The only disease I have experienced in resent years and can offer any personal insight into is pox. This page is constructed with the hope it will help others to know what to look for if their loft is infected. Little can be done in treatment other than to give the birds extra vitamins to assist in fighting and recovering from the infection.

Prior to 2004 old bird season I had not seen pox. It was simply not something we in the Montreal area were concerned about. The last time it was reported here was in the late 1960's. On June 11th while selecting birds to ship that week I picked up one and saw this on it's eye.

I had no idea what it was so I took this picture and posted it at the Alberta Classic Discussion site. A friend in Portugal where the virus is very common confirmed that it was pox and that I would see many more birds infected soon. He also gave me a link to this helpful site where I could learn about this and other infections.
 
 
 

None of the birds shipped to the race that week showed any sign of it yet the very next day two returning racers did and that week most of the cocks in the loft.

It was being spread through our club in the shipping baskets. The following week everyone in the club that had shipped the races reported infected birds. For a long time only the cocks showed signs of it which told us it was being spread by the cocks scrapping. That lead to a mass vaccination of all our birds for both pox and PMV.

As you know from this site, I try to keep the birds as healthy as possible by giving them natural supplements. As healthy as they birds are pox found a fertile place to spread quickly in the loft. It wasn't long before some of the hens and then the young were infected. In spite of the vaccination full blown pox ended the race season. I now believe that it was to late and a mistake to vaccinate after the virus had appeared in the loft. All we did was add fuel to the fire.

Hopefully I and other's can learn from what for me has been a very discouraging experience I have taken a few more pictures of infected birds. This virus can manifest itself in several ways. The pox on the eye pictured above was the first but several other's have shown up after. Some of the following pictures were taken of young birds after they were vaccinated.

At the side of the mouth.
Young bird                                        Old bird

When its at the side of the mouth a yellow canker like substance inside is behind it.

The eye and beak

One as a swollen black spot next to the nostrils. The bird with that was over it by the time I got around to taking the pictures.

When the external signs are gone doesn't mean the virus has run it's course. I lost five good racers by making the mistake of thinking that was the case and shipping them to a 300 mile race. I later learned that while external signs may not be evident internally the virus continues. If like me you value your birds and this virus invades the loft my advise is to keep them home and have them healthy for the next season.

We will never know how the virus arrived at our club. It could have been from a bird that had been vaccinated and sent to soon to the races or perhaps a bird transferred or strayed from a warmer climate where the virus is common.