Post by Captain Howdy on Mar 1, 2013 20:54:22 GMT
Just wondering about this lately.
I am sure we all Quarantine, however how many of us screen our new birds for potential diseases?
I know we all like to think we can trust people we buy from and our breeding birds must be healthy but how many of us are sure?
I myself am going through a pretty aweful time at the moment.
I Quarantine all new birds for at least 30 days.
Howeever just over 3 weeks back now I took on two rescue Hahns Macaws, my friend and I purchased them from a pet shop 3 weeks previously and she housed them at hers until I could take them.
She housed them in a separate room to her current flock.
On the day I bought them home I took them from hers to my avian vet, we did chipping, beak trims and a general health check. The one bird has a perminant squint in both eyes, we were both told by the shop he had it when he came in and it had been checked by their vet and both birds were healthy.
This shop had them as chicks and they are 09 rung, meaning around 4 years they had had them.
My vet wanted to check for Psittacosis, you can guess what happened here. Yes they were Positive. They were taken straight round my relatives house and into strict Quarantine for the next 4 and a half months, 6 weeks of treatment and 3 months till we can re-test and they will hopefully come back clear of it. There is no guarentee.
As I had been to the shop about 2 years previously and got a bird from there I had a huge panic, he was quarantined for over 50 days but now of course he is in my flock.
The next day he was taken first thing to be tested. Thank god he came back negative, it was going to cost me £350 to treat them all - I would have done no questions asked, these are not just birds they are my family and my life.
So there we were reaching 3 weeks of treatment when my friend suddenly had a bird die, a budgie, she booked in for a necropsy, on the way out the door she noticed a lovebird was off and fluffed, he went as well. Lovebird had to be put down, budgie tested positive for Psittacosis, ALL her birds in that house have to be treated now.
My doctor has put me on antibiotics as a precaution and I had to have a chest xray, have not got those results yet.
So now we are at the point my Hahns are being treated, all my birds are clear.
Me and My dad have taken on a Patagonian Conure rescue, he was again straight upto vets for tseting yesterday. They couldn't run the test till today, he's in a totally separate room to my two indoor birds however and we were all disinfecting after handling his stuff.
Would you darn well believe it he is also Positive!
I know this is a very common disease, over 60% of birds have it but really what are the chances that in all the years I have kept birds and my family before me, we have never had a problem and I get 3 in 3 weeks!
Picking up his treatment in the morning and as a precaution now I am going to treat my two indoor birds Rocky my Amazon and Munchkin my Budgie. Not sure which form yet, Charles will be syringe and Munchkin as well but Rocky could pose a problem, however with how many times a day I change his water we can't go for water antibiotics.
So I won't know for another 4 and a half months if we have cleared it.
As a side note due to muscle wastage in the hahns eye which can be a sign of psittacosis and the high levels of antibodies which indicates a long term infection chances are they were infected long before we got them, meaning any birds or humans in contact with them before this are likely infected.
Just off to go do some more disinfecting.
But honestly how many of you test for diseases in new birds?
I said after the hahns ALL birsd are being tested on arrival day and ideally beforehand, had no option with Charles being a rescue and he is in a state the poor thing.
I for one won't be buying birds from the birdshow from now on. Just picking up supplies.
I am sure we all Quarantine, however how many of us screen our new birds for potential diseases?
I know we all like to think we can trust people we buy from and our breeding birds must be healthy but how many of us are sure?
I myself am going through a pretty aweful time at the moment.
I Quarantine all new birds for at least 30 days.
Howeever just over 3 weeks back now I took on two rescue Hahns Macaws, my friend and I purchased them from a pet shop 3 weeks previously and she housed them at hers until I could take them.
She housed them in a separate room to her current flock.
On the day I bought them home I took them from hers to my avian vet, we did chipping, beak trims and a general health check. The one bird has a perminant squint in both eyes, we were both told by the shop he had it when he came in and it had been checked by their vet and both birds were healthy.
This shop had them as chicks and they are 09 rung, meaning around 4 years they had had them.
My vet wanted to check for Psittacosis, you can guess what happened here. Yes they were Positive. They were taken straight round my relatives house and into strict Quarantine for the next 4 and a half months, 6 weeks of treatment and 3 months till we can re-test and they will hopefully come back clear of it. There is no guarentee.
As I had been to the shop about 2 years previously and got a bird from there I had a huge panic, he was quarantined for over 50 days but now of course he is in my flock.
The next day he was taken first thing to be tested. Thank god he came back negative, it was going to cost me £350 to treat them all - I would have done no questions asked, these are not just birds they are my family and my life.
So there we were reaching 3 weeks of treatment when my friend suddenly had a bird die, a budgie, she booked in for a necropsy, on the way out the door she noticed a lovebird was off and fluffed, he went as well. Lovebird had to be put down, budgie tested positive for Psittacosis, ALL her birds in that house have to be treated now.
My doctor has put me on antibiotics as a precaution and I had to have a chest xray, have not got those results yet.
So now we are at the point my Hahns are being treated, all my birds are clear.
Me and My dad have taken on a Patagonian Conure rescue, he was again straight upto vets for tseting yesterday. They couldn't run the test till today, he's in a totally separate room to my two indoor birds however and we were all disinfecting after handling his stuff.
Would you darn well believe it he is also Positive!
I know this is a very common disease, over 60% of birds have it but really what are the chances that in all the years I have kept birds and my family before me, we have never had a problem and I get 3 in 3 weeks!
Picking up his treatment in the morning and as a precaution now I am going to treat my two indoor birds Rocky my Amazon and Munchkin my Budgie. Not sure which form yet, Charles will be syringe and Munchkin as well but Rocky could pose a problem, however with how many times a day I change his water we can't go for water antibiotics.
So I won't know for another 4 and a half months if we have cleared it.
As a side note due to muscle wastage in the hahns eye which can be a sign of psittacosis and the high levels of antibodies which indicates a long term infection chances are they were infected long before we got them, meaning any birds or humans in contact with them before this are likely infected.
Just off to go do some more disinfecting.
But honestly how many of you test for diseases in new birds?
I said after the hahns ALL birsd are being tested on arrival day and ideally beforehand, had no option with Charles being a rescue and he is in a state the poor thing.
I for one won't be buying birds from the birdshow from now on. Just picking up supplies.
(We have had a confession thread recently.)