Wet Nests and Aspergillosis

[TX Rehabber]

I wanted to pass on some additional information after reading a previous post by Matt & Scott regarding wet nests killing baby Martins.

Aspergillosis is a fungal disease of the respiratory tract of birds. Aspergillus fumigatus is widely found in nature and can produce an unbelievable amount of spores in just few days. Aspergillus grows best in damp soils, decaying vegetation and organic matter left in a dark, warm, moist environment. Failure to maintain a clean environment often leads to outbreaks. Birds maintained in damp, poorly ventilated areas are frequently infected.

High numbers of spores can be released into the atmosphere and are inhaled not only by birds, but by humans and other animals. Birds usually become infected by inhaling air containing spores or by ingesting spores while feeding on or in the contaminated area. The inhaled or ingested spores lodge in the air sacs and begin to develop, multiply and cause the development of pneumonia. It not only infects the lungs, but can infect the air sacs, heart and liver. Aspergillus is not contagious; it cannot be transmitted from bird to bird.

Aspergillus can be found on the external surface of eggs following laying. The spores can penetrate fresh or incubating eggs through the pores and grow on the shells. Newly hatched chicks can become infected. Also, broken eggs can be infected prior to hatching and provide a contaminated source for the fungus to multiply and infect new hatchlings. It can also infect older nestlings, fledglings and adults.

To preventative Aspergillus, housing should be should be kept clean, mold-free, cleaned and disinfected. If an outbreak develops sick and dead birds should be removed and disposed of. All nesting material should be removed from the housing and disinfected. I would advise using a mask when removing the wet and/or damp nesting material due to the fact that people can be sensitive to the mold and it can cause an allergic reaction. Sometimes an acute allergic reaction can be life-threatening. I don’t want to scare anyone, but humans can develop Aspergillosis. There are people who have had severe allergic reactions due to turning compost heaps, as they do contain the Aspergillus fungus. Be safe and wear a mask when doing this.

Please do not use any nesting material that will retain moisture like shavings (of any kind), straw or hay. Pine needles do not pose such a risk. Yes, Martins do use dead leaves and mud for nesting material and Aspergillus can develop, but landlords are responsible for checking that nests are not damp or wet to deter the development of Aspergillosis and please ensure that there is adequate ventilation

[KathyF]

Hi Penny,
In the last 3 days, I have found:

1 dead 15-day old nestling that had his beak wide open and I could see fluid in his throat.

1 nestling 15-days old in a separate gourd that was breathing so hard to the point that his whole body looked like it was involved in the effort - almost a convulsion.

and

1 nestling - 22 days old that I found on the ground yesterday that was 'squeaking' with every breath - like someone with emphysema (sp?). He died 30 minutes after I rescued him - he had a convulsion and quickly passed on.

This is by no means an "epidemic" yet, but I have a bad feeling about it. Could it be the heat or related to this fungal infection? It has been really hot, but when I found the second nestling, we kept him in a bucket in the shade and near a fan for almost 40 minutes and he got only marginally better.

Thoughts?

[TX Rehabber]

Kathy, I really don't have enough information to go on.

Are any babies, in these nests that the sick ones came out of, showing any signs of distress?
What type of nesting material are you using?
Were you doing nest changes due to damp nesting?
Have you been using a misting system that might be getting into the housing?
Have you been giving them any type of supplemental feedings?

There are a lot of variables. It could just be an air borne respiratory infection causing this. That can happen.

Many times when a bird is in distress and dying, they will widely gape, throw their head back and open the wings, resembling a convulsion. It is not a pleasant quiet death.

[Scott D.- La]

I had this problem 1 time in 2007. You can't miss the nest cause it looks like a compost heap. Our weather at the time ranged from 99 to 104 with humidities running 80% and higher and heat indexes up to 115 degree's. We had daily thundershower's, yes, it used to rain here, imagine that! Anyway, any gourd that was not waterproof,combined with the daily rain shower's, high heat and humidities, moisture gradually built and combined with fecal matter of older nestling's, did indeed, become a compost heap. I was doing nest check's every 5 to 7 day's so the previous nest check revealed no problem's, than the daily rain's came. The next nest check revealed soaking wet nest and the inside of the gourds were like sauna's as I opened each gourd. The problem was limited to Super Gourds as water was coming in at the hanging holes and I had no venting either. I changed out all the nesting material and made an attempt to stop the water. It was too late however, as that next week I lost 25 Martin's that were right at fledging. Even though the nesting material was changed, the Martin's had developed Aspergillus poisoning and slowly died. I did not have any problems in any other gourd's, only the ones that were getting wet on one particular rack due to the way they were hung. Other Super Gourds hung in a different manner did not get wet. The following year they were made absolutely waterproof, top vented, and have never has this issue again. The other thing I learned that year is that Martin's can tolerate high heat combined with high humidities much better than high heat, low humidities, with these high pressure system's that have dominated the weather the last few years. Extremely dry condition's not only dehydrate nestling's, but have a major impact on flying insects and we all know what happens when we get high heat, low humidities and Martin nestling's that are suffering from the lack of nutrition from not getting enough food. We get the disaster we have had the last few year's across the range due to the drought.

