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Salmonella
This disease is zoonotic – this means it can cause disease in people.
Should you experience any vomiting, diarrhoea or abdominal pain please contact your local GP.
Symptoms
- There are many different types of salmonella, with the most common in pigeons being Salmonella Typhimurium.
- Healthy birds can carry this bacterium and shed it intermittently in their droppings.
- Affects all ages of bird.
- Decreased appetite.
- Green diarrhoea.
- Increased loft mortality.
- Weight loss.
- Reduced reproductive performance/increased ‘dead in shells’.
- Swollen joints, lameness, drooped wings and difficulty flying.
- Loss of balance, circling and reluctance to move.
- Increased number of dead in shells.
Diagnostics
- Three to five days pooled faecal sample for salmonella culture.
- As the bacteria is shed intermittently by the birds then samples are sometimes required to be submitted on multiple weeks.
- Cull or dead bird submitted for post-mortem.
Treatment
- Treat according to culture and sensitivity.
Prevention
- Regular cleaning and disinfection of the whole loft.
- Avoid stress in the birds (overcrowding, other disease).
- Vaccination is also available, but is unlicensed in pigeons.