| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Chez |
My flock has Mycoplasma ...And I am pretty ticked off about it.Mycoplasma. We think it must have come in from wild birds; but it is around locally. Apparently it is often endemic in small flocks and is normally not a problem unless it's very damp, or the birds are stressed, by things like moulting or coming in to lay. The two that have got the drippy eye symptoms have been one that's moulting and one POL - and it's been horribly wet. It is spread by coughs and sneezes and through hatching eggs. So anyone who has had eggs from me in the last couple of weeks can be fairly sure that those chicks will be hatched as carrier. This is not necessarily a huge problem provided your flock is in good health in other ways - birds and eggs are safe to eat. BUT. You may want to think about culling them to prevent the spread of the infection to the rest of your flock if you don't have it already. We are injecting everyone with an antibiotic tomorrow - but we are also considering whether to cull them all and start again after we've moved, because no-one seems able to tell me for certain whether the antibiotic will clear it up completely; or just stop this round of it and they'll all be carriers for life. And I can't, in all honesty, sell young birds or hatching eggs that I know are probably carriers. To say that we aren't having much luck lately is starting to sound like a bit of an understatement  .
Any advice from anyone who knows about it, please could you chip in? |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
Sorry to hear so Chez
Good luck for getting it sorted. A. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Do you get Country Smallholding at all? There's an article about it in the April 2008 issue. | ||
| Ixy |
I think 99.9% of all backyard poultry have it hanging around in the background anyway and low immunity brings it out. anyone who says their birds dont have myco is....fibbing! Its just that they havent displayed it. So, dont worry - I would still buy birds from you with confidence!! | ||
| colour it green |
sorry to hear that Chez. as you know i have some eggs from you under a hen now.. wonder if i should destroy them..... | ||
| wellington womble |
Poor Chez. Best of luck. | ||
| Chez |
I think that Ixy is probably right ... but I want to check first.
Colour-it-green ... maybe. But you've got a couple of weeks to make your mind up whilst do some more research. |
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| colour it green |
thats what we are doing... | ||
| Chez |
I'm going to have a chat with the vet later on. I'll pass on any info we get. | ||
| Annette H |
We had this about 4 years ago, dosed all the birds with soluble tylan and they all survived. One maran has remained a bit "chesty" but they all continued to lay well.
I have heard of people culling the entire flock but as wild birds can bring you another dose it sounds a bit drastic. Good luck with them |
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| Rob R |
I'd agree with that, culling otherwise healthy hens because of mycoplasma is the equivalent of culling sheep because of clostridia (or worms). Generally unhealthy/unthrifty stock might be worth getting rid of, but that is a multi-factorial decision. As you say, Chez, much of it is to do with the environment they are in so weathering out the err weather, and then seeing how they go in more favourable climatic/housing conditions and then decide if any individuals need taking out. |
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| VM |
Good luck with all this, Chez - and keep the info. coming! I was going to try and ask around at our end and read up about it. Keep feeling I've jinxed your chickens somehow because I've told so many people about us getting hens from you called Raymond!
but I know that's silly 
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| GSHP |
Hi Chez and Colour it green like you I have been reading all I can on mycoplasma especially in regards to hatching eggs.
If I have understood it correctly once the birds have been treated with antibiotics although it remains'within' them only when they are showing the symptoms are the hatching eggs most at risk.Also it is possible to dip the eggs in a soluble antibiotic - Tylosan - to prevent the chicks from developing the disease, may be worth asking the vet? Chez I know I changed my mind about the hatching eggs but I honestly would be confident in the future to buy either eggs or birds from your flock,now that I have read more and that my turkey poults have so far survived 3 nights 
One article I read wrote " some very conscientious breeders...warn buyers of the disease risk" I think that says it all about you 
Good luck with everything |
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| colour it green |
yeh chez - thanks for being open about it
spoke to the vet today. he said incredibly low risk from the eggs, as far as he is concerned every pigeon and seagull and probably every other wild bird already carries it. it can be treated if it becomes a problem. and if you hens ever see daylight they will prbably get it or more likely have already had it. and if it was his hens he'd keep the eggs without hesitation so we are going to leave the eggs under the hen. |
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| Chez |
You are all so nice and I am slightly embarrassed that you're being so kind  .
