Dear Gerhard,
You wrote...
>Among the African species Green Twinspots are indeed susceptible to Trichomonas the subspecies M.n. chubby more then M.n. schlegeli. I bred both subspecies for the last couple of years and just gave away all my birds of this species in January.
If you can still contact whoever you sold your Schlegel and Chubby twinspots to, tell them I would be glad to help them if their Schlegels or Chubbs fall ill. If they want to go to my website and answer my Droppings Questionnaire, I will do my best to help them. Tell them they are most welcome to write to me. I just would like to draw your attention to how effective and marvellous Borax 6X lactose-free homeopathic pillules are in curing Schlegels of Trichomonas. The only time that it may not work is if the Trichomonas has invaded the liver, in which case you will need something like Emtryl, given optionally.
Gerhard, I think that Schlegels are some of the most valuable birds because of their song and the great beauty of the females, which is rare in birds. The shade of green that the Schlegel hen has [ I don’t know about the Chubb hen] is much more beautiful than that of the Schlegel cock. I find it quite stunning.
I wanted to ask you what kind of nest the Schlegels prefer in your experience ?
Is it
1. wooden half open 12 cms cubed nest box
2. plastic half open 12 cms cubed nest box
3. large wicker nest basket
4. small wicker nest basket
5. build their own nest
The nest that mine built was in a wooden half open 12 cms cubed nest box about 15 cms below the ceiling.
>I did not have problems with Coccidia in this species.
I did not either but I do not understand your meaning. If you did not have any problems with coccidia in M. n. schlegeli, how come you say :
>All the wild caught I bought did not have problems with Trichomonas but regulary had to be treated against Coccidia and E. coli the same with the juveniles I bred of this species ( I only raised about 30 Juveniles over three years origin from 6 pairs so the database is not very broad) they are very prone to avian pox.
Can you please tell me what went wrong ? It may help prevent the same thing happening to me....
Can you please tell me the symptoms or signs of avian pox that the Schlegel showed ?
My book on bird diseases says that there are 3 types, Dry pox, Wet pox and Septicemic pox. Is it the one where you have red oozing sores around unfeathered areas of skin ?
>Avian pox long ago wiped out all my Pintails and Bamboo Parrotfinches an Gouldians in three days. It originated from a pair of Vinaceous Firefinches (Lagonosticta vinacea). No African estrildian got sick neither did the Munias and Grassfinches I kept in the same aviary.
Quite remarkable. I have observed the same effect when I had several finch species flying about in the same space and only two of these species, the Pintail nonpareils and Schlegels, would fall ill with Trichomonas but the rest would not be affected at all. Also, only the Schlegels were susceptible to Mycoplasma due to the closed windows.
But I think all are susceptible to Candida and bacterial diseases like E. coli and Campylobacter with the exception of the Bengalese.
>We did look for a variety of pathogens in the soil / seed mixture at the institute we found nothing to be worried about. There are germs but not in concentration which is dangerous for a healthy bird with an intact immune response.
I have observed that finches PREFER moist soil as you describe to dry soil. Have you noticed this yourself ? I think the likely reason for this is that moist soil is more effective as a demulcent [ soothing agent ] than dry soil is. I know this because once I happened to walk bare legged through thick nettle plants which have a mild but somewhat unpleasant sting on the skin. It was hot and I felt very uncomfortable because of the stinging on the skin of my legs. Then something made me go to the edge of a lake nearby and scoop up water and mix it with some soil and then I formed a muddy paste. I then pasted this mud on my skin all over my leg. Almost instantly it felt so much better ! I left it like that for about 20 minutes and then washed it off and the pain had almost gone.
>The UV (speaking of the lamp I use, there are UV-Lamps which have such a high amount of UV which are harmful in every case used in medicine for sterilizing for example) is not harmful for the birds if they are not forced to sit there if they can choose their place to roost it is no problem.
Yes according to :
http://www.reptipark.de/shop/product_info.php/products_id/1135
your Osram bulb emits UVB radiation. I am surprised that the Osram worked for you because it only emits UVB grade radiation and not UVC. And even so, you did not have all the air being radiated with the UVB. It is UVC which kills air pathogens but it is extremely dangerous, leading to problems such as cancers and permanent eye damage - even total blindness in humans if it is not fully contained in a protective box. So I will have to proceed very carefully in building the air purification device. What I have to do is find some material that will thoroughly absorb UVC radiation.
I found an American website that sells these these devices at :
www.aircleanerforbirds.com
But they are ridiculously expensive at $596. That is 500 Euros €. Do you know of a German manufacturer that has a far cheaper but equally safe UVC ligth air purification device for birdrooms ? It may be wiser to buy a device that has been developed and tested by experts rather than build something myself and risk getting blind.
I became more interested in UV radiation and found out the followig.
http://www.ciesin.org/docs/001-503/001-503.html
says that “ Environmental photobiologists normally define the wavelength regions as: UVA, 400-320 nm; UVB, 320-290 nm; and UVC, 290-200 nm. The division between UVB and UVC is chosen as 290 nm since ultraviolet radiation (UVR) at shorter wavelengths is unlikely to be present in terrestrial sunlight, except at high altitudes (Henderson 1977). “
This would explain why finch species that live in the mountains can succumb so readily to any pathogens which are transmissible by air in human birdrooms. The level of UVC grade rays at high altitudes is much higher than that at ground level. This means that the amount of pathogens that can survive in mountain air must be really very small compared to that at ground level because I am told that UVC is known to destroy all pathogens. And the situation gets worse when you have these birds in birdrooms with shut windows because of cold air outside.
On page 337 in the book “ Finches and Sparrows” by Clement et al, it says that :
“ M.n. schlegeli lives in Mount Nimba in Liberia and M. n. chubbi lives in the Imatong, Dongotona and possibly the Didinga Mountains of Sudan. “ The book also says that it lives in altitudes up to 2400 meters.
This could explain why these species are so vulnerable to pathogens which are transmissible by air ( bacteria such as Mycoplasma, Chlamydophila, Mycobacterium, Candida, fungi such as Aspergillus and Ergot, viruses ) than ground dwelling African species like Brown Twinspots or Dybowski’s Twinspots.
I am not sure whether avian pox is air transmissible but am I right in thinking that your Schlegel and Chubb Twinspots survived ? If they did, the chances are that avian pox is not air transmissible.
>We tried Fonio paddy brown seed but it was not preferred to the Mohair- and Manna-Millet or the other grass seeds neither did it show any effect against coccidia. The grass seed my birds usually like most is Dactylis glomerata, Poa annua and Briza media.
Do you buy these seeds in kilogram bags from a birdseed merchant or gardening supplies store ? I think you have to be careful that the grass seeds are not chemically treated to deter wild birds from eating them. So you can sprout these grass seeds simply by soaking in the water. I think I read somewhere that with some grass seeds, you need to place them in the freezer for a week to micmic the winter season first.
Regarding coccidia, canary breeders have known for a long time that soaked COUSCOUS will stop canary juveniles from developing coccidiosis. Do you know about this ?
I strongly recommend mixing some couscous to the eggfood when you feed your Africans if you have a coccidia problem.
Regards,
William