Micromonsters - Health and Husbandry in Aviculture - Aspergillus Sp.

Disclaimer - I am in no way a vet and do not claim to be, it is probably likely that you are also not a vet. As birdkeepers we can however arm ourselves with the information we require to manage our birds effectively and reduce the chances of poor health. This DOES NOT mean that this information or the practise of preventative husbandry is a substitute for GENUINE VET CARE AND TREATMENT. If you have a bird that is sick and you are looking here for help, you are far too late for this to be useful, please contact your vet immediately.

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OR MISUSE OF INFORMATION AND LACK OF VET CARE, THAT REMAINS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS THE KEEPER OF YOUR BIRDS.

Before we start, two things, I am not going to go through the veterinary side of things here as that is not the focus of this series of articles, also I will not be filling the article with tons of gross pictures of infections, I trust if you would like to learn more on that front you can do so but it would not be needed here.

Let's crack on...

In this action packed instalment of Micromonsters we are going to look at a group of pathogens very commonly encountered in aviculture and the wider world, this group are the Aspergillus Species.

For the uninitiated I am going to quickly go through the terms you may have heard before but become confused by so that everyone is clear moving forward. The term Aspergillus refers to the organism itself as the causing agent, in the sense that matches cause fires but they are not fires themselves. Aspergillosis is the disease caused by the organism itself if favourable conditions prevail, the "fire" if you like. One other term often used is Aspergilloma, which refers to a very localised and sometimes long term colony of Aspergillus present within the bird itself.

If you read the introduction to this series you will know that Aspergillus species are fungi, specifically affiliated with the moulds. There are a about 250 species within the genus Aspergillus which is why I generally refer to them as Aspergillus Sp. here as there are several of note that will have the same effect on our birds, but they can in practise be treated more or less the same.

Any bird (and many other animals) can be effected by Aspergillosis but some are more vulnerable than others, often because of prevalent conditions and the needs of that species.

Some Birds species often vulnerable include -

Penguins - Coming from and requiring water these birds are more likely to be exposed to high humidity, their flightless nature places them much closer to the source of infection, at nesting time in particular. In the wild the saline nature and movement of the water nearby would reduce incidence of fungal pathogens, often in human care however, penguins are kept in freshwater which does not have the same effect.

Snowy Owls - Coming from very cold climates where pathogen pools would be strictly limited by the temperature, these birds (and some other cold climate species) can become vulnerable when kept in temperate climates where spore count is high and resistance low.

Birds of prey - Species which have evolved for a high level of performance in turn have advanced respiratory systems which can easily be compromised by the wrong conditions.

Pionus Sp. - Medium sized members of the parrot family often hailing from the humid could forests of the Americas, these species display a strong resistance to Aspergillus which becomes their undoing in the company of humans, as they will hide symptoms so well for so long that it is often to late to treat by the time to problem is identified.

Tropical Birds of various species - Quetzals, Trogons, Turacos, Toucans etc.. can be more vulnerable due to the higher humidity they require to thrive.

This is just a small selection of the more common candidates, but again under the right circumstances any birds can succumb.

Members of the Genus Pionus are known for being at high risk when it comes to Aspergillus. This Handsome spectacle is a White Crowned Pionus if you were wondering.

The initial damage to our birds is centred around the lungs, with the organism being inhaled, groomed from feathers or already present and taking advantage of individuals in an immunocompromised state, without a healthy immune system to defend the body the pathogen can run rampant, growing through the lungs and producing breathing difficulties for the bird. If left untreated in later stages the toxins produced by the fungus itself will find their way into the bloodstream causing the kidneys to struggle and eventually death will occur, often birds do not even make it to this stage in advanced cases.

It is important to stress the fact that under normal circumstances a healthy bird can easily deal with a normal amount of Aspergillus spores and indeed they are present in almost every environment (not to creep you out, but I could say with reasonable certainty that there are some on YOU right now. It is generally only when a bird is struggling with something else that it will succumb to an infection of this type or in certain cases where conditions are poor the bird can be absolutely overwhelmed by spores to the point that it's immune system becomes exhausted, but this is rare in good conditions.

When we want to try to prevent this in our birds we must look at two things, avoiding the situations that compromise our birds and make them vulnerable AND reducing the pool of pathogens around them. Of course eliminating them completely would be next to impossible but reducing them significantly will reduce the chances of mass exposure and it is here where we can use careful husbandry planning to help ourselves and our birds.

