Biosecurity for your pigeon loft

Perimeter control

Always isolate your flock from all other birds, especially chickens.

You might already be isolated if there aren’t any birds in your neighborhood or you don’t have neighbors. If your neighbor has chickens near your loft, you might ask them to move them. Ideally you should keep the birds as far apart as you can.

Best practice

Isolate your loft by fencing around the outside of it to keep birds and animals out.

Other practices

Gates can help with isolation, sometimes without fencing. A gate that crosses a driveway can effectively stop vehicle traffic. But, to be effective you must keep the gates closed.

Create a buffer zone between lofts or flocks, whether or not you have good fencing. You may need to discuss and agree on a buffer zone area with your neighbor. This will allow you and your neighbor to keep your birds’ housing far apart.

New birds

New birds can bring unwanted disease agents into the loft.

• Always quarantine new birds for at least 14 days.

• Invest in pre-purchase testing if you can.

Contact with other birds

Avoid contact with any other birds. Other bird species can carry disease agents that pigeon owners don’t want in their lofts. The following contacts are listed from highest to lowest for disease risk.

• Live bird markets, auctions and shows.

• Dead birds, especially pigeons.

• Pet or feed stores that sell excess racing pigeon stock.

• Hunting (any species of bird or animal).

Best practice

Avoid contact with all other birds, especially chickens. When there’s contact, change clothes and shower before returning to the loft. This practice is key when you encounter the most dangerous contacts on the list.

Other practices

Avoid the most dangerous contacts with other birds. If you contact birds owned by trusted people:

1. Change into dedicated protective clothing that you will leave in the loft.

2. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before returning to your loft.

Hand washing is one of the simplest and most effective biosecurity measures.

Self-quarantine

When a club member has disease or illness in their loft, they must be ready to take extra steps to prevent disease spread.

• Not moving birds

• Stopping all visits unless they need them

• Notifying other lofts that may have been in contact with the disease case

Traffic control includes the traffic onto your property and the traffic of you and visitors on your property.

Visitor policy

• Limit visitors to the loft, especially during high risk, such as during breeding and the active racing series in your area.

• Have visitors wear protective clothing, including overshoes or covers. Have hand sanitation available for visitors.

• Use signs on gates or doors to keep out unwelcome visitors.

Disinfecting vehicles

Vehicles that have been near other birds can easily carry disease agents near or into the loft. Vehicles you use to haul feed from feed supply houses are very prone to contamination. Review your routine for hauling feed for good biosecurity.

Use gates and signs to keep vehicle traffic away from your loft. Talk to drivers that need to enter your loft and make sure they haven’t been near any birds within 48 hours. Make sure vehicles  covered in mud or other gross contamination are cleaned before entering your property.

Disinfecting equipment

Keep equipment used around other birds out of the loft. If you must use this equipment in your loft, fully clean and disinfect it before bringing it into the loft.

Two possible approaches to biosecurity follow:

Treat birds within a club or combine as a single loft

When you introduce a new bird to your loft if it came from a loft in your flying club, then don’t consider it an outsider. When birds come in from a race, they can be put back into the loft right away because it was only out flying with its loft-mates.

• Pros: This method is easy to apply because it doesn’t require added quarantine for birds returning from a race.

• Cons: Any member of the club can introduce disease into the club. Thus, everyone practicing this method of biosecurity will get the disease.

Consider all lofts other than your own as disease sources

Quarantine all birds returning from a race for 14 days before reintroducing them into the loft.

• Pros: This method puts the you in control of the fate of your loft. Overall, it’s a safer method.

• Cons: There’s a certain amount of extra labor and planning that you need to achieve this type of biosecurity.

Clubs also need to practice biosecurity.

• Make sure the transporter is clean and sanitary before placing birds in it.

• Make sure the transporter doesn’t come close to any individual loft. Transfer birds away from individual lofts so that the transporter doesn’t spread disease between lofts.

• Never place sick birds in the transporter or bring them to the club.

• Always wash your hands before handling birds. You can handle birds from one loft as group without hand washing between birds. But hand washing must occur between birds from different lofts.

Biosecurity on transporters

Clean and disinfect transporters between uses.

• Remove all organic matter (feces, feathers, mud) from all surfaces including wheel wells and undercarriage.

  • Although not needed, high-pressure, hot water with detergent works well for cleaning.

• Disinfect of all surfaces.

  • Disinfectants work well to stop disease agents but, only following a good cleaning. Organic matter decreases how well disinfectants work.

• Inspect the cleaning and disinfection. Make sure all organic matter is gone.

• Completely dry the transporter before use.

  • Drying is a good way to kill disease agents. Allowing the transporter to dry will make sure it’s sanitized before its next use.