pheasant illness

[comanche 3,031]

Havin re-read the post I think Foxdropper might well be worth paying heed to. Those birds pictured have been eaten after death .Is excessive feather -pecking or bullying is going on between the live birds?. If so you have a management problem. Managment problems aside,(and they will always increase the risk of disease ) If only the dead birds have been eaten you may , as FDropper warns, have a disease problem .In which case giving them an early release to relieve stress must be balenced against the need to diagnose and treat possible disease lest it take hold in your healthy stock or foul your land.

[alimac 882]

They're acting normal, a little lethargic but hardly noticeable.

Droppings are also normal but a little runny.

They rear ends are all bloody as if they've been pecked but then the arse hole falls out and then they're intestine's come out usually after death but 2 have still been alive at this stage!!

Manage dto get some pics up thankfully.

Thanks,

Sion

in the bottom left of the bottom picture, is that a bit of eaten bird??? as you probably know that at about 10 weeks the base of there tails bleed when the first few feathers push through, so this could account for some of the blood...iv got to say iv seen some badly pecked birds but never to the stage of taking out its intestines... its strange there crap is normal as yellow runny crap is normally the first sign you get of your birds are ill... ask your vet where your nearest animal dieases / health lab is, if you do find one take a live bird to them as alot of bacterium start to die as soon as the bird does, they will kill it in the lab, you will get full report with in 24 hours.. but as has been said put some E in if you can source any just to get something good into them asap...

 

edited to add if it has been eaten, mainly feet, legs and arse , then id say its a hedgehog, and dont be as nieve to think there not capable of killing such numbers as i know from experience that they can and do...

Edited August 3, 2008 by alimac

[Guest ragumup]

vent pecking = let them out, cheers

[teckel 3]

hedgehogs can be a pain in the arse( excuse the pun) have seen them before chewing the arse out of a 7 week old poult. also take the risk and open the pen up and let them out better to give them more space then have them confined or it could back fire on you and get disease going through the whole pen. also watch for froffy yellow shit sighns of cocxi then cure as can end up with secondry infection of hexamiter. if you cant sourse E then see if you can get your hands on some chlorsol 50% and that will help cure any problems also mix baycox with it and that will cure the coxi also some multivits and that will make the whole soup taste a BIT better. best of luck

[sionw123 0]

Picture of intestines as requested.

Pop holes now open and i hope you're right, and pecking is the cause!

Thanks for you're help and fast replies.

I'll keep you posted

Thanks,

Sion

[sidebyside 0]

Check the lumps in the blind gut and the duodenal loop, thats the three bits furthest away from the gizzard, is it lumpy or frothy?

Looking at the original pictures it looks like vent pecking to me, best advice is let them out, if pushing them back in at night is a problem get plenty of green stuff i.e willow branches, onion tops, kale leaves etc etc and hang them up just above the ground, so they can peck at them, this will give them something to do for awhile. The blood quills will be coming through on your birds at the moment this will give a target for the others to peck at, once blood is drawn the bird will be doomed, when that one is dead they will move onto another. If you can catch the damaged birds and spray the with oxitetracylin (bad spelling) the purple wound spray you can get from the Agric merchants you may be able to save those that are not to badly damaged.

Edited August 4, 2008 by sidebyside

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Definately some signs of infection there mate .Kill a healthy bird for a reference mate and check the lower intestine of a few dead birds against the one healthy .Get a few birds tested ,its worth the expense for piece of mind to know what your up against .Treatment will be swift when you know the score .Dont waste any more time on here with guesses mate as thats what they are .

[shotup 9]

you are going to see signs of inflamed bottom of vents because the birds are being eaten alive by thier siblings they have all learnt a bad habit and will keep on killing unless you put bits on thier beaks bit them up and let them out put plenty of growers in hoppers mate. good luck but it can be disheartning but its all in a learning curve. act fast.

[sionw123 0]

Well all I can say is a massive THANK YOU to all your suggestions!

I put out grit along with some small, freshly cut saplings. Opened the pop holes and gave them 'medicated' feed, not sure what the medication was as I got the feed in pre treated abgs from Wynnstey.

The birds are now fine, no pecking and no other deaths.

This year we'll be making another pen to spread the birds out even more as the most likely cause was pecking.

Thanks again,

Sion

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

you are going to see signs of inflamed bottom of vents because the birds are being eaten alive by thier siblings they have all learnt a bad habit and will keep on killing unless you put bits on thier beaks bit them up and let them out put plenty of growers in hoppers mate. good luck but it can be disheartning but its all in a learning curve. act fast.

 

Bit them up and let them out Thats a new one on me .

[sionw123 0]

Don't worry, I have'nt let them out with bits on!!

Just plain old beaks

Sion

[jim2504 0]

Don't worry, I have'nt let them out with bits on!!

Just plain old beaks

Sion

hi mate looks like they are pecking the blood feathers out cos they are full of protein. the blood feathers are the start of the tail feathers and once they start they tend to carry it on its a bad habbit that once they start they dont stop and they tend to carry on pecking once the bird is dead this can also happen even if the bird is bitted

good luck mate hope you get it sorted jimmy

[Grouse 0]

Hi all,

I know this is a bit cheeky, asking for help and i've not even introduced myself

I've got two pens on my small rough shoot/syndicate, one with 200 poults and another with 400. The smallest pen is fine, with no deaths since we had them 2-3 weeks ago. The other was just the same untill 3 days ago when me and the other 'keeper' started finding dead ones everywhere.

In the last 3 days we've found beteween 20 and 30 all with the same symptoms.

All of their rear end look as if they're decomposing or being pecked and we have'nt got a clue what it is.

This may be an obvious illness to you profesional, so please help me!!

Thanks a lot,

Sion

P.S. I've tried uploading pics but they're too large?

[Grouse 0]

You could give them something else to peck- like cabbages- and put bonemeal in their feed

[agrifabs 0]

i give my pheasants cabages every so often, they love it, it keeps them busy, something different for them, also dont forget the grit,