In a way, this makes finding somwhere to live more difficult, as we've definitely decided not to cull in light of Rob R's remarks and the vet's advice. BUT, going to see a place tomorrow that Pookie's put us on to ... Arvo rang the estate agent this morning, mentioned chickens and the chap said 'Chickens! That would be great!'. So fingers crossed ... |
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| Chez |
Here's an update, then:
We've spoken to the vet and have been given an antibiotic called Tylan (a proprietary version of Tylosin) that we have injected everyone with - .5ml for big birds, .25 for small. The vet says that the disease is a kind of cross between a bacteria and virus and I have probably brought it in with stock I have bought. (I bought a couple of birds in last autumn). You inject twice in forty-eight hours (turn them upside down "as if they are oven ready" and inject in to the breast-muscle, about an inch out from the breast-bone, parallel to the ground) and then the flock should be clear. We did the first round on Monday night and two of them dropped dead within about five minutes, we think of heart attacks - definitely some kind of fit, with lots of flapping. If you look at the Tylosin page I've linked to above it can have complications when combined with heart medication, so that's not an unreasonable guess. We're going to do the final round tonight, then we should be clear. And in the future I'm going to be INCREDIBLY careful about buying in stock; which will just leave infection from wild birds as a possibility. If it would helpful, I'll mash this thread together in to an article in the next few weeks? |
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| Jamanda |
I'm sure that would be helpful Chez, I hope your birds recover quickly with no more losses. | ||
| Treacodactyl |
I gather it harms muscle in poultry, so it's not used on meat birds, and that could explain the deaths. According to the Country Smallholding article any birds still showing signs after the 2nd dose should be culled as the disease is too embedded in their systems to be controlled. Hopefully that'll not be required, good luck. |
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| mochyn |
Hmmm... hope that doesn't mean Dennis has brought it with him. | ||
| Tradbritfowlco |
is your vet a specialist avian/poultry vet - when this happened to me my poultry vet said injecting into muscle was too risky in such a sick bird and gave me oral baytril instead - to be forcefed basically on wet bread. she also gave an appetite stimulant to make it easier over the next few days (they had lost their apetites. | ||
| Chez |
Weirdly, the two that carked it weren't displaying any symptoms at all, so I don't think it was that. The two that had 'proper' symptoms are now fully recovered and everyone seems very bright and happy today - particularly now the rain has stopped  .
I'm pretty relieved. |
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| VM |
Was wondering, Treacodactyl, if you could tell me which month the article was in Country Smallholding magazine
thanks |
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| Treacodactyl |
I mentioned it in an earlier post, April 2008, p 43. 
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| VM |
Thank you!
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| VM |
And glad to hear birds doing well, Chez | ||
| colour it green |
gah... have myco here now... | ||
| jocorless |
We've had it as well CiG - They are all fine now although I lost my favourite Marans
I think the awful weather has encouraged it no end - We used soluble Tylan in their water which seemed to do the trick - They are now being monitored all the time and having cider vinegar and garlic in their water with treats such as yoghurt, linseed and honeycomb because it supposedly boosts their immune system - Especially as they have also been going through the moult |
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| colour it green |
yeh we started with soluable Tylan today.
would all be a lot easier if we didn't care eh... |
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| Chez |
It's reassuring in an odd kind of way that lots of people have it, though - it IS endemic, rather than being down to poor management. | ||
| colour it green |
yeh - you start looking around, and there are so many cases of it.
do you have any thoughts on hatching eggs from your flock after they have recovered.. are future chicks likely to reintroduce it? carry it? or what? |
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| Chez |
I really haven't got that far, but I suppose I was kind of assuming that if the flock was clear, the eggs would be. My chooks are still being boarded out at my friend's - I am hoping to get them back this week now things are settling down; and I'd like to do a fertility check and take it from there.
That sounds awfully vague, doesn't it? What about everyone else? Has anyone got any serious reservations about hatching from chooks that have had it in the past but been treated successfully? |
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| jocorless |
Having had it and having read around the subject and understanding it a bit more than before especially the fact that its endemic in most small backyard flocks - I think unless you have an operation big enough to justify vaccination - its just not worth worrying about - Obviously if you get it - you've got to treat it but apart from that what else can you do - you could buy in new stock to breed from - keep them separate from your old stock and still they could get Mycoplasma from the local bird population - I think vigilance and informing buyers of the potential problems small flocks can have is the way forward | ||
| colour it green |
from what I have read the only certified free from MG stock you are likely to be able to buy will be hybrids from commercial producers - and then if you keep them outside, they will eventually be exposed to it again. | ||
| Ixy |
pfffft, everybody has it, its endemic. mine have had it and been treated - my cockerel is 3 now and still fertile and been placed at shows. his son (hatched post myco) is looking just as good aswell. wouldnt bother me in the slightest if the birds had been successfully treated. |