So looking at reducing compromising situations we are looking generally at stress and health. Stress as mentioned in other articles is subjective to the bird, that is to say that you do not know what that bird experiences or perceives as stressful, therefore we must consider the behavioural cues we receive from our birds that may tell us a few things. Instances where birds try to move away or escape are clear indicators that the situation is causing fear or pain, both of which will cause stress to the bird. Stress can also be social, is the bird in an overcrowded aviary with others it does not feel comfortable with. Falling into the age old "in the wild" trap is easy here as yes, often many species would co-exist together in the wild, but NEVER under enclosed circumstances such as we find in aviaries, the option to leave an area and cool down would always be available in the wild, alas in aviaries, it is not. Such problems ignored can easily escalate into a feedback loop of stress which finds no relief and you guessed it, over time the end product is an immunocompromised bird that is a prime target for an opportunistic fungus or worse. Remember to monitor behaviour and take note from other keepers that have mixed bird species before, they usually speak from a point of having already tried and failed with some species. Obvious examples are predatory species with prey species and species that are known for being territorial. They will often be fine for a while, with social stress only becoming obvious at a later date when it is to late to undo the stress caused.

Training our birds can have a massive effect in this respect as potentially stressful situations can be converted into good ones to some degree, a fine example is crate training, this involves teaching a bird to enter it's crate or box voluntarily which then massively reduces stress by avoiding a catch up with traditional net techniques or rounding the bird up manually and restraining by force, which are all traumatic experiences for most birds. Catching and transport can be a major source of stress and often individuals can be struck down shortly after arrival at their new quarters once the fallout of the journey kicks in. Allowing our birds to be active participants in their care increases their feeling of control and therefore reduces stress.

Frustratingly the stunning Resplendent Quetzal and it's relatives are known for high mortality rates in human care connected to Aspergillosis.

General husbandry can have an impact by keeping things clean and making good choices in design and maintenance. A well designed aviary with plenty of space for exercise will allow your birds to remain in optimum health. Appropriate shelter for that species needs to be offered depending on the conditions you keep them in. Good hygiene is critical to good health and I would hope that I can gloss past this on the assumption that if you have got this far you already know this. Selecting a good disinfectant which covers fungal species as well as the other pathogen groups covered in the introduction will help here.

The main point of concern when looking at Aspergillus is choice of substrate and air conditions within the flight and or shelter. Aspergillus thrives on carbon based substrates and breaks down the various sugars found in them as food much as other moulds would. The main offenders are dusty substrates such as bark, shavings or sawdust which when combined with humid conditions and poor ventilation provide an incubator for Aspergillus, sending the spore count through the roof and presenting a ticking fungal time bomb for our feathered inhabitants. When selecting a good substrate to reduce these issues, often substrates such as dry clean sand can be effective as they offer little in the way of home comfort for Aspergillus, sand also has desiccant properties if kept dry and will further dry out any feces that might offer pathogens an outpost. The flip side to sand is that it is heavy and requires regular changing if you wish to keep it clean with large birds, it is however worth it if you can make it work. Other organic substrates with low spore counts are available which present a considerable improvement on bark and other waste wood based options, these include Hemp, Miscanthus and Aspen to name just a few. Do some research into what works best for you and the environment within your aviaries. Another thing to consider is the vegetation in the aviary, fungal spores can thrive on decaying leaves and vegetable matter so keep plants trim and healthy and the floor tidy.

Meet the delightful Aspergillus fumigatus, one of the main offenders from it's genus. Seen here sporting Prussian Blue.

Finally we must address the air within the aviary. Outside is not so much of an issue but usually poorly managed shelters can be a problem. A good level of air flow is needed, usually you can tell if somewhere feels fresh or stale just by sensing the air, does your shelter feel stuffy? does it smell fresh or damp? These obvious things are indicators you would use in your own home and often have the same causes. If you are in doubt, get hold of a hygrometer (usually available at reptile stores or online) and see what sort of humidity levels are common, anything higher that about 60% will lend itself to aiding fungal growth. One concern is that some species of bird require high humidity to be comfortable, and so you can see how ventilation is important as it is the only other means to easily reduce mould growth in enclosed conditions.

In conclusion we cannot protect our birds from exposure to Aspergillus and resulting Aspergillosis therefore we must focus on the influencing factors and reduction of the pathogen pool as a preventative before the disease occurs.

To recap -

Reduce stressful situations, monitor behaviour, consider where training could help you here.
Maintain general good health and an environment which allows exercise.
Keep everything clean and dust free, remove old food.
Keep things as dry as your birds needs will allow.
Maintain good ventilation in all areas
Choose an appropriate substrate for your conditions.

