Every loft deals with the same short list, and almost every keeper has a routine they were taught rather than one a vet designed.
The usual suspects:
- Canker — yellow cheesy growths in the throat, young birds worst hit
- Coccidiosis — green watery droppings, weight loss, birds that will not fly
- One-eye cold — one watering, half-closed eye, often spreading through the loft
- Worms
- Lice and mites
The part worth arguing about is routine dosing. A lot of keepers medicate on a calendar whether or not the birds are ill, and that is exactly how resistance builds, so the medicine stops working the year you actually need it.
What is your routine? What do you give, how often, and do you treat preventively or only when you see symptoms? And has anyone here worked with a vet who actually knows pigeons?