Preventative Health Aids

[gsjohnson]

I'm just curious what each of you do in terms of preventative medication(s) schedules. Is everyone on a prescribed and scheduled medication calander for the prevention of let's say Sac Mites, Canker, Worms, etc.? I personally don't do a thing, but I do add vitamins/iodine to their water every 2 days. I have only lost one bird in the last 2 years, but with all the health issues that I read about on this site, it makes me a little nervous...in terms of should I be on some type of medication schedule for the prevention of these assorted health issues that I keep reading about here? You guys are starting to make me over observe and possibly over react. Please share what each of you do and maybe suggest to me what I should be doing. I have a 15'Lx4'Wx7'T mixed in door aviary with a 10 finch population. I feed 2 types of seed, greens, vegetables, HB eggs, live meal worms, dried blood worms, and millet.

[debbie276]

I have no preventative medicine schedule other then worming my birds once a year since I've moved them outside.

[gsjohnson]

Interesting...My birds were always outdoors and 6 months ago I moved them to an indoor aviary. I was kinda forced to do this because of the long hours my job requires. I was leaving in the morning when it was dark and coming home in the evening when it was dark. Especially after the time change. It was just becoming too much to deal with in the dark all the time.

[debbie276]

When they were inside they were not exposed to bugs and I didn't feed any type of live food. Now that they are outside and I don't have as much control over what they find creeping around the aviary, I thought worming them once a year would be a good idea. I have owls, gouldians, and diamond doves.

[Sally]

One thing to remember is that you will always see lots of posts about health problems, as members seek answers to what ails their birds. Few bother to post to say their birds are healthy, so it can seem like there is an inordinate number of health problems here. We just hear more about the bad than about the good, it seems.

When I first got into finches, I bought all the medicines I could afford and waited for a need for them. What I didn't realize then was that I rarely can recognize what is wrong with my finches, so I don't know what medications to use on them. It is usually better to give no medication than the wrong medication, so I now take a much more conservative approach.

It is still good to have a few medications on hand, so that you aren't having to have something overnight expressed to you. All my birds are inside, so I worm new birds that may have been outside, and since I feed live food to some birds, they will get the occasional wormer. I SCATT new birds, but since I have mostly waxbills that are not as susceptible to air sac mites as Gouldians and canaries, I don't routinely treat my birds for them.

[debbie276]

Good points Sally. I do keep on hand scatt for all in coming birds which I worm and Scatt. Also always have a form of liquid calcium for egg binding whether your breeding or not.

[finchandlovebird]

Since you'all have posted so much about disease preventatives, etc. I finally broke down & bought some S76. I have Gouldians & don't have any health problems w/them. I have given it to them for 2 days over the past 3 weeks, as the directions said.

The pamphlet I got with the S76 also says "after the initial treatment for 3 weeks, re-treat for 2 days each month when the temps are above 70 degrees. During the molting season, treatment should be 2 days every 3 weeks".

Can someone clarify for me ...... this sounds like year-round treatment. Is that necessary????????????

[PrettyBird]

another preventative health aid I use daily is Herb Salad.
They pick and choose what type of herb they need in the day.
I would recommend that for everyone who has birds

[Sally]

Since you'all have posted so much about disease preventatives, etc. I finally broke down & bought some S76. I have Gouldians & don't have any health problems w/them. I have given it to them for 2 days over the past 3 weeks, as the directions said.

The pamphlet I got with the S76 also says "after the initial treatment for 3 weeks, re-treat for 2 days each month when the temps are above 70 degrees. During the molting season, treatment should be 2 days every 3 weeks".

Can someone clarify for me ...... this sounds like year-round treatment. Is that necessary????????????

I have used S76 in the past, because it is much easier to treat a flock this way than trying to SCATT each one individually. I don't have the species that are more susceptible to air sac mites, like Gouldians and canaries, but that seems like an awful lot of treatment. Hopefully, someone with Gouldians can clarify this.

[debbie276]

The pamphlet I got with the S76 also says "after the initial treatment for 3 weeks, re-treat for 2 days each month when the temps are above 70 degrees. During the molting season, treatment should be 2 days every 3 weeks".

I personally only treat new birds with scatt for ASM during quarantine. I do know that the sites that sell S76 were recommending quarterly treatments but wow that seems like a lot of medication to be giving your bird over and over for something they may not even have.

[Martie]

Although not a medication, something I don't want to be without is Avian Insect Liquidator. I don't believe I've ever had ASMs here, but don't want any kind of mites! Other types can be pretty hard on the birds, too.

I regularly use AIL and routinely spray trays, cages, and even walls after washing. It has a residual effect and really does a great job.

As a bonus, it also kills spiders, flies, seed moths, and even the occasional wasp that finds its way into my basement in the spring. (Spiders and wasps do take a minute or so to die, but it's so great to have something safe for the birds to eliminate these pests).

There are probably other sprays, but AIL does such a great job, I've not felt a need to try anything else.

[finchandlovebird]

Thanks for the good advice guys

[nixity]

Keep in mind 99% of the medications available are not 'preventive', they are meant for treating an existing infection, so if your bird is not afflicted with anything the medication is designed to treat you will be wasting money and time treating them as well as potentially negatively impacting them by treating them for an ailment they are not suffering from. I.e., treating with antibiotics on a bird that does not have a bacterial infection can actually result in an inadvertent thrush/yeast infection instead.
The only mediations that qualify as 'preventive' are SCATT and Coccidiostats (cocci-care, cocci-vet, etc).
S76 does not fall into the realm of preventive because it is only active in the blood stream for 6-7 hours, if that.