Listen, guys, I would really rather those of you who are going to block me based on a malicious anon with a cherry picked, albeit very well written call out doc just go ahead with the block than ask me about it and block me half way through answering.
For those of you who don't know, I have been raising, rescuing, and studying dove and then pigeon behavior since 2012.
I've documented all of that on The Ramsey Loft, formerly Ramsey Rringnecks, when I just raised doves.
I think I started that blog in 2013?
The Ramsey Loft is an instructional blog, where I have documented every aspect of keeping, raising, breeding, showing, and rescuing, including and especially what can go wrong, and what did, for me.
I think breeders should be as open as possible, both so that people who want to buy from them know what they're getting, and people who think they want to breed or rescue know exactly what they are getting into.
I posted near daily updates of life in the loft, through changing species of interest from doves to pigeons and breeding goals from pets and show birds to pets and therapy animals, after a street pigeon taught himself to alert me for anxiety attacks and blood sugar spikes.
For the sake of personal medical records and other potential breeders information, I necropsied and documented every bird that died.
Between rescues and purebreds, I've documented some pretty wild shit, which has been shared with my vet and the state vet, when particularly interesting.
My own health, and its effect on the care I was able to maintain have also been very frankly, free form documented.
Some one combed through all that information, cherry picked several accidents, the necropsies of rescues that passed on or shortly after arrival, and "this went wrong, here's how" accounts with the "what I've done to prevent it in the future" parts left out, and it looks really monstrous.
So monstrous, in fact, that I don't even blame anyone for taking it at face value and blocking me.
No, really. No hard feelings about that at all.
But the way it's framed, I've just plodded blithely along for the last near decade, changing nothing, and putting on a really good surprised pikachu face in public.
If that's actually how things had gone, I really would be a monster who should never be allowed in contact with an animal.
The first outbreak I dealt with was Coccidia. A mild annoyance in otherwise healthy pigeons, but fatal on its own to ringneck doves.
Because the quarantine procedure that worked for new Ringneck Doves was inadequate for Pigons.
Ringneck Doves have a frankly piss poor immune system by comparison, and I could generally trust that if, after four weeks in insolated observation, a dove had not developed symptoms, that bird was safe to join the breeding flock.
That's not how that works for pigeons.
Pigeons can carry and spread a great many pathogens subclinically that will immediately sicken a Ringneck.
So the quarantine procedure changed to include fecal and throat swabs, which were done both in house, and confirmed by the vet, so I could be sure I knew what I was looking at.
Four weeks total, with swabs on arrival, and pre release from quarantine.
That was insufficient to cover for Salmonella.
Another pigeon passed through quarantine with exit swabs all clean, bright eyed, and clean feathered.
And within 12 hours, the first dove fluffed up.
We lost as many birds as we did because the exotics vets I was seeing at the time only came to work on Tuesday and Thursday, and the first doves fell ill during Master's week, when they were both on vacation.
None of the emergency vets would look at anything but dogs or cats.
Salmonella is fatal to Ringneck Doves within 48 hours of exposure.
But salmonella (paratyphoid) and PMV both have vaccines available, which I immediately started keeping on hand and administering as recommended.
For birds I hatched, initial shots at 6 weeks, boosters at 9, then every 6 months for Paratyphoid and every year for PMV.
New adults get initial vaccines on arrival, and boosters 3 weeks later during their quarantine period.
I got out of Ringneck Doves for a few reasons, but most importantly:
I had a fucking heart attack!!!
Managing the cages was physically just... more than I could keep up with.
I tried to for a while. I got to a point where I could keep the loft and quarantine room pristine, but I physically couldn't deal with that and all of the house.
So I had to pick a species, if not get out of them entirely.
Pigeons are more intelligent and personable, and I enjoyed working with them more.
Without the doves, who need to be caged in pairs as adults because they are very aggressively territorial, and for protection from pigeons who are big enough to hurt them in their attempts to court and drive, I wouldn't need any cages at all.
And one less bill to pay for the license (which is required for doves, but not pigeons) would free up funds for feed and vet bills and such.
