Q: Is there anything you can tell me about birds being poisoned by feed?
Yes, and do I have experience -- like they say, "hot off the press". We all have heard the word "aflatoxin" thrown around in pigeon literature, and we have an idea what causes it. But when I started asking people about the source and how it affects birds short term or long term, I had a difficult time getting an answer from my many contacts. Yet I am sure we have people out there somewhere who have expertise in this field. So let me relate to you what happened to my young bird team this year.
Here in the Midwest we finish our old bird season with a grand finale the last weekend of June. Depending how the dates fall, we usually have 4 weeks before we fly our first young bird race. This year it turned out that we had 5 weeks between seasons. My young bird team seemed to be in very good condition, so my wife and I decided to take 2 weeks off from the birds to see our friends in Florida and experience Florida in July. We have a house in pigeon mecca Spring Hill and always enjoy our stay there.
So I left my young bird team in the hands of a non-pigeon flyer, a man with a lot of animal sense, with detailed instructions. When I returned from Florida, Pietro had the birds working beautifully. They were exercising 1 1/2 hours in the morning and he had them under excellent gentle control; in fact, probably the best my young bird team has ever been. They were trained almost like circus animals, trapping on command, etc.
Well, I was ready to road train, so into the basket they went, 3 weeks before the first race. The only thing not up to par was that I thought they needed some reserve to get them into racing condition. So being smart and to help the situation along, I decided to give them an extra noon meal of 2 one-pound coffee cans full of ground peanuts. In typical pigeon flyer fashion, I did not want to waste any time. I poured the peanuts to them to get a quick response. Since my birds did not know how to eat peanuts, I ground them in a food processor. The birds ate them immediately and they all got a uniform amount. All went well for 3 days. By the end of the third day, the team was looking good physically . I had accomplished exactly what I had set out to do.
The 4th morning, because of weather conditions, I could not train, and that turned out to be a stroke of luck. The birds flew 5 minutes and then landed, desperately hanging on the traps, mouths wide open, wings hanging. Something was terribly wrong. From that day on, every time I turned them out, they would go sky high, but within 5 to 6 minutes on my stop watch, they would be down and hanging on the traps, totally gasping for air when they landed. Their bodies overheated as if they were unable to dissipate the heat. To call the situation extreme and severe is probably an understatement. I have never in 40 years seen birds with their mouths gaping open as wide as these, with their wings hanging, and with their bodies feeling so hot.
I played "detective". What had I done that was different? A friend had procured an ample supply of peanuts for me. I did not know at the time that these peanuts had been allowed to stay in a warm humid garage before I got them.
What was wrong with the peanuts? It is called aflatoxin, which really means a fungus poisoning. You can get this fungus poisoning (mold) on a number of grains, but probably the most prevalent one would be nuts. This mold growth and aflatoxin production are favored by warm temperatures and high humidity. It also seems to be prevalent during periods of drought. Besides the peanuts, it can be found in other grains such as corn, safflower, and canola. Aflatoxins primarily affect the liver of an animal. However, if high dosages are involved, it will also affect the lungs, heart, and kidney tissue.
The good news is that eventually some of the birds recuperated from the aflatoxin poisoning. I found that after 3 weeks, one bird from our original team of 75 was capable of flying a race. I was able to spot this pigeon since I'm in the process of developing some white grizzles. This had been the only white on the first race team and now was the only bird to take to the air with 12 late hatches I was settling that had not been exposed to the aflatoxin. So the first race of the young bird season I showed up with one lone entry, and a white one at that. I was fortunate enough that the bird flew an acceptable race, clocking in the middle of the race sheet.
The 2nd week of racing (4 weeks after the poisoning), we limped along by shipping 2 birds. Again the white one put us in the middle of the race sheet. The 3rd week of racing I was able to pick 7 birds out of a team of 75 to ship to a race successfully. We won that race.
The 4th week (6th week after poisoning), I was able to ship 12 pigeons. The 5th week of racing we were up to 20 pigeons. Now these pigeons are flying well and winning. I see further improvement of the team daily as the maroon skin coloration is starting to turn back to pink on more and more birds. However, I have also noticed that the birds do not have the same resilience as before. They cannot be repeated back the week after they have flown a race.
As I said, this was an extreme form of aflatoxin poisoning. I am sure there is a good amount of aflatoxin poisoning going on in much smaller doses, resulting in poorly performing teams of birds. We are not aware of it, but it cripples our race results. Peanuts, of course, are a very in-vogue and excellent food supplement used by fanciers. But remember, buy them at a health food store where they are intended for human consumption. And you must keep them refrigerated so you don't get in trouble.