[KathyF]

Kathy, I really don't have enough information to go on.

Are any babies, in these nests that the sick ones came out of, showing any signs of distress? [No]
What type of nesting material are you using? [white pine needles]
Were you doing nest changes due to damp nesting? [some dampness under the nest, but the majority of the nest was dry ]
Have you been using a misting system that might be getting into the housing? [No]
Have you been giving them any type of supplemental feedings? [No-bugs are aplenty here and all the kids are really fat - banding project revealed weights in the high 50's and some over 60 grams (one was 60.6 g )]
There are a lot of variables. It could just be an air borne respiratory infection causing this. That can happen.

Many times when a bird is in distress and dying, they will widely gape, throw their head back and open the wings, resembling a convulsion. It is not a pleasant quiet death.

Hi Penny - this isn't an emergency (yet), so I didn't want to interrupt your busy schedule with a phone call. You're right the one that died in the gourd and had fluid in his throat did not look like he went peacefully. It was very strange to see fluid in his throat. Yesterday eve. I checked the gourd with the one that was in distress earlier this week, and he now appears perfectly fine. The weather has cooled some in the last 2 days, so maybe that had something to do with it. It has been high 90's, low 100's with heat indices higher and high humidity.

I was changing the nests because of mites originally, then discovered some mild dampness under the nest.

They are all getting plenty of food as they are really fat (weighed during banding). For now, it looks like everything has calmed back down. But I'll be keeping a close eye on them until they fledge. I did discover yesterday that our neighbor sprayed his garden earlier this week with insecticide because of a japanese beetle invasion. Boy, I sure hope that's not it, because I don't know how I could convince him not to spray his own garden while the martins are here.

[ron20m]

Tx or ScottD when looking at a dead bird in a nest, or a sick bird, what signs and or symptoms indicate Aspergillosis?

[lwilg]

I started a drip irrigation mini sprinkler over two 8 gourd racks that still have a few birds alive in them. I lost about 40 of 90 over the 4th of July to heat--109 one day. It probably would have been a 90% kill rate except for the fact that some had already fledged. Today it is 108 and probably will be the same for the next week or more. Even though I ventilated some of the gourds, there was no difference in the death rate between vented or unvented gourds. So I decided in favor of possible death from fungus as opposed to certain death from heat! I didn't really know how to plug the hang holes in the super gourds and couldn't because of birds in them. So I took a chance with sprinkling them when the temperature exceeds 96. I hope they do not die from the fungus now!! Hopefully the adults will continue to feed them since in some cases they have stopped feeding, even though not all the birds had died from heat.

[ron20m]

lwilg don't start second guessing yourself about misting or dripping. It was 109 here today and everything would be dead if I wasn't misting. It is wise to make sure your not completely soaking your nests and ending up with a "compost heap" like they describe. In fact I got up with nesting material tonight to change a nest because I thought it "might" be wet, it wasn't.

Common things occur commonly. Right now death is imminent due to heat. To not act because you are worried about a fungus is silly.

[TX Rehabber]

Kathy,
It will be very difficult to tell exactly what is going on with your birds without a diagnoses from a vet, but will give it my best guess. Birds that usually show signs of illness are already well into a disease before you know they are sick. All three of these birds may have had weakened immune systems to begin with, it just happens. If you were experiencing high temps with high humidity and nests were only slightly damp this could have added to the respiratory problem. If I remember correctly, you recently banded your babies and I don’t know if any these were banded. Add the stress of pulling these babies to band them and this can add an extra strain on their systems. People carry Staphylococcus a. on their hands at all times and if these are ingested, even in small amounts can be deadly, especially to babies. It is important to keep your hands clean at all times when handling babies. Anyone with Parrots know the importance of washing their hands with soap to reduce the amount of Staph a before handling them. Even if one of the babies may have an infection of some type, you can spread it via your hands. When doing nest changes it would be wise to use wipes on your hands going from one nest to the next to prevent the spreading of any disease. Small things added together can snowball.

As far as your neighbor spraying insecticide, this would have no effect on the respiratory system but on the neurological system, if a sprayed bug was served up as a meal by the parents. Due to the fact that babies don’t move around like adults it would be almost impossible to diagnosis insecticide poisoning. Insecticide poisoning was addressed in an earlier post this year and how it could affect Bluebirds and other insectivores.

Some of the symptoms of Aspergillosis are severe difficulty in breathing. Wide, rapid gaping is noticed, emaciation and loss of appetite. Adult birds also show signs of wings drooping and increased thirst. It is difficult to make a true diagnosis without the aid of a vet and it usually involves x-rays, a complete blood count and/or chemistry panel and culture. At the same time, a sensitivity test is run to determine the best antibiotic to use. I know this might be a little overwhelming, but diagnosing and rehabbing birds ain’t all that easy. It isn’t black or white and your patients can’t talk.

[Scott D.- La]

Ron, that was 2007 and my memory ain't that great, I do remember breathing problem's, eyes closed, seems they had diarrhea and/or clear fluid coming out. Like I said, I do good to remember I had a Martin colony in 2007.