2 Week old Chick with possible resp. infect. NEED IMMEDIATE ADVICE FOR TREATING

[casportpony]

Ideal Hatchery says something along the lines of "all hatcheries are mycoplasma positive".

 

[Then I Will]

Ideal Hatchery says something along the lines of "all hatcheries are mycoplasma positive".

Wow! I can almost believe it. Yet, I've seen different opinions flying around BYC concerning this. One fellow said he would never buy from any breeder/individual. He ONLY trusted hatcheries. This was in a thread where one was asking why mycoplasma was such a big deal. Why not let it be a normal thing that all birds have to contract, sort of like humans letting their children catch the chicken pox as they once did.

My chick came down with the symptoms on Monday, and recovered by Thursday. None of the other birds have come down with any illness symptoms yet- and it's been just over a week since the initial symptoms in the one began. I find the short duration of the symptoms suspicious, but am considering having the birds in that batch tested as soon as they are old enough to get blood samples from.

Otherwise, if showing puts the birds at risk of contracting mycoplasma and other things so easily, I might just give up that dream for now. It sounds like having/keeping an MG free flock is really a hard thing to do considering they can get it from the droppings of wild birds, feed contaminated by rodents, visiting persons who have poultry of their own that carry MG, etc.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My chick came down with the symptoms on Monday, and recovered by Thursday.....I find the short duration of the symptoms suspicious, but am considering having the birds in that batch tested as soon as they are old enough to get blood samples from.

Most respiratory illnesses can be puzzling. I do find it odd/suspicious that your bird recovered in such a short period of time. Testing is the only way to know for sure if the symptoms you saw were caused by MG. It's possible it could have been environmental as well, who knows.

It sounds like she has recovered fairly well. I hope you will be able to find some answers when your birds get older.

I'm sure you have been doing a lot of research/reading, but here's something I had tucked away - don't know if you have seen it or not.
http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/files/201395.pdf