If you are lucky some of these precautions should also reduce some other pathogens as well as Aspergillus, reducing chances further. Air filters are available if you want to go the extra mile and reduce dust in the air and in certain environments these can be a blessing if managed correctly.

I hope this has been an interesting (and thankfully brief) introduction to the fungal horror which hides in plain sight. Forewarned is forearmed, have a think about areas within your aviaries that could be a risk, can you make any changes to improve them?

Until next time, keep giving your birds the 110% they deserve!

C.

Micromonsters - Health and Husbandry in Aviculture - An introduction

First thing first. Let's get things straight. I am in no way a vet and do not claim to be, it is probably likely that you are also not a vet. As birdkeepers we can however arm ourselves with the information we require to manage our birds effectively and reduce the chances of poor health. This DOES NOT mean that this information or the practise of preventative husbandry is a substitute for GENUINE VET CARE AND TREATMENT. If you have a bird that is sick and you are looking here for help, you are far too late for this to be useful, please contact your vet immediately.

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OR MISUSE OF INFORMATION AND LACK OF VET CARE, THAT REMAINS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS THE KEEPER OF YOUR BIRDS.

That out of the way, we are all on the same page right?... OK, lets begin.

The point I am putting forward here is that when we keep our eyes ahead of the curve and plan our husbandry and design around common health issues for the species we are working with we can reduce the chances of encountering problems later on that may require vet intervention, prophylactic husbandry if you will.

A flamingo getting clean - to make up for all the angry looking red text.

Generally the theme of "Micromonsters" will be to focus each time on a common bird pathogen, it's origins, history and how we can reduce the chances of our birds encountering it in their daily lives. This introduction is designed to initiate the beginner with the groups of pathogens that exist and some of the relevant species, at a later date we will look closer at each.

So..

Pathogen

[path-uh-juh n, ‐jen]

noun

1.

any disease-producing agent, especially a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism.

As above a pathogen is something that causes or has the potential to cause disease in our birds, in our case they fall into several groups and categories. The most simple designations are Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes, the difference between these being not one of species but of structure, the prokaryote is a simple single celled cell or organism and a eukaryote is a larger more complex cell containing many features lacking in prokaryotes. Eukaryote cells often make up more complex organisms such as yourself. These two categories are not however, of much help to us on this topic in practise, so I will move on to cover the basic groups relevant to birds otherwise we will be here all week.

Bacteria - Many common Avian and human complaints are caused by various species of bacteria and certain conditions and practises can encourage this group to flourish. Typically a bacteria is a single celled organism, sometimes prokaryote and sometimes eukaryote in structure and is defined (in almost all cases) by a strong cell wall around the cell membrane to protect it from the conditions under which it thrives. Many bacteria form the natural flora of our birds and ourselves and so managing the intestinal flora of your birds can be helpful to some degree, probiotics are helpful here but that is a whole other topic. Bacteria can also be classified as either Gram-positive or Gram negative based on their reaction to the Gram's method, a staining process which helps identify a species using stain. There are also some which do not react to this method and those are referred to as Gram indeterminate. The relevance of these categories is that some of these groups thrive in the gut of our birds under certain conditions and within these groups are some very ugly species which will happily take advantage of our birds and sometimes even us once the immune system is compromised, which can happen as a result of something as simple as a catch up. We have to remember that (as covered in other articles) stress is subjective, so something is as stressful as the bird decides it is, therefore this can become a major factor in exposing our birds to disease risks. Bacteria generally do well in poorly sanitised, compacted, wet areas, so maintaining good hygiene and effective disinfectant usage is critical in covering these bases.

Some relevant species include:  

Pseudotubercolosis (Yersinia Spp.) 

Salmonellosis (Salmonella Spp.)

Enteritis (Escherichia Spp.)

Botulism (Clostridium Spp.)

Ornithosis (Chlamydia psittaci)
Bumblefoot (Staphylococcus Spp.) 
Avian Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium Spp.)

A gross and scary looking picture for you, (Stappylococcus aureus) - known for smash hits such as MRSA.

Fungi - When most of us think of fungi we think of mushrooms, and that would be correct. Whilst many members of this group are benign and harmless, some are toxic and some will even prey on other living organisms. Other common fungi are moulds and yeasts, there are several species which can really cause damage in avian species although many of these are often taking advantage of a deeper problem and acting more as opportunists but will sometimes finish a job that another pathogen has started, killing your bird. Pure fungal infection under healthy, stress free, clean conditions is unusual. Fungi thrive in damp, poorly ventilated conditions and will grow on anything that contains carbon, which includes (you guessed it!) most commonly used substrates in aviaries. It is important to remember that as non photosythetic organisms they do not require light to survive and their hypha are often hidden, so therefore something that does not look riddled with a fungus species often can be, it just has not produced fruiting bodies (the external parts) yet.

