Pheasants Dying

[Pilky]

Having recently put the birds in on the shoot i help out on were having a few not looking good and dying (More than the odd couple as per usual).

The birds seem to go into a huddle as if cold and wet (Although the weather has been fine) and the next day they have died. The seem physically fine and there's no coughing in the pen. One thing we have noticed is the crops are always empty of the dead birds. There is plenty of food in the pen with room for all the birds to get in and feed.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

Cheers

Edited September 1, 2011 by Pilky

[apache]

Get one or two to the vets for a PM. That's the best way and the only way you will get the correct treatment.

[rimfire4969]

Get one or two to the vets for a PM. That's the best way and the only way you will get the correct treatment.

[MattSoanes]

As above get some checked by the vet. It sounds like Hexamita to me, we had it this year, if its not treated fast you will lose alot more birds,get it looked at ASAP!!

[mark g]

the droppings tell you everything with pheasants, is there any white milky droppings around the dead birds looks almost like chalk powder mixed with water, if so you have hexamita, i always find that the birds have a good dose of coccidiosis before they get hexamita and then something like a cold wet night will stress them and they have hexamita

if you keep on top of the coccidiosis you will get very little hexamita,

[Alycidon]

Sounds like Hexamiter to me.

 

Remember when treating that the drugs have a long withdrawal period, you may have to move back your opening day.

 

Your birds are very late to the pens so I dont suppose you will be shooting much before mid-late Nov anyway, normally you want at least 10 weeks from release and preferably longer. Disease will stunt growth and slow development.

 

A

[Paul223]

yes does sound like hexi, time for drugs and be quick about it

[mark g]

yes does sound like hexi, time for drugs and be quick about it

what drugs would you be useing for hexamita? emtryl has been gone ages and to be honest if they have got to the stage where they are keeling over it was too late even for emtryl, only thing i found to be effective was to take birds back to the rearing sheds and put them back under a gas heater with emtryl in the water but even that was a bit stable door and horse bolted, if i had birds with hexamita now i would put them on 3ml of baycox per litre of water for a day and go round the pen and remove any that are walking with big long strides and then hope for dry weather, how long have you had them for? i always work on the principle with bought in day olds that upto 5 days old any problems come from the hatchery after that any problems are my responsibilty, what food are they on and does it have avatec in it?

[highseas]

what drugs would you be useing for hexamita? emtryl has been gone ages and to be honest if they have got to the stage where they are keeling over it was too late even for emtryl, only thing i found to be effective was to take birds back to the rearing sheds and put them back under a gas heater with emtryl in the water but even that was a bit stable door and horse bolted, if i had birds with hexamita now i would put them on 3ml of baycox per litre of water for a day and go round the pen and remove any that are walking with big long strides and then hope for dry weather, how long have you had them for? i always work on the principle with bought in day olds that upto 5 days old any problems come from the hatchery after that any problems are my responsibilty, what food are they on and does it have avatec in it?

firstly baycox is not for the treatment of hexie. you need eather chlorosol or tetsol.....emtrlywas the best thou :yp:

how thin are the birs if they have no weight on them its hexamiter if they are fat and dying its coxie you will find they huddle with both just as much.

if the **** is dark brown like melted choclate that coxie **** if its yellow like mustard thats hexamiter ****.

ime not shure how you would go about catching birds to take back to the rearing sheds with out causeing too much stress?

as for the 5 day rule of yours you will find if the birds are bad you can and should get a refund, birds can get ill in the hatchery or stressed on the way to you that might only be apparent after the starvout has finished!

one main reason i would never use high-fly again

best plan of attack is

remove all dead

mediacate water and bleed it thrue

 

put manual drinker every where no point in haveing water where the birds cant get to

get medicated feed avtec

move all drinker and feeders to clean ground,,, which should be done any how

and have a foot dip at the pen gate to stop it spreding

[Alycidon]

Or medicated pellets.

