Articles
Below you will find the most recent articles written by Dr. H.J.M. de Weerd.
The year 2020
The year 2020 (written 14th December 2020) COVID-19 The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of Corona. Corona viruses are nothing new, we already knew them from colds and from the respiratory diseases SARS and MERS, but this time we are dealing with a very...
Experiences with some new vaccines against “current” virus diseases in pigeons
Experiences with some new vaccines against "current" virus diseases in pigeons For some years now, combination vaccines have been available on the market against virus diseases such as Paramyxo, Herpes, Adeno. Circovirus vaccines are also offered for pigeons and there...
About pigeon shows and vaccines
About pigeon shows and vaccines Kassel - Germany In October, the time of the large pigeon shows and markets started again in Kassel, Germany. The weather was nice and 'die Taubenmesse' was well-attended, it even seemed busier to me than last year. For us, such a...
Knowledge and practice
Knowledge and practice Every day, we receive phone calls and emails, sometimes with photos and/or short films, about pigeon problems from around the world. Via WhatsApp, as well, we can quickly assess situations and sometimes establish diagnoses. In the past, when we...
Dogged misunderstandings, differences of opinion and candid advice in pigeon racing
Dogged misunderstandings, differences of opinion and candid advice in pigeon racing Because I am astonished to read the nonsense that some writers dare to preach about pigeon medicine and medical support, while not being hindered by any sign of knowledge in the field,...
Misinterpretations of laboratory results in relation to the diagnosis
Misinterpretations of laboratory results in relation to the diagnosis As I pointed out and described before on a number of occasions, entirely incorrect assumptions are quite often put forward in the field of pigeon medicine. Pigeon medicine is very complicated, often...
(Veterinary) medicines
(Veterinary) medicines Antibiotics are the most important group of medicines (veterinary medicines) in pigeon racing. Due to the way pigeon racing is conducted, there are enormous contamination possibilities, especially through the collective transportation that take...
Test PMV-Herpesvaccine
Test PMV-Herpes vaccine Herpes Results of a test undertaken on 3 lofts with an average of 100 youngsters last season in the Netherlands with the Czech combi vaccine Paramyxo-Herpes which is not registered in NL/B/DE etc., probably only in the Czech Republic. As I used...
Dead pigeons, a nightmare for every pigeon fancier
Dead pigeons, a nightmare for every pigeon fancier Every day for the past 45 years, we have dozens of pigeon racers getting in contact from all over the world. There are very few things we are not asked, and we always listen seriously (sometimes in 5 languages) to the...
Aspergillosis in pigeons
Aspergillosis in pigeons FungalThis disease is caused in pigeons by the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus and in rare cases by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. The fungus spreads by forming threads and can spread over a surface. Multiplication takes place by...
Laying problems
Laying problems Year in, year out, we are consulted during the breeding period because hens (of course) are laying irregularly or not at all. The latter refers to hens that lay very late, for example more than 2.5 weeks after pairing or produce abnormal eggs such as...
A lesson in current clinical diagnostics
A lesson in current clinical diagnostics During this time of year (April/May) we are often consulted about specific problems with old and young birds! Whereas with the old pigeons after about four races we always have problems with the upper respiratory tract, with...
Problems with breeding
Problems with breeding When breeding in February, we are regularly confronted with problems of various kinds. That starts with not laying on time. This should normally be about 10 days after pairing, but there are many reasons why this doesn't always happen, for...
Clinical diagnostics
Clinical diagnostics Clinical diagnostics is one of my hobbyhorses. This means that based on the symptoms of the pigeon(s) plus the story (complaints) of the owner and the questions and answers about these complaints (anamnesis), you will look over several possible...
Start of the racing season
Start of the racing season The new racing season had barely just begun and after about four flights we see the first problems appearing again. As every year, these are the problems with the upper (front) respiratory tract. We have also come up with a name for it:...
Problems with doping regulations
Problems with doping regulations Pigeon racing after WWII The time that certain 'lofts' later in the season (August/September) were flying stars from the sky, is already many years behind us. It started, like so much in pigeon racing, in Belgium. That's also where the...
Looking back at the season
Looking back at the season Coccidosis problems Looking back at the season, we can conclude that there wasn't much news from a medical point of view. On the understanding that due to the high rainfall and therefore high humidity in certain months, full-blown...
Riddles in pigeon racing
Riddles in pigeon racing Incomprehensible losses with young pigeonsOne of the great riddles in our beautiful sport is the incomprehensible losses of young pigeons.Of course, young go missing when they don't fly enough and build up too little experience and...
A hive of activity in the pigeon practice
A hive of activity in the pigeon practice It seems that the health problems of our pigeons this year are more serious than in previous years! We are overwhelmed by requests for help from all over the world. Especially by phone, but also via emails with pictures...
Deadly E.coli infections in Germany
Deadly E.coli infections in Germany Sick pigeons following exhibitionsFor several years now, we have been consulted by German pigeon fanciers in particular, who have had big problems during and after exhibitions and not only with their exhibited pigeons. The problem...