Some relevant species include:

Aspergillosis/Aspergilloma (Aspergillus Spp.)

Sour crop & yeast infections (Candida Spp.)

One of the many Aspergillus species, here cultured in a lab. I have read that the cultured forms enjoy opera.

Protozoa - This group is made up of various eukaryote organisms which can be either free living or parasitic. Some of these species are transmitted to our birds by intermediate hosts which can deliver them directly into the bloodstream. Insect bites are a classic example and as you can image are difficult to avoid. In such cases the best routes of action are providing resistance in our birds and aiming to eliminate the hosts which bring them to our birds. Some species can contaminate the surrounding environment and reinfect birds at a later date once the initial infection is cleared, so again effective aviary management can help reduce these risks.

Some relevant species include: 

Coccidiosis (Coccidia Spp.) 

Atoxoplasmosis (Atoxoplasma Spp.)

Giardiasis (Giardia Spp.) 
Avian Malaria (Plasmodium Spp.)

 

Viruses - The general definition of a virus is a molecule which carries it's own DNA wrapped in a protein sheath which acts as a cellular parasite, effectively hijacking other cells and using their resources to produce copies of the virus, which will in turn go on to infect other cells often destroying the cell which produced them. With such an effective and destructive method of replication it is easy to see how viruses can spread so quickly through populations. Their fragile nature does however make them very dependant on their host and they do not usually survive for long outside of their unfortunate host.

Some relevant species include:

Avian Flu (Influenzavirus A Spp.) 

Avian Polyomavirus (Polyomaviridae Spp.) 

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (Circovirus Spp.)

  
Helminths - Remaining is a group that are often encountered in mammals but also birds. The Helminths are what we would generally refer to a worms, this includes roundworms, tapeworms and flukes. Various species live as parasites within a variety of tissue types, consuming digestive contents or parts of the tissues themselves. They reproduce by several methods, most of which involve shedding segments or eggs from their host to be excreted elsewhere and infect others. The trick with birds is breaking the cycle, often birds can be wormed, but then are infected again weeks later by eggs in the substrates of the aviary. The conditions of these substrates can also lend themselves to extending the lifespan of these eggs. A heavy infection of worms of any kind can cause emaciation and death. In some extreme cases the worms (dead or alive) can even cause blockages within the body and cause death that way.

Some relevant species include: 

Roundworms (Nematoda Spp.) 

Tapeworms (Cestoda Spp.)

Flukes (Trematoda Spp.) 

Ready for your close up Mr Roundworm? What do you mean "can we meet for a meal later"?

Mites and Lice - Although not considered microorganisms as they are complex, multiple celled animals, they deserve an Honourable mention in our rogues gallery as they will often cause issues in similar ways to the previously mentioned groups. Their management can also be approached in a similar way. 

Some relevant species include: 

Red mite  (Dermanyssus gallinae)

Scaly leg mites (Knemidocoptes Spp.) 

Air sac mite (Cytodites spp.)

Feather lice  (Phthiraptera spp.)

Ticks (Anactinotrichida Spp.)
 

Where would we be without a creepy picture of a red mite?

As you can see from just this small selection, there is an army of nasties waiting out there to infect and damage our precious charges should we become negligent enough to let them. In this respect constant management and basic understanding of these species will give us the upper hand when developing our husbandry methods. I hope this has been interesting and helpful to you and if you are already versed in the basics, a peppy refresher! Next time we will be getting down to the nitty gritty and looking at the specifics of a more common pathogen and how we can reduce the chances of exposure in our own birds.

Because you have got this far and battled through, here is a baby hummingbird drinking from a pretend flower.

As an exercise in thought in the mean time, have a think about a pathogen you have encountered before in your birds and how you may have been able to reduce exposure had you known ahead of time.

Try not to get too creeped out,

C.

Linguistics in Aviculture - Updating for the times?

This post is not directly related to aviculture and could indeed be applied to any discipline involving wild animals in captivity. Wild animals in "captivity" being the issue being discussed here.

Just to outline for anyone looking forward to an ethical lecture, this certainly isn't one and the aim here is to look briefly at the linguistics of aviculture, not the ethics themselves.

OK... If you are certain you want to go with this then lets crack on...

