To those that have birds with MG

Thanks for the update!

-Kathy

And he was right, it is *everywhere*, just go look at the birds at our local feed store and you'll see. Sadly California doesn't automatically test for MG and MS when they do their routine testing at places like auctions and feed stores.

-Kathy

Thanks for the update freestargirl. Because I have heard from several sources that MG is so common that it could be anywhere at any time - brought in by wild birds if not by purchasing birds, I have decided to wait on culling our whole flock. We did cull the 3 symptomatic ones after first treating with Duramycin with zero change (for 9 days). We also culled one cockerel for aggressiveness. That left us with 13 - one cockerel and 12 pullets of varying ages. Last week we lost the 2 youngest, they were 13 week old Ameraucanas, to an unknown cause. I thought it was sour crop but maybe it was aspergillosis or maybe something else entirely. I wanted to send for necropsy but hadn't wet the feathers in soapy water before refrigerating and then my in-laws were coming to town and I just never sent them out. It was not respiratory though and they both succumbed within a few days of looking lethargic and not well. Our original little flock are Marans that we got locally and have been super healthy. We got them in April, they were hatched in March. Just today I noticed that one of them sounds congested. They are 22 weeks and one of them started laying last week - don't know which of the three it is for sure though. The three older pullets, hatched Nov 2014, that shared the tractor with the ones that we culled (all six came from the same breeder and one arrived with a runny nose and then 2 followed soon after) - those three have never gotten sick (2 SFH and one Cream Legbar). We finally put those 3, plus 2 younger Wellies in with the main Marans flock last Saturday, since they had all be out free ranging together for several weeks with no problems. And now one of the Marans appears to have a respiratory problem. Oh, a couple of weeks ago, one of the Ameraucanas, (not one of the ones that died) had a crusty nose for a couple of days, then it went away. I never did hear any raspiness though. In light of that, I may wait a few days with the Marans to see what happens. We will be pretty bummed to lose any of the Marans. They are gorgeous birds and the eggs that we just started getting are a satiny beautiful dark brown.

I read some great insights from Tara on her thread - I think her user name is Canuck Bock (her thread is Pear-a-dice, something or other..) and it was a recent few posts regarding Mareks - but I think the thought was the same. These diseases can come from anywhere, even if you have a closed flock, and she learned from experience to breed for resistance and cull the sick birds and then breed the survivors. We may do just that. I would really hate to cull my remaining flock (even though it is relatively small) and then start again in the Spring and have it crop up again.
This is a tough call either way you look at it...

Freestargirl: Since you're going to maintain a closed flock and have two separate flocks...assuming one flock is not infected, and the one is infected; keep in mind that most respiratory diseases, especially MG, can be transmitted to healthy birds on your clothing, shoes, hands, vehicle tires etc etc etc...you'll have to change clothes/shoes, proper hygiene and so on. That way your clean flock wont be exposed. Strict biosecurity must be adhered to. Good luck.

Yes, the bio-security of it will be tough and we're working out the details now. We've been taking care of the un-exposed ones first anyway, as a rule, the young first, before we had any signs of illness, and especially after the new birds were here, but in quarantine. And they are all up off the ground in brooder boxes still, so shoes haven't been an issue yet. Hubby is designing their new coop so that we never have to set foot in the coop itself, or the enclosure on a normal day, but if needed, we would wear a different pair of shoes. After we have any interaction with our critters, our clothes go straight into the wash so they are ready for the next time.

Denagard will treat mycoplasma diseases. It can be purchased from QC Supply.
http://www.ah.novartis.nl/products/livestock/poultry/denagard/denagard_12sol_poultry2.shtml
http://www.qcsupply.com/denagard-liquid-concentrate-novartis.html