So I sent the remaining doves back to two other breeders I had been working with on color and feather texture projects, decided not to show anymore, and redesigned the loft around the pigeons and what I was sure I could physically manage.
Sand floor I could sift the poop out of.
Stackable plastic nest boxes I could just pick up and clean.
Mats on the shelves I could take out and hose.
I had a screening process that was intended to ensure that birds that shouldn't be bred didn't go to someone who wanted to breed, and went all the way to size, sex, and personality of the birds, to be as close to absolutely sure as possible that a match would really be a forever home.
I had a no questions asked return policy that included mates and children, that was intended to protect the birds I had produced and any potential offspring to keep them out of shelters.
And I had a wait list that had 15-20 people on it waiting for babies at any given time.
I had never had more than four or five peeps of the same age at any given time, and rescues didn't come in super often.
I could physically keep up with the work, and was pretty sure I had set solid policies.
But some clients who had bought birds on non breeding contracts let them breed and asked me to take the babies.
Rescues got more frequent.
And when we switched the birds to Versele Laga, and fed them on the mesh (which is swapped out daily to keep sanitary) where they could get some elbow room and eat more comfortably, my breeding flock got a lot more productive!
And here's where I really fucked up:
As peeps bred for the people on the wait list failed to pass the temperament bar, everything should have stopped.
All breeding, all rescue intake.
Until the non-keepers I had went home.
But I just tried again for a peep to match that person on my wait list.
Which lead to more birds, more mess, physically harder to keep up with.
My own health got worse, which made everything harder.
So I hired help with cleaning on the days I physically couldn't.
And I just went straight to hell when I lost my Assistance Bird.
Ankhou didn't just alert me for anxiety attacks and blood sugar spikes.
He also regulated my mood, reminded me to eat, and went to get my husband if something was wrong that he couldn't fix.
He was the whole reason I started the therapy project.
It took a very long time for me to recover, but during that time, the person I hired to help was called more frequently, and a new ventilation system was installed in the loft.
The outbreak we have been closed from since March turned out to be Candidia albicans.
But my part of Ga was on covid lock down at the time, so my vet was swamped, most vets weren't taking new clients, and even the state vet was turning people away.
Getting those tests performed to figure out what we were treating took months.
Gram stain, then DNA screening on fecals for bacterial pathogens.
Necropsy on the last two birds to die, who I could only get in for euthanasia,
Second DNA screening for bacteria, DNA screening for fungi, DNA screening for viruses from the liver tissue.
That took until September.
When Candidia was confirmed, it was treated immediately, and we stayed on in case of virus lock down.
I documented the feces of symptomatic birds in quarantine every day before cleaning their hospital cages.
Laid out a stone path from my back door to the loft that could be hosed between passes.
Got the birds a new window unit AC so I could block access to the porch.
Got plastic disposable shoe covers that I put on my feet before entering the loft.
Threw out the mats and replaced them with shelf liners I could clean more easily in the sink.
Started fully replacing the sand at the beginning of every month.
The flock was confirmed clean in August, with some clarification confirmed in September.
No breeding or rescue work has resumed.
Nor will it, until we can fully rebuild the lofts, with floors I can pressure hose and nests I can take down and clean without disturbing any around them.
One for the breeding flock, a separate one for rescues and adoptables, and a third for quarantine.
In the meantime, I'm just taking care of the birds I have and adopting out the ones I don't plan to keep.
When babies are a thing again, one peep per pair is all I'll keep, and I will no longer be hatching on demand.
We will build the new lofts when we move and have space, which could take years, but pigeons can live to 20. I'm not in a rush.
The people who made that call out post they're sharing around knew about all of that.
All of the changes to quarantine proceedures.
The changes to the screening process.
The new ventilation system.
All the redesigns to make tracking pathogens in less likely.
The plans not to do any further breeding until the new lofts can be built.
The specifics of the redesigns planned for the new lofts.
And what the breeding plans are once the new lofts are built.
They were part of my Loft Server, and actively participated in the discussions involving all that.
They just left it all out.
Do with all that as you will.
There will be no hard feelings.