The ethics of keeping animals in captivity is a minefield for anyone not initiated in animal cognition, welfare an perception. This can be particularly tricky with birds as they behave and perceive the world quite differently to mammals and most other taxa in fact. It's also important that we remember that like many subjects in which the target's thoughts and feelings are subjective only to themselves and said subjects have no means to easily translate them in any human language, everyone and their grandmother is free to consider and transpose what they imagine the subject might be feeling. This produces endless (and often erroneous) well meant guesses and in turn plenty of strong emotional opinions. What I ask today is that for those without previous experience but good intentions, is the very outdated language which we still frequently use within aviculture as a whole helping form these opinions for them?

You say potato, I say... "in aviculture"

 For keepers It's OK to be using casual terms, they almost slip out on the tongue as we hear them so regularly but seldom do we consider the very counter productive implications they make to the general public. This is important, because as we move forward in developing the standards of aviculture it's critical that the "lingo" evolves with us. Lets have a look at some of these terms.

In the first instance there are just words which outright imply something in their use, here is an example.

From the dictionary -

Captivity

kapˈtɪvɪti/

noun

noun: captivity

the condition of being imprisoned or confined.

The definition of a term so casually used is no longer reflective of the lifestyles of many birds, of course there are still some situations which could be easily termed captivity, birds kept in small, non stimulating environments without interaction from their own species or at least a similar species with which they can feel comfortable, but these situations in the 21st century are certainly not the norm and are the result of either outright neglect to address the individuals needs or general ignorance. On the whole conditions for birds living in the company of mankind are generally far removed from the times when the term "captivity" was coined and almost certainly derived from an anthropomorphic connection to human imprisonment which again could be misplaced to begin with. 

Once we start to consider that we are entrenched in outdated language which implies a certain level of inherent compromise and suffering it is not a surprise that bird keeping has something of an image problem, one which we could be producing ourselves. To an outside observer the term "captive" conjures up visions of oppressive misery which in the majority of cases is just not there.  

Let me take a moment to highlight the fact that in my opinion some conditions for birds are terrible still and I would not want the reader to come away with the idea that in my advocacy for updating language that I presume that all welfare in this era is acceptable, it is not.

 

For me, this represents a "captivity" for birds, but is certainly not reflective of how most birds in zoos or private collections live, should we still be using the same term to describe such far removed welfare levels?

So the next time we talk about "captive bred birds" or "bred in captivity" or "rare in captivity" we should consider how that may subconsciously influence the general public's understanding as a whole of what we do.

An easy interchangeable could be "in aviculture", "bred in aviculture", "rare in aviculture" etc...

As well as simple words, some regularly used phrases could have a double barrelled effect in their use, when used by professionals they mean something very obvious to us, but to to the layman there may easily be more wiggle room for interpretation.

 

 The term "IN THE WILD" 

So here's a tricky one, whilst it is understandable that this term is used often, this term unintentionally implies a welfare baseline for birds to be matched with the lifestyle they might live in the wild. Life in the wild is of course filled with danger and birds in captivity have a considerably easier time if kept stimulated. But we would be foolish to think that just because a species does something in the wild that this is the ideal situation for it to be in with us. In the wild there are predators encountered daily, the foods that are eaten in the wild are often nothing like the nutrition given in captivity, and sometimes this is the right thing to do. A prime example would be the Hyacinth Macaw, in the wild this species exists on an incredibly high fat diet, one which if fed to a bird in an aviary would sooner or later result in severe illness or even death. Pretending that our baseline for welfare is what happens "in the wild" is embracing madness. The point here is that again, the casual use of this term in irrelevant contexts could leave the general public with the idea that an aviculturalists baseline should be identical to how that species might live in the wild, again an often erroneous assumption. 

We need to ensure that the connections between the wild, conservation efforts both in and ex situ are maintained and strengthened, but somehow we must avoid creating more confusing pre formed perceptions outside of avicultural circles.

 The Cliche - Do nice people even use tiny round victorian cages anymore? I'm not sure. 

There are of course some frustrating cliches in pop culture and society in general which do us no favours, including the idea of a caged bird that longs constantly for freedom (usually from a cage that no respectable keeper would even use these days!). Whilst there is little that can be done to remedy this, it is worth an honourable mention even as an example, again it gives the illusion that all birds want to be free when as most keepers over all disciplines will be painfully aware that birds like to be where the food water, safety and shelter is and that escape is usually a fear driven accident rather than a calculated decision.

As versed individuals it's easy to bypass the obvious, but once we start using modern relevant terms as a collective, we may see a positive improvement in society's view of aviculture and its relevance to protecting and increasing numbers of birds in need. 

