Diarrheoa/ Green Faeces

ADENOVIRUS

There are two strains of adenovirus that are of importance in pigeons.

Symptoms

Classical’/ Adenovirus type 1 strain:

• Birds under one year old.
• Outbreaks seen a few days after racing usually.
• Green droppings.
• Increased water intake.
• Failure of the crop to empty.
• Loss of body condition in birds that have secondary yeast complications.
• Recovery in five to six days if uncomplicated.

Adenovirus Type 2 strain:

• All ages of bird.
• Outbreaks usually seen after racing.
• Causes necrotising hepatitis.
• Birds are severely depressed and die within two days.
• Yellow diarrhoea.
• Loft mortality can be 30+% of birds.

Diagnostics

Will require a post-mortem examination.
PCR test on faeces is available.

Treatment

Supportive treatment: Electrolytes in water.
Test and treat for any other diseases that may hinder bird recovery (coccidia, canker etc.)
Cider apple vinegar in the water (15ml/L) will help to prevent yeast infections in the crop.

Prevention

Keep bird stress as low as possible:

Make sure birds are not overcrowded.

Performing regular testing to monitor flock health status.

Vaccination to prevent outbreak of other diseases (PPMV).

Herpesvirus

Symptoms

Affects all ages of pigeon. Although clinical diseases tends to occur when birds are one to six months.

Birds may carry this disease without any symptoms, excrete it intermittently then spread it to those not infected.

• Eye and nasal discharge.
• Yellow/white debris in mouth.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Green watery droppings.
• Decreased breeding performance.
• Mortality within two days of symptoms is possible in up to 15% of loft.

Diagnostics

A PCR test is available to test faeces for the virus.

Treatment

Supportive: give electrolytes in water.
Secondary disease, such as bacterial disease, canker or yeast, may cause problems. Look for and treat according to symptoms.

Prevention

Quarantine of incoming stock.
Remove sources of bird stress (other disease, predators, overcrowding).
Routine cleaning and disinfection of entire loft.

CIRCOVIRUS

This virus targets the immune system of pigeons, the main one being the ‘bursa of fabricus’ organ. This organ recedes as birds age.

It is potentially why this virus is known to cause problems in young birds of four weeks to four months old. However, there are cases of this virus affecting older birds too.

Symptoms

• Immunosuppression: will see a multitude of other diseases, such as trichomonas, salmonella, PPMV, yeast and fungal infections, alongside circovirus.
• Diarrhoea/green faeces.
• Depressed/hunched birds.
• Decreased feed intake and weight loss.
• Crop feed retention.
• Poor racing performance.
• Vomiting, difficulty breathing and loss of coordination/other central nervous system signs are less common but can be seen.

Diagnostics

Tissue, cloacal swab or blood sample PCR is the best way to see if circovirus is present.
Often not much to see on post-mortem but this may also help to identify concurrent diseases that circovirus has allowed in.

Treatment

There is no treatment. Birds should recover in five to seven days if no secondary infections are present.
Supportive therapy: electrolytes in water and probiotics may help the birds recovery.
Look for and treat other diseases to reduce pressure on the birds.

Prevention

Due to circovirus maintaining itself in the DNA of otherwise healthy birds that have been exposed in the past, it is suspected that these birds have become carriers for the disease.
Healthy carrier birds spread the virus from parent to chick and then that squab spreads it around the rest of the young birds.
Acidifying water will help control yeast infections (candida).
Routine cleaning and disinfection will help reduce exposure to other diseases.
Regular testing for chlamydia, trichomonas and parasite burdens would be beneficial to maintain good flock health.

INTESTINAL WORMS

There are a couple of species of intestinal worm that can cause a problem in pigeons:

Capillaria lives in all areas of a bird’s intestinal tract including crop, small intestine and caeca.
Ascaridia (roundworm) lives within the small intestines.

Symptoms

• Poor performance.
• Weight loss.
• Vomiting and internal haemorrhage with sudden death can be seen with Capillaria.

Diagnostics

Faecal egg count.

Treatment

Treatment is with levamisole products for three days.

Prevention

Worm eggs are very difficult to destroy with normal disinfectants. Routine cleaning and disinfection will be required to keep worm egg numbers low within your loft.

ROTAVIRUS

Affects mainly young birds.

Symptoms

• Diarrhoea/ green faeces.
• Hunched, dropped wings, low tail fluffed up birds.
• Decreased feed intake.
• May be collapsed, struggling to breath closely before death.
• Last for around five to seven days.
• On post-mortem: birds may have an enlarged spleen and hepatic necrosis (pale, friable liver), with little else of note.

Diagnostics

Taking cloacal swabs for PCR will show if the virus is still actively being shed by the bird.

Treatment

As it is a virus there is no treatment available.
Mortality in the loft can be up to 30%.
Treat any secondary gut diseases to improve likelihood of bird survival, such as parasite or bacterial infections.

Prevention

Isolating incoming birds for at least 14 days. The virus will cause disease in the birds three to seven days after first infection.
Infected birds that do not die or may not show any symptoms can become carriers of the disease for three to six months after initial infection and spread it to naïve birds. If continual reinfection of the loft keeps occurring isolate or euthanise these birds.
The virus is not very hardy and most common disinfectants will kill it. It survives in the environment for up to three weeks. Ensure to thoroughly clean all living areas.
Its main route of spread between lofts is during the race environment, however feral pigeons have been shown to play a part.
There is no vaccine available currently in the UK, but it is in research elsewhere.

CHLAMYDIA

This disease is a zoonosis. It can cause fever, headaches, pneumonia, meningitis and sometimes even death in humans.

Take extra precautions when handling birds positive for chlamydia, such as wearing gloves, overalls and facemasks. If you have any concerns about your health please contact your GP.

Symptoms

• Affects all ages of birds but clinical disease is worst in young birds.
• Conjunctivitis: Wet eyes, swollen eyelids and sometimes third eyelid protrusion.
• Nasal discharge.
• Gaping/noisy breathing.
• Poor performance.
• Diarrhoea/green faeces.
• Excessive drinking.
• Reduced fertility.

Diagnostics

PCR on pooled sample of faeces.

Treatment

Five-day course of doxycycline. However course may need to be repeated if symptoms persist.
Routine testing is advised after treatment to identify if infection is still present.

Prevention

Healthy birds can carry and spread the disease. Contact between birds of unknown disease status and your own birds is a risk.
Ensure stress factors are kept to a minimum, the following must be looked at:

• A thorough cleaning and disinfection protocol to reduce disease pressure
• Stocking density: is your loft overcrowded?
• Environment: is your ventilation adequate? As a rule, you shouldn’t have cobwebs forming if you having a good throughput of air. Does the loft smell of ammonia? Is it overly dusty?
• Disease control: ensuring absence of other disease such as trichomonas and paramyxovirus will allow birds immune systems to fight off incoming chlamydia more easily.

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.