Ways to reduce need for antibiotics

[Bowbroom]

I really must learn to be more open minded

[goose1]

I'm aware that this is a contentious subject, and to King and Bowbroom I'm certainly not interested in trying to change your mind on this

To those who are either on the fence or open-minded let me say a few things before I post you some text conversations

1. Virkon is not the be all and end all. It will not guarantee you success. What it can do is help to keep your birds in good order if used in a respectable manner. A pigeon man far better than me took me into his confidence many years ago and told me about it. Out of respect to him I tried it because I'd never form an opinion on something if I hadn't tried it. The results were pleasing so it became part of my management.

2. You'll not cause them any short or long term damage. I'm not interested in what its "designed" to do and I certainly don't care what AI says. I'm interested in what it "can" do. During our tenure at the MNFC literally thousands of fanciers came to our house. I never invited anyone up the garden, but if someone asked to see the birds I'd never say no. The most common comment we received was "how do you get the birds like this!"... My birds would glide through your hands and slip through your fingers if you weren't careful. Their condition and well being was second to none. I used to bathe my birds weekly in Virkon. Tiny dose. Tip of a teaspoon to 2 buckets of water.


Below are some text messages between me and Lee Painter and me and Eddie Butcher. (Don't be confused by me calling him "John" - I always call him "John")

Both fanciers were less than pleased with how their YB were coming.

Both fanciers were advised to go onto 5 days Virkon in the water. Nothing else about the Management changed.

You'll also see the impact of the Virkon (Lee's result is the Fed result)

I'm leaning towards giving it a try in the bath water at the dose your stating Mike. As I said on another post a few weeks back we did use it for 5 days after we'd pulled stumps for the season. I can't say it did or didn't make a difference as we just didn't have the time to get the pigeons ready for another distance race at that point. It certainly didn't do them any visible harm I know that.

[Bowbroom]

I don’t need to try drinking hydrogen peroxide to know that it is highly corrosive perhaps at a small enough concentration it may not destroy tissue but it certainly won’t do any good either, if people feel the need to sanitise the water then there are other products available I maintain that the people that you quote have won despite bleach not because of it, sorry to be so close minded

[king]

It seems I'm right with fanciers guessing the dose.

Lee Painter 1/2 teaspoon Bleach 10 litre, The resulting percentage is 0.025%.

Neil 1 teaspoon Bleach 2 litres, 0.25% 10 x stronger dose

[Bowbroom]

Each to their own Neil

[CHARLTON34]

Interesting post's about this, I'm open to trial it to see on my pigeons, will go down the road of in the bath water to start with then do a pinch on a teaspoon in the drinking water on a different day. I'm open minded about this with lots of pigeons on the transporter mixing I think you should be anticipating that they might have picked something up, better to be proactive in my mind.

[king]

It seems I'm right with fanciers guessing the dose.

Lee Painter 1/2 teaspoon Bleach 10 litre, The resulting percentage is 0.025%.

Neil 1 teaspoon Bleach 2 litres, 0.25% 10 x stronger dose

Think Lee uses Virkon king not bleach

Yes my mistake. Neil. But BOTH are disinfectants

[goose1]

The description below is taken from the Quill website and unlike Virkon or Bleach the manufacturers clearly state suitable for drinking water. Just to be clear I haven't used it but just putting it out there as this is a good topic with people respectfully having different views.

Oxi-PURE is a multi-purpose ultra-stabilised hydrogen peroxide water sanitiser, cleaner and disinfectant. Removes biofilm, bacteria, yeasts, moulds and fungi.

Contains 5% Hydrogen Peroxide.

Dual action: cleans and disinfects
For use in water and on surfaces
Removes and controls biofilm
Kills bacteria, yeasts and fungi
Suitable for livestock drinking water
Safe for plants - ideal for water butts
Stabilised for longer lasting action
CLEANING: Dilute 1 part Oxi-PURE to 1 part water

LIVESTOCK DRINKING WATER: Dilute 1-2ml Oxi-PURE to 1000ml water

PLANTS: Dilute 0.5-1ml Oxi-PURE to 1000ml water

[CHARLTON34]

3 organic acids in Quill Tonic that I said to Neil would be beneficial imo.

[CHARLTON34]

Interesting post's about this, I'm open to trial it to see on my pigeons, will go down the road of in the bath water to start with then do a pinch on a teaspoon in the drinking water on a different day. I'm open minded about this with lots of pigeons on the transporter mixing I think you should be anticipating that they might have picked something up, better to be proactive in my mind.

so gave the pigeons a pinch probably less than a quarter teaspoon of Vircon in the drinkers yesterday after morning feed, all seemed to take on a good drink which I was surprised at to be onest, I thought they might have been reluctant to drink it.
Droppings on the perches all good, so will continue to do this with my small amount being used in both sections. Can I ask do you still use this in the breeding season with youngsters in the nest, any information please.