Abstract
A week ago a frantic canary breeder here in California called me and, virtually crying, begged me to tell him what to do about his dying canaries. After he described to me the symptoms it was obvious his canaries were dying from canary pox disease. Unfortunately, not I nor anyone else could give him any advice that would do him much good.
Yesterday I received a phone call from a friend in New Jersey who lost 400 canaries and 50 Venezuelan siskins. All of them died within two months with the dreadful disease called canary pox.
Today another canary breeder here in my own town called me for advice and again the same problem, canary pox.
About three years ago, a large commercial breeding facility here in California was established to mass produce canaries for the pet industry. A thousand stock canaries were set up in individual breeding cages. They all died within four weeks from pox.
Years ago, I was hit with canary pox and practically lost all of my canaries. I live in fear that this can happen again. All it takes is a mosquito to sneak into my bird room during the time I am entering the room, or a mite that has bitten an outside bird with pox, then crawled into my bird room to feed on one of my canaries, and I would lose my canaries again.
Every canary breeder here in the U.S.A. is sitting on a keg of dynamite. Not all the breeders realize this, especially those who were lucky enough not to experience the ravages of this dreadful disease.
For breeders who have experienced the agony of seeing their beautiful canaries, often show winners developed over years of hard work, die in two weeks there is no need to explain. But I will explain for those who have had no experience.
The reason why not many people know that the canary pox problem exists is because the breeder whose canaries get pox is protective of what has happened. A natural defense mechanism to avoid criticism is to keep one's mouth shut. Bear the brunt and try again is the thing to do. But, not all breeders try again. Perhaps this is the reason why so many canary breeders give up the hobby.
What is this dreadful disease called canary pox? It is also referred to as Kikuth's disease, or "diphtheria". The agent that causes the disease is a filterable virus. There are three clinical forms to be distinguished: acute, subacute or pulmonary, and chronic.
Acute form: Acute form is characterized by death without any observable, clinical symptom. The canary stops eating, fluffs up into a ball with its head under its wing and dies.
Subacute or Pulmonary form: In this form, respiratory symptoms are evident. We can observe faster rhythm of respiration with the beak open. This will last three to four days. Mortality is very high and very few birds will survive the subacute form of pox.
The Chronic form: This form is characterized by irritation of the eyelids, which is evidenced by frequent scratching of the eyes and beaks and rubbing of the head on perches. The lesions may appear within three to four days on the eyelids and around the beak. These lesions may extend into the mouth, on top of the head, and neck. The lesions are inflamatory with tendency to scab formation. The lesions on top of the head and neck develop into large tumor-like bumps. Tumors may also appear on legs and toes which may result in loss of a toe or the whole leg. This chronic form of pox will give a fifty percent chance of recovery.
Other birds in the fringilidae family may come down with pox also. When I had the problem, my European gold finch was infected and eventually died. Also, a Venezuelan siskin and a brimstone canary suffered the same fate.
My other finches, Gouldians, shaft tails, parrot finches, and diamond sparrows, all housed in the same bird room, never suffered ill effects from canary pox.