[pigeonwriter]

Trying to read relevant posts I have got the impression that feeding sunflower seeds can be the cause for pigeons to get canker. Is this correct and if so why is it so? And if it is a fact does it apply to feeding shelled seeds or sunflower seeds without the shells?
I am not sure whether I got this all right. Would be glad if someone could enlighten me as I have no experience with all this.

I am talking about feral pigeons which are not tame - they come and go as they like and they would not allow me to touch them!

 

[trinity]

with my experience we used to hand feed the young ones with soaked chana grams.
we used to hold the mouth open in onehand and push the seed into the throat which sometimes caused lesions on the throat which later gets turned into canker.

May be the sunflower seeds with those sharp edged and hard shelled bodies are causing lesions and leading to canker.
anyhow i am not sure of cause of canker. but after we stopped handfeeding there are no cases of canker till date

 

[george simon]

Not True

Hi Pigeonwriter, Not true sun flower seeds do not cause canker, I have fed my race birds shelled sun flower seeds for years and I see no canker.GEORGE

 

[John_D]

Canker (proper name Trichomoniasis) is caused by an internal organism (trichomonad) that resides in the digestive system. Probably all pigeons have these, but normally at a safe level which their immune system deals with adequately. Sometimes, birds may have poor immunity or may get stressed, and the organisms can multiply to a point where the bird cannot cope with them and develops canker. It can be passed on through shared food and water, and by parent to offspring - though a 'normal' amount is OK in that it helps the young to gradually build up immunity, a stressed bird can pass on an overwhelming quantity and the young will contract Trichomoniasis. It isn't caused by 'mechanical' means.

John

 

[pigeonwriter]

John - thank you so much for this information. I am relieved now. I got quite irritated because I could not imagine that sunflower seeds could be negative as they supply all nutritions birds need especially in cold weather.
I have fed the birds during the whole winter with sunflower seeds (without shells) and think that I helped to keep them healthy and alive as it was a very harsh winter.

 

[pattersonk2002]

canker

John_D
Thanks for posting that information, I have only found one case of canker in my birds and that was exactly the case. I had two young birds still being feed by the parents that started acting awkward so sure enough when I checked they had canker but not the parents (visable) or any other bird in the loft.
I feed safower and sunflower unshelled in small amounts daily with no problems as of yet. >Kevin
By the way both young responded well to treatment.

 

[pigeonwriter]

Canker is caused by protozoan parasites and not by a virus as people are still alleging in other threads. This is what I have read.
I sometimes wonder how these contradictionary "informations" are spread which is in fact not very helpful.

 

[John_D]

Canker is caused by protozoan parasites and not by a virus as people are still alleging in other threads. This is what I have read.
I sometimes wonder how these contradictionary "informations" are spread which is in fact not very helpful.

I think confusion can arise if somebody says something on a forum or website which isn't totally clear, someone else misreads it and then passes on what they thought they understood ... and so on until it becomes accepted as 'fact'.

We have a bird who Cynthia picked up some years back as a sick youngster, 'Piglet'. He had both the pigeon pox virus and canker, which left him with a scissored beak. I suspect that he had acquired pigeon pox and maybe the weakened system/stress created an opportunity for the onset of canker. I guess someone just skimming through that might conclude that canker was also caused by a virus (?)

John

 

[plamenh]

Sunflower seads can cause canker only and only if pigeon infected with canker was trying to eat them and there is an infected saliva on the seeds. In that case any seeds and water are contageous.
John D - you are right and not only when something is not clear, totaly wrong and dangerous information can be published and create havoc if you don't check it.

 

[pattersonk2002]

pigeon pox

Now I am wondering if you could clear up the causes on pigeon pox. I was just given one reason on how they get it and was told one is an insect, um I don't know what to think but it sounded good so I will compare it with your answer.

 

[Charis]

Sunflower seads can cause canker only and only if pigeon infected with canker was trying to eat them and there is an infected saliva on the seeds. In that case any seeds and water are contageous.
John D - you are right and not only when something is not clear, totaly wrong and dangerous information can be published and create havoc if you don't check it.

Actually, the sunflower seeds themselves can not cause canker. The Trichomononiasis is quite delicate and doesn't survive long outside the body. That's why it can be difficult to identify, under the microscope, unless the sample is very new. It is most readily spread by mating, via egg and feeding chicks.

 

[Jay3]

I have heard different people on here that have said that anything sharp like that, including cracked corn, popcorn, etc. can cause canker. That it can scratch the throat and crop, and that would possibly start the canker. I'm not sure why they believe this.

 

[John_D]

Now I am wondering if you could clear up the causes on pigeon pox. I was just given one reason on how they get it and was told one is an insect, um I don't know what to think but it sounded good so I will compare it with your answer.

Well, have to say personal observation is fairly limited. Piglet was one who soon recovered, but we have had a couple of European Wood Pigeons with a very virulent strain of Pox, with terrible lesions around beak and eyes and inside the beak, and it was fatal in both cases. Seems to affect them far worse than other pigeons.

The only likely way the woodpigeons got it would be through mosquito or mites transmitting it through biting.

We looked at the other possibilities, though. If transmitted through saliva of an already infected bird (which may barely show any obvious symptoms). It could be via shared food and water, or through breaks in the skin of unfeathered areas or in the mouth lining, usually during fighting. That last I read in 'Pigeon Health and Management' by Dr Colin Walker of Australia.

John

 

[pattersonk2002]

pox

That is exactly what I was told so I now close up my loft an hour earlier now> If I leave it open to long they swarm so fast I could not get them all out and I am sure the birds would suffer a bad night if not more. T/Y for conferming