 

A

[Beretta28g]

I think Aureomycin was the good treatment for Hexie, im sure that it was that that worked for us. Ours was a water soluble version.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Beretta28g

[highseas]

medicated feed on its own is NOT enugh,pheasants with hexie will eat very very little

[mark g]

firstly baycox is not for the treatment of hexie. you need eather chlorosol or tetsol.....emtrlywas the best thou :yp:

how thin are the birs if they have no weight on them its hexamiter if they are fat and dying its coxie you will find they huddle with both just as much.

if the **** is dark brown like melted choclate that coxie **** if its yellow like mustard thats hexamiter ****.

ime not shure how you would go about catching birds to take back to the rearing sheds with out causeing too much stress?

i know baycox is not for hexamita, it works very well for coccodiosis though which i have found to be a huge contributory factor in birds developing hexamita, chlorsol and tetsol i have found to be a waste of money and you wont need them anyway if you catch the coccidiosis and treat it before it stresses the birds enough to allow hexamita to take hold, birds with hexamita are easy caught because they dont feed and dont have the energy to run, look at your pm reports next time you take birds into the vet, both hexamita and coccidiosis are susceptible to heat, thats why they all get under the heater if they are suffering a bit, also why i have caught them in the past and put them back under the heaters with some emtryl, dont let the coccidiosis take hold and you dont have to catch them, much easier

[Paul223]

don't over look glucose (dextrose monohydrate soluble powder) when dealing with hexi, helps with the huddles and starve outs, and can get you over a few days while the 'drugs' work

[Pilky]

Thanks for all the replies, really helpful. After speaking with local game dealer and getting advice what drugs etc are needed the birds seem to be on the up.

Once again cheers for all the help / advice.

 

 

Lee

[highseas]

i know baycox is not for hexamita, it works very well for coccodiosis though which i have found to be a huge contributory factor in birds developing hexamita, chlorsol and tetsol i have found to be a waste of money and you wont need them anyway if you catch the coccidiosis and treat it before it stresses the birds enough to allow hexamita to take hold, birds with hexamita are easy caught because they dont feed and dont have the energy to run, look at your pm reports next time you take birds into the vet, both hexamita and coccidiosis are susceptible to heat, thats why they all get under the heater if they are suffering a bit, also why i have caught them in the past and put them back under the heaters with some emtryl, dont let the coccidiosis take hold and you dont have to catch them, much easier

ok i agree one ilness can and often will lead to more but what if its just hexi my point still stands.

baycox is good for coxie because its for treating coxie

[mark g]

ok i agree one ilness can and often will lead to more but what if its just hexi my point still stands.

baycox is good for coxie because its for treating coxie

you will not get hexamita if you keep on top of the coccidiosis, therefore you wont need to treat it, no vet will tell you this because not many of them rear pheasants in quantity

i do 1ml per litre at 5-8 days, 3ml per litre for 1 day before they are bitted and then 3ml per litre the day before moveing to release pens and odd bouts as and when required if it rains hard, plus avatec in food until they leave the release pens, try it, it works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

y

[highseas]

********.... hexie will come up on its own. end of

[AmateX]

both hexamita and coccidiosis are susceptible to heat, thats why they all get under the heater if they are suffering a bit,

 

I think you will find that it is because the birds aren’t digesting/eating food and are struggling to keep themselves warm. Pheasant poults need a lot of energy firstly to make them grow and secondly to keep them alive, if they get ill they quickly loose condition and are unable to metabolise food to allow them to live.

 

And yes Hexamita will come about by itself, it is foolish to think otherwise.

 

To be honest I think there is very little value you can place on the colour and consistency of pheasant poo to distinguish between coxi and hexi, there are just too many variable to rely on this. A view down the microscope of at a sample will show if its coxi combined with an autopsy of live birds is by far the best way of identifying disease.

[Pilky]

don't over look glucose (dextrose monohydrate soluble powder) when dealing with hexi, helps with the huddles and starve outs, and can get you over a few days while the 'drugs' work

 

What kind of dosage for the Dextrose?

[Paul223]

the way I've gone about it earlier this year ...... mix the dextrose with water to make a strong thick solution and add 20ml of this to water in each hanging drinker (not the tank cos it will encourage bacteria), preferably dosing the drinkers every couple hours, and add the power to dry feed at whatever rate the feed will carry the powder (the dextrose sticks to the feed a little bit), i meant to have a play with some fish oil to see if this would help the pellet carry the powder, i suppose veg oil would do the same for wheat, but not tried it as yet on wheat