I hope this has been a brief eye opener, have a think for yourself, I'm certain you can think of other instances where inappropriate or outdated negative terms are still being used to no real benefit, maybe think about the implications of our daily language to those outside of aviculture. 

C.

 

MMM... DONUTS! - Thinking outside the boxes : Have we overlooked a major new aviary design?

Donuts... I know what you're thinking, where are you going with this, but hold tight, there is a point here.

Traditionally when we design aviaries even with the best intentions we always automatically tend to think of the longest possible flight distance, and rightly so, flight is critical to most birds and good levels of exercise are integral to the biology and health of those species. In the wild most birds would be faced with daily situations that required varied amounts of flapping, gliding, banking and slowing in three dimensions, not just two like us humans, to really consider the challenges birds face we must consider our differences rather than our similarities. This activity would make up a large portion of their mental stimulation for the day and far too many flights are designed on a very "human" two dimensional level which allows for some flight, but the real quality of that flight is questionable. Granted some species may fly far less than we tend to think, or at least expend far fewer calories doing so, but flight is very important regardless. Coupled with that, choices are crucial to good welfare, so the choice to fly or not fly is one every bird deserves, this subject could take a whole article in itself, but back on topic.

So we are designing a flight maybe long but thin, so that exercise may be taken in short bursts from one end to another, maybe we set up a larger more square flight so that varied movement can be taken across the flight and for some species this may be the best option, certainly this idea will not work everywhere, but could be better deployed with the average flying bird, be it bird of prey, large softbill, parrot or any species which might wish to maintain meaningful, sustained flight over a good period of time without constant starting and stopping.

99.5% of all bird keepers have a weakness to cake...have I lured you in yet?

Sure we can never realistically provide the complete mental stimulation of flying miles in the wild, but with this method we could at least offer the physical effects and benefits of such exercise and a clear improvement from the welfare offered by traditional to-and-fro flight designs. Even if you do not care for good welfare (AND YOU SHOULD!) it is well known that one of the biggest brick walls with fertility in captive birds is obesity through either overfeeding (very common) or lack of activity, it might make your bird sluggish, unattractive to it's partner (overweight birds are a liability) and also has massive influence on the hormone production within each sex and for those of us who value natural raising of birds this is critical (I'm not talking about just getting an egg laid, pulling, incubating, hand rearing and calling it a success here, I'm talking the art of long term support, not doing it for them but making sure everything they need to do it themselves is available year in year out). So how might we remedy such a problem? You got it, lots of good, meaningful exercise to keep birds lean, give them space to court properly and get their bodies coursing with all the right hormones and not carbs, fats and frustration, which oddly enough sooner or later can lead to aggression and in the end, failure to breed and live a normal life.

Here's where I think as a collective many of us might have missed a trick, the donut shaped flight. This is something I had come up with myself some time ago independently in my quest to allow for potentially endless exercise, but after I did a little research I found that several other people in the past decades in separate parts of the world have come to a similar conclusion and indeed some have even built such a prototype aviary with varying levels of success.

The virtues of the donut shaped flight are many, if properly designed it can not only allow a real chance at sustained exercise but provide visual barriers for birds when the bird's sheltered housing is placed in the "hole" of the donut, on a small scale a low safety porch leaving the area above still open will not block the flight path. In zoos there is plenty of opportunity to include viewing areas in place of shelters (place them somewhere else of course) offering an immersive experience for visitors, although certain species may not take well to visitor traffic in the centre of the aviary, but no doubt this idea could be used to better effect than it has been thus far.

Above - A simple and effective donut shaped flight at Olomouc Zoo in the Czech Republic

Above - From the front Olomouc zoo's donut offers decent viewing space also.

So the donut was the answer in my mind, to sustain long term flight in a confined space, but then the next issue occurred to me. Birds are generally creatures of habit and often like to do things the same way, sometimes even at their own expense, might the donut encourage it's inhabitants to only fly round it in their own preferred way and in turn produce an unbalanced physical muscle structure from constant banking flight? Maybe...

So my next thought was the racetrack flight, a flight which allowed for some straight ahead flight followed by banking at either end of the "track" this could remedy some of my concerns about hefty one sided pectoraly challenged birds. For a long time I looked for evidence of such a flight and found that nobody seemed to have constructed one at the time, but on an off chance I looked toward the East, where the great master falconers of the Arab states often have humongous sums to spend on their beloved birds of prey, and lo and behold I found something close to what I was looking for. A huge, wide racetrack shaped flight designed for exercising birds (granted not for day to day use but the design could easily be transformed) at 42 m in diameter around the curve this is an impressive flight space.

