Now that old bird racing is winding down and breeding is nearly complete, fanciers around the country are starting to think about young bird racing. Folks are shipping their futurity hopefuls their selected races, and fanciers are separating their breeders. Nows the best time to vaccinate young birds. The first weekend in June is my favorite time to vaccinate young birds, but there is no hard and fast rule about the timing for this key aspect of pigeon health. Generally, all of my youngsters are weaned by the first weekend in June, and most have been flying around the loft for a while. For the most part, they have wing strength, or, at the very least, are loft broken. Because they also have a little age on them, their immune system has had a chance to develop, which is very important. The MBL pox vaccine is what I use to vaccinate for pox, and, while Ive tried the needle method, I prefer the brush on the upper leg. I do the PMV vaccination at the same time as pox, only with a ½ cc injection under the skin in the neck or groin. We use the PMV-1 killed virus vaccine from Maine Biological. This is a time-proven vaccine, and the results bear out the fact that it does the pigeons no future harm in racing. When we fly the light system, we usually cut the 9th and 10th flights on the same day that we do the vaccinations. Each young bird also gets a worm tablet and a canker tablet. We generally use Moxidectin Plus from APC for worms, and choose either Ronidazole tablets or Pegosan tablets or Pegosan Powder (Pego) for canker.

Address: The Siegel Company 1711 Main Street Jeanerette, LA 70544 USA
Telephone: 1-337-276-3289
Fax: 1-337-276-5160
Website: http://www.siegelpigeons.com/