-proof and humidity-control for storing feed.
3.3 Powdered feed, health sand, and the like should not only be sealed to prevent moisture, but should also avoid being stacked together too early with salts, sugars, electrolytic multivitamins, water-soluble drugs, and so on.
3.4 Strengthen inspection of feed before feeding. If mold is found, resolutely replace it and investigate its source.
3.5 Use quicklime as a moisture absorbent at the bottom of the feed warehouse.
4 Issues in preventive health-care medication for pigeon flocks
In today's rapidly developing pigeon industry, the breeding techniques and production capacity of ordinary pigeon farms are at a fairly high level, but there are still some misunderstandings in disease-prevention and health-care medication. Among those with a relatively large impact on the prevention and treatment of mold diseases are: long-term abuse of antibacterial drugs, emphasis on medication over disinfection, emphasis on treatment over prevention, and excessive use of nutrients, growth promoters, fattening agents, and antibacterial growth-promoting agents. The result is that the stress sensitivity and susceptibility of the pigeon flock increase, sensitivity to drugs decreases, primary or concurrent and secondary fungal diseases are easily induced, and drug resistance is easily produced, creating difficulties for future medication.
5 Issues in the diagnosis and treatment of fungal diseases
5.1 Check frequently and detect early. Once the symptoms of fungal diseases are obvious, the damage to pigeons is already considerable. Even if the condition is relieved through treatment, the recovery time is relatively long and the losses caused are serious. It can be seen that the timeliness of diagnosis is of great significance. When examining pigeons, the focus should be on the mouth, pharynx, crop, as well as the eyes and nose; when examining environmental conditions, in addition to feed, drinking water, and software and hardware facilities, attention should also be paid to the occurrence of diseases in surrounding pigeon flocks.
5.2 Comprehensive diagnosis and timely treatment. When ordinary pigeon farms do not yet have laboratory diagnostic conditions, diagnosis should be carried out comprehensively based on climate and environment, epidemiology, clinical symptoms, pathological necropsy, and other aspects. If symptoms are suspected or not entirely similar but multiple antibacterial drugs are ineffective, or if there is chronic diarrhea, emaciation, or residual deaths of unknown cause, further investigation should be carried out in conjunction with feed and drinking water, climate and environment, and the epidemic situation of surrounding diseases.
5.3 Multi-party coordination to strengthen therapeutic efficacy. (1) According to the condition, consider the medication plan and arrange the administration method well (mixed into feed, drinking water, health sand, or individual oral feeding); (2) strengthen cleaning and disinfection to prevent secondary and recurrent infections; (3) when complications are suspected, consider combined medication; (4) promptly supplement vitamins and other nutritional needs to promote the recovery of the pigeon flock.
6 Issues in medication for the prevention and treatment of fungal diseases
The main commonly used drugs include nystatin, trichomycin, clotrimazole, copper sulfate, iodine solution, and so on. At present, nystatin is used the most. It is worth pointing out here that its dosage varies greatly among different sources. In practice, the author has found that: at high doses, it easily causes adverse reactions such as poor appetite and even vomiting and diarrhea; at low doses, it is not effective for young pigeons and growing pigeons, because young pigeons and growing pigeons grow and develop quickly, and by the time the low-dose drug slowly takes effect, many affected pigeons have already become culls. Therefore, users should pay attention to mastering the dosage well.
Here, a particularly economical and practical drug is recommended: allicin. This drug has long been widely used in the breeding industry and can prevent and treat many livestock and poultry diseases. Its functions in preventing mold diseases are as follows: garlic can inhibit and kill molds in deep infections (this is something nystatin cannot do); garlic has the effect of activating the body's immune function and anti-inflammatory action, and can accelerate the recovery of mucosal tissue damaged by mycotoxins; garlic's effects of strengthening the stomach, stopping vomiting, increasing appetite, and aiding digestion are beneficial for pigeons to normally ingest, digest, and absorb nutrients in the process of resisting fungal diseases, thereby safeguarding growth and reproduction after recovery. The disadvantage of garlic is its irritation to the digestive tract and its strong pungent taste, which limits its dosage. When administering it, small amounts and frequent doses are appropriate. Practice has proved that when treating fungal diseases, using it in combination with Kangbaowei, nystatin, and the like gives relatively good efficacy. The usual dosage is 15-20 g of 25% allicin mixed into every 50 kg of feed.
The antifungal effects of Chinese herbal medicines also deserve attention. The amounts of licorice and gentian in health sand should not be too small. When necessary, Pulsatilla root, Sophora flavescens, Sichuan chinaberry, Jiubiying, alum, and the like may be added. These Chinese herbal medicines not only have a certain effect of inhibiting fungi, but also have the effects of detoxification, anti-inflammation, wound cleaning, astringency, and increasing appetite.