 

Above and Below - Large flight for birds of prey in the United Arab Emirates.

 

The racetrack or wide donut works very well in this context with well trained birds of prey who can be flown in either direction to make up for any overuse of muscles, but left unsupervised, it still does not address the concerns about banking in one direction over and over again, so once more the cogs were turning.

The next step seemed to be fairly obvious to me, a figure eight track, which I dubbed a "double donut" (I may come up with a variant for waterfowl and call it a "dunkin' donut"... I'm here all week.). Provided the central flight space was clear this design could be the perfect shape I was looking for, extended too to allow for some non banking flight time it could not only offer the varied exercise I wanted but also another thing... choices. Choices are the foundation of good welfare and allowing animals to express that right will improve their day to day lives, the elongated figure eight allowed for a multitude of flightpaths, not just one way or another. Birds could do a standard figure of eight banking equally in both directions during flight, they could do the same in reverse offering a whole new perspective in terms of the visual stimuli and physical obstacles the may find, they could do the same loop twice if desired and a multitude of varying combinations which ultimately makes up a better experience for the bird whilst flying. On occasion they may even have to dodge a fellow bird as they go through the central area, all very natural interactions which could increase the animals welfare and time spent "flying" considerably.

The centre of the donuts is important because visual barriers will often act as a guide to focus flight paths within aviaries, a peanut or circle shaped aviary would not result in the same sort of flight as the designs outlined here, but as mentioned earlier that space could be used for shelters, viewing areas or just left empty, but it should be there. Some success has been had with large circular flights for birds of prey, but again they would not offer the variable benefits of the "double donut" and suffer the same disadvantages as a standard donut.

Along the same lines I found another bird of prey design which at the moment I consider to be almost the "perfect" design for such an experimental flight for many other species to live within full time, although if it has been built or is just in the design stage I could not say (See below).

 

In the end it was clear that my idea was not as original as I had thought and had been tried here and there with some success as a full time aviary, it is still a surprise that there are not more flights like this around given the clear promise of such a design. I hope to see more in future and maybe we will discover even more of the virtues of the donut! Watch this space!

Imagine the enrichment possibilities of such a complex aviary shape... But I'll leave you with that to think about...

C.

BEHAVIARY - Looking at avian husbandry related behaviour training and welfare in captivity

Giant aviary, beautiful... everyone loves to see birds in large flights interacting with their own kind and maybe even compatible species, this avian utopia seems great in the first instance, but...

One of the primary forces behind this blog is to extend past the work done so far  in modern aviculture and look deeper into the mechanics of good avian husbandry and welfare, all the while keeping content accessible for all bird keepers. We often see photographs of some of the largest, well planted and well designed aviaries from all over the world, these are always popular but many people are not so aware of the major disadvantages of such large spaces, there are a few, although they are problems that can be overcome with a little behaviour engineering.

 

Austin Powers is a dedicated bird keeper... true story.

The issues which arise in larger flights are often welfare related, the first obvious one is illness. Sick or injured birds become very difficult to reach in an enormous aviary, they cannot be given an easy visual health check and some minor issues could go unnoticed until they become a major issue.

Say Bird X is a species prone to pododermatitis (bumblefoot) the first initial stages where the problem could be resolved with less stress may drop under the radar until bird X is lame and the infection has worked it's way well into the foot making it much harder to deal with. The bird then needs to be caught up which is no easy task in a large flight, causing stress not only to the bird but all of its cohort in the aviary with it. I have heard horror stories of people having to hose birds out of the air in order to catch them, not ideal for yourself, the bird or the vet needing to see the animal.

How then can we address such a critical issue, small aviary = easy maintenance and good access but large aviary = good welfare and bad access.

There is a third option, training. It takes patience and an understanding of the individuals biological needs, likes and fears, it takes time, but what it equals is a bird that can be moved around much easier than a wiley aviary bred bird that fears humans (It's worth mentioning that much of that fear is due to the calamity that follows a catch up!) Simple techniques are already widely used and can be combined to put together a basic training scheme for most species. Today we are going to look at the simplest one. Many further behaviours can be trained from this basic level of training, so it's a good place to start.

