Coincidence?
When F Marien, a vet who performs extremely well in the races, once told me that he had not treated his birds against canker since 3 years I raised my eyebrows.
While others complained about resistance against trichomoniasis he had another story. Did he fool me?
Now it seems he did not. I have not treated my birds against canker either since a couple of years.
VINEGAR
I am very sceptic about most food additives and believe in little.
When a few years ago Adeno/Coli became a big problem many fanciers thought that vinegar in the water was a good means to prevent an outbreak.
They were wrong.
Take Peter van de Merwe for arguments' sake. He started to give his birds vinegar and never before did he have so many problems with E Coli.
So vinegar was BS as well I thought.
But in those days I had just bought a bottle and though it is cheap I did not want to throw it away and I gave my birds vinegar 3 days per week, the whole winter long.
In the spring that followed the birds looked so healthy that I forgot to treat against canker and much to my surprise there were not any signs of trichomoniasis in the year that followed.
I wondered if this was due to vinegar, so understandably I continued to give my birds vinegar and believe it or not, since 3 years I have not treated against canker and I never had problems.
Ignoring canker was something I would not have dared before.
OTHER VETS
I discussed this phenomenon with the vets Herbots and Schroeder and they had also experienced that vinegar kept canker away.
This intrigued doctor Schroeder so much that whenever he checked birds and found they were totally free from canker he asked the fancier if he gave vinegar.
Without exception the owners of those 'trichomoniasis free' birds gave vinegar, some combined with garlic or Naturaline (a kind of tea sold by Natural).
This week one could read a report of Mr Mertens from Arendonk.
He was two times champion of all Belgium and in this report one could also read that since he gave his birds vinegar he had no problems with canker any more.
The only problem he faces is that fanciers do not believe him.
I do.
There are too many examples like these to think about a coincidence.
ADVICE
Today both doctor Schroeder, doctor Herbots and doctor H de Weerd advise to often give vinegar. Preferably not during the racing season and at least 3 days per week.
One day only is useless.
First the birds need to be free since vinegar does not cure but seems to be a perfect means to prevent canker.
Ant to prevent is always better than to cure.
The other good news is that it is very cheap.
Finally some interesting stuff that I found on the site of German Champion Puttman:
MEDICATION:
Eight weeks before the racing season starts, the widowers are treated for five days with an antibiotic (paratyphus). Four weeks later, the pigeons are treated against trichomoniasis.
And now an interesting story from Rainer: "After the fifth race, the widowers were examined by a specialized vet. 'Trichomoniasis,' said the vet, 'except in your best pigeons.'" Trying to be thorough, Rainer treated his whole team, and in the following race he got very bad results. Rainer reflects, "Next time, as long as the results are good, I will not treat any bird if it specifically is not infected. I can easily do that because my birds have individual drinking bowls."
