Respiratory

[king]

To be honest I've found different manufacturers better at different things

There are things I like about Tollisan, but I wouldn't use their respiratory in a hurry (personal experience)

Wasn't spectinomycin used for this Mike?

[king]

To be honest I've found different manufacturers better at different things

There are things I like about Tollisan, but I wouldn't use their respiratory in a hurry (personal experience)

Wasn't spectinomycin used for this Mike?

That’s in the tolison product I purchased king they had 5 days on it

You could get it unbranded years ago. The best branded one is DAC Pharma Lincospectin 20%

[Mark69]

Very interesting topic

[king]

As you know Neil, I fall into the category of treating proactively as opposed to reactively.

I don't want to wait for a poor performance before treating, and I certainly wouildn't "wait and see"

Having said that, I wouldn't rush to treat blind - I treat for what I consider to be either a problem, or something that is of benefit to the birds

Before diving into a treatment what I'd really recommend doing is getting in the loft tonight when its dark and just sit there quiet for a bit

If the birds have got respiratory then there WILL be scratching/sneezing going on

If you hear it, then you know there's a problem

Anotherr indicator is watcing the height that the birds exercise at - the higher the better.

Which treatment to give is actually pretty simple from my chair

Even though I don't race now I still listen to the birds on a night usually when letting the dog out for the last time before bed around 1am.

[king]

This is an open question. When fanciers are off the pace by a few mins, most seem to think it's a heath issue with their birds? Do the ever consider that it's maybe down to the other fanciers birds are simply better on the day? In my old club, sometimes a unexpected fancier would win and the better fanciers would have every excuse under the sun to why they were beaten.
I'm sure birds CAN be in TOP health naturally, and don't have to constantly treated.
Now some will say to compete competitively every week you have to treat. But that still leaves the door open for a top fancier who's birds are healthy to be beat by better birds which could be both treated and non treated.
The last time I won a race, I was 10 mins clear with a 600 mile hen at 117 miles. It hadn't been treated for anything all year. It did however have its eggs hatch the day of marking.

[king]

This is an open question. When fanciers are off the pace by a few mins, most seem to think it's a heath issue with their birds? Do the ever consider that it's maybe down to the other fanciers birds are simply better on the day? In my old club, sometimes a unexpected fancier would win and the better fanciers would have every excuse under the sun to why they were beaten.
I'm sure birds CAN be in TOP health naturally, and don't have to constantly treated.
Now some will say to compete competitively every week you have to treat. But that still leaves the door open for a top fancier who's birds are healthy to be beat by better birds which could be both treated and non treated.
The last time I won a race, I was 10 mins clear with a 600 mile hen at 117 miles. It hadn't been treated for anything all year. It did however have its eggs hatch the day of marking.

I wouldn’t worry about treating or not treating if won a 110 mile race by 10 mins
I wouldn’t need to that just doesn’t happen here it’s to competitive

Winning by 10 mins is not the norm in the club I can only recall it happening a handful of times in 45 years racing. The first 6 cards are normally taken on the same min. But that was not the point of the question. How far do fanciers have to be behind the winner to believe they have a health issue? And why can't they just accept their birds could be beaten by better birds and there is no health issue

[king]

I don’t think it’s about that King top week to week fed fliers that I know make sure they are on top of everything including health
Clear before racing a plan for the 12 weeks of racing and a check for the basics or more if your wallet allows as a back up every 4-5 weeks
You could look at a pigeon and condition look great but they could be full of worms I have seen this from a mates stock he bought in no dry feathers or dropping looking suspect but he had a worm issue

That maybe true Neil but if ALL these TOP Fed fliers that are on top of everything including health, they can't ALL win? There's only one winner, when beat do they except they prepared their birds correctly and have no health issues and were beaten by a better birds, or start looking for a health issue?
That's why I asked how far behind do they have to be before it changes from being beat by a better bird, to it's got to be a health issue?

[king]

I don’t think it’s about that King top week to week fed fliers that I know make sure they are on top of everything including health
Clear before racing a plan for the 12 weeks of racing and a check for the basics or more if your wallet allows as a back up every 4-5 weeks
You could look at a pigeon and condition look great but they could be full of worms I have seen this from a mates stock he bought in no dry feathers or dropping looking suspect but he had a worm issue

That maybe true Neil but if ALL these TOP Fed fliers that are on top of everything including health, they can't ALL win? There's only one winner, when beat do they except they prepared their birds correctly and have no health issues and were beaten by a better birds, or start looking for a health issue?
That's why I asked how far behind do they have to be before it changes from being beat by a better bird, to it's got to be a health issue?

Of course they can’t all win but they all aim to be at the best chance of winning
If I was 3 min behind in my club 2 weeks in a row I would be in a bad way one week would worry me alone
You try to keep your best birds in the best possible health to win in my view
3 min is a lot here
My main two rivals and friends in my club are on you constantly one will send 20 hens have 12 in 2/3 mins weekly to about 160 miles about 5 of the members are split by a min min half on a sprint
That’s why I say no one wins by 10 mins here at 100 miles

As I said winning by 10 mins is the exception to the rule, it rarely happens. The last 2 races in my old club were won by only 1 or 2 mins. In fact every race this season has been no more than 2 mins except, one Brighton race 200 miles where only 3 members sent due to bad weather.

[Mark69]

Great post enjoying reading everyones different point of view

[king]

There's different schools of thought, and I reckon there is no wrong one.

There are those who are firm believers in the need for medication. Since their pigeons are bred from pigeons that were medicated to keep them healthy, and the grandparents were medicated to keep them healthy they seem to need it to stay healthy.
I have a mate who is very methodical and has a monthly medication schedule and a white board on which he records everything.
He won 1 race in our club last year.

Then there are those who prefer to not use medications. I am one.
You cannot take pigeons from a loft that uses medications and go, "righto, I am going to race these totally natural". You will probably loose them all before the first race. But I have pigeons that have never seen an as much as an an asprin for 4 and 5 generations. They have strong natural immune systems. They don't get sick.
I won 1 race in our club last year.

And it's hard winning in that club, there's a 25 mile spread. You don't get a drag home.

Medicate them if you want to, or don't. It's entirely up to you.

The quality of the pigeon matters

Equal quality equal management one with its health spot on against One with a slight case of canker the one in A1 health wins for me

Whilst health is very important. When top fanciers compete together motivation is the decider.