Another sound 1 (25-05-23)
Another sound (1)
The still free young successful and above all ambitious fellow sportsman had an appointment with a vet in Belgium. Didn't he pass by my place of residence and if I didn't feel like coming along? Then we could talk a bit.
"Oh, why not," I thought. He was quite pleasant company and possibly we could learn from each other.
Because dear fellow fanciers, beware of the moment when you no longer have any doubts and you think you know it. No matter how experienced or successful you are, if you want to keep performing you have to keep asking yourself questions, keep searching, listening, comparing, trying out.
DIFFERENT
I know many of these 'specialist' vets, most of them vaguely, some well. Not that I go there that often, on the contrary.
One should not take my example in this regard, but I think I can usually tell from pigeons if, when and against what action should be taken.
There are more such people, although I have to admit that I was once horribly wrong.
That is why I would advise just about everyone to rely on the vet, but one that specialized.
Acting yourself remains tricky. It would not be the first time that, for example, a cure is taken against canker while there is diphtheria.
And there is little that is more deadly to the well-being of your pigeons than repeated cures against non-existent diseases.
So better leave the vet out of the game to others.
DO NOT IMITATE
How do I proceed? Certainly not with schedules as some do.This means that every so often cures against this or that, because that makes no sense.
Curing to generate form is something beginners believe in and more so the losers in our sport.Healthy pigeons in a healthy environment and fed healthily take shape automatically when the time is right. And the more often they are cured, the more difficult they will take shape.By giving as few medicines as possible, or better none at all, you increase immunity and ... just as important, cures will also be much more effective if they are really necessary.I have never taken it seriously with cleaning lofts.
Things like a vacuum cleaner or high-pressure cleaner were never my thing.Punctual hygiene is almost certainly better, but in good lofts you can do with less and that is good news for fanciers who have little time.
In the lofts of Gust Christiaens at the time, one plank had to close the other gap. Few would want such pens, but Gust didn't dare change it. Incidentally, little hygiene is only an option in bone-dry, well-ventilated lofts.
DIFFERENT
Some vets are known to have their own set of skills.For example, one is a bit more handy in tackling Coli, while the other has a good view of paratyphoid or respiratory problems.That is why some fanciers have different veterinarians.
Why I was interested in going to that young vet in Belgium was because I hardly knew him and he plays very well.
Young people are usually progressive, the disadvantage is that due to their lesser experience they have bumped their heads less often to learn lessons from it.This one was one with a pigeon in his heart and wasn't afraid to stick his neck out. Because that's what vets do who participate in the races.
They only can lose. Because they know what the fanciers are like. Many anyway.If such a pigeon doctor plays badly then 'he knows nothing about it', if he plays well then people say 'no wonder. He knows more and has everything up for grabs.”The trip was in any case educational.
DRIPPING
We soon talked about eye drops. Not those forbidden fruits to inhibit moulting, not even those that have a healing effect on injuries, but those drops that some use to disinfect the eyes every week.
He said he had very good eye drops for that, but which Belgian vet doesn't claim that? They have to because drip the eyes after the flight, some even before, is a deeply ingrained habit for many.
With all due respect to this vet, I don't believe in it, never have done it and never will I do. I do know plenty of fanciers who have stopped with it.When we talked about 'picked eyes' the conversation ended up on so-called 'thick heads'. Here theory and practice did meet each other.
THICK HEADS
"Thick heads" after the race is not a disease but indicates lack of condition. It is a result of pecking in the basket.
After all, it is those pigeons, the underdogs, that allow themselves to be hit. Because pigeons don't like underdogs.
We have all experienced that a defenseless squeaker that had fallen out of the nest was beaten until it bled.Cocks seem to instinctively sense when conspecifics are out of shape or weakened. It is those that are being attacked.Just like pigeons that came dead tired from a flight.Hens are different.
Those are not fighting like cocks and they never come with thick heads from the race and that should make you think.
It is another proof that 'thick heads' are not a disease.Or you have to believe that there are diseases to which cocks are susceptible and hens are not.
WRONG
Both my traveling companion and I had brought pigeons for research.It had been a long time since I had done that.What turned out?
There was nothing wrong with his pigeons, with mine a very single worm egg was found, some coccidiosis and one had trichomones.It didn't surprise me, or rather, it wasn't too bad.Someone who keeps pigeons like me is more at risk, but may also end up having stronger birds.
Nevertheless, the vet had a remark with some of my companion's pigeons.They had too much old down, but he had something for that: Excellent tea.Tea? Hmmm.
GOOD AND CHEAP
My pigeons didn't have old down and I couldn't help saying something about it: 'Your tea will certainly be good’, I lied ‘but I achieve the same (I meant old down out) by hardly feeding for a few days. Good and cheap.
'He agreed with me (sometimes I see things right after all) but with the racing season just around the corner it was not the most appropriate time to let pigeons starve. He was right again.Out of season the occasional day without food seems fine to me. You saw how fast things can go in earlier years when there were still many exhibitions in the winter. A day and a night in a warm environment without food was sometimes enough to find many feathers in the baskets.
TO WATCH OUT
By the way, be careful if you find an excessive amount of down in the breeding box from one day to the next during the season.
Some were tempted to pool extra when this was the case. But it is precisely a proof of NO form. Such pigeons are recovering from something. The form is coming but it is not there yet.