Targeting

Traditional target training has been used for centuries with many different types of animal for many reasons, in this case training a bird to a target point makes shifting a bird inside or outside much easier than having to shoo them in or out. All that is needed on the very simplest of levels is a unique sound, working fingers and a favourite treat (remove this item from the daily diet to increase incentive). In this instance I will recommend the use of a target stick and a clicker, simple training tools which are good if you are not the only one who might need to move them. In my experience the best colours to get birds focused are red and yellow, these colours are often associated with feeding in most bird species and are easily differentiated from the surroundings as they are generally a rare colour in the aviary setting. If you find another colour works better for you, use that, the idea is to get something that can easily mean "come here = get treat".

Next the clicker can be used in place of a verbal command as a bridge, a bridge is a sound used to indicate to the bird that it has done the right thing and a reward is coming, this can be very useful when getting a treat out is delayed or you need to reduce the amount of treats given or wish to link up several trained behaviours and reward for all of them.

 

A Clicker - A cheap and simple tool to create a consistent bridging sound.

Target sticks - focus the bird on the coloured end ball.

The process is fairly simple and once a bird has got the idea it will usually progress quite quickly. Depending on the wildness of the bird and the context you will have a varying amount of work to do. We will start with wild aviary birds and go from there, should you find yourself getting there speedier then skip some steps until it is relevant to you. DO NOT skip steps out of impatience, you may rush and scare the bird and create fear memories and render the whole exercise pointless.

It's good to remember that training takes planning and can become very complex, for the benefit of all levels of reader I am going to keep it straightforward. But please think this through and tailor it for your own birds before you steam ahead.

1. A scatter feed or bowl feed -

Depending on how the species you are working with feeds you will need to adapt this, but the main aim is to begin to build a tolerance and bond with the bird, we want them to be connecting you with a nice treat. It is helpful to carry the target stick with you so that the birds can start forming connections and get used to it so that it is not a scary novel object when the training begins. For parrots or perching birds use a small coop cup bowl in an area where the animal regularly lives and feeds. When you arrive drop a treat item into the bowl, making sure the bird has seen you do so, it is important they know you put it there. At this point if it is appropriate you can use the clicker to signal that you have delivered the item to the bowl, this will start to build a connection between the sound and the reward, in time this can be tightened up as a bridge signal, but for now a basic association is needed. Once the bird understands the situation they will learn to be more tolerant of you and will take less and less time to come to collect the reward. once the bird is very close to the bowl anticipating the reward on your arrival, then we can move onto step 2. for ground living birds a light scatter feed nearby yourself will bring the birds in in the same way city pigeons become very tame around people with food, once the bird is waiting nearby expecting a treat to be dropped to it, we move onto step 2 here also.

2. Reward taken from hand or receptacle - starting with the target -

 Now the bird is used to receiving rewards from you and understands that clicker means food, the next step is to get them to start doing something for it! it should be a short jump to get the bird to take a reward from your fingers directly or if the species has a habit of biting or you would rather use a bowl for this then do so. Once they easily take a reward after a bridge without hesitation the target stick can then be used. With parrots this is easy as most well adjusted parrots will investigate objects placed tight in front of their beak, others will not be so quick, but the idea here is to get the bird to understand when it touches the target stick correctly it receives it's reward. Continue this work until they will, like before touch the target stick on command without hesitation for their reward. 

3. Movement with targeting -

Start to move the target stick to different areas and get the bird in the habit of looking for and following the target. From this point it is easy to see how birds can be shifted from one area to another using target training, need them inside a shelter? Go into the shelter and call them in using the target stick, in they come!. If it is the right time you could give them a meal if you want this to become a daily routine, in time you may find them already indoors anticipating your arrival, it is important to keep up their training though in case you wish to change their routine at a later date. Keep yourself and your birds in good habits. Want to move them outside? do the same in reverse and shut them out. This sort of training also allows us to keep an eye on the birds health and the daily interaction helps us develop our observation skills as keepers. With large groups of birds this same method can be used but you will have to accept that they will have to be shifted as a pair or group. Individual target training is possible with separate sessions ans separate bridge sounds and target sticks, it does however take a lot of time and planning and if you are starting out it might be a little overwhelming to jump in at this point.

As you can see, this simple behaviour training is just the first step in learning to maintain birds in large flights. A bit of a "bringing the mountain to Mohammed" situation. One that falconers have been doing for centuries in the open air.

Large flights need not be a problem at all if proper training is carried out and this training does not have to interfere with the birds normal lives as long as you keep it strictly in the interests of the birds husbandry needs. Resist training unneeded tricks to your birds, you are wasting their time if the behaviour does not serve them in any way.

Till next time,

C.

The early bird catches the worm!

Whoa there tiger!, you're early, but hold tight, #AVIOLOGY (see what I did there?) will be going live soon, so follow us and get involved!