Anyone had experience of a mycoplasma gallisepticum outbreak?

[sweet_peeps]

I'm sorry i'm not very knowledgable about your topic but I will bump up your question and hope that your girl recovers.

I do think you are doing all that you can.
Vet, rest, medicine, nutrition. I think you have covered all of the bases.

 

[ivan3]

caralouise1974 wrote: Blimey, the cheapest one on Amazon is £95! And that's a used copy. Anyone got a spare copy they could sell me a little cheaper?

Go to Google Book Search: Type in the title and go to page 719. It is rather comprehensive.

Another entirely free reference (downloadable by chapter in PDF format) is Avian medicine: Principles and Applications: Richie, Harrison and Harrison.

http://www.avianmedicine.net/ampa.html

You'll want chapter 38.

Dlhunicorn's site: http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi has good info.

For a different take on treating disease see Resolution's post in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=142956&p=2

Tylosin should knock down the acute symptoms.

best of luck!​

 

[Barn Maid Ann]

You have some good leads here for reading up on ther various ills.
But I am wondering how dear Henrietta is doing now?

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Hi, from my BYC pages I found:

' Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Synonyms: MG, chronic respiratory disease (CRD), infectious sinusitis, mycoplasmosis

Species affected: chickens, turkeys, pigeons, ducks, peafowl and passerine birds.

Clinical signs: Clinical symptoms vary slightly between species. Infected adult chickens may show no outward signs if infection is uncomplicated. However, sticky, serous exudate from nostrils, foamy exudate in eyes, and swollen sinuses can occur, especially in broilers. The air sacs may become infected. Infected birds can develop respiratory rales and sneeze. Affected birds are often stunted and unthrifty (see Table 1 ).

There are two forms of this disease in the turkey. With the "upper form" the birds have watery eyes and nostrils, the infraorbitals (just below the eye) become swollen, and the exudate becomes caseous and firm. The birds have respiratory rales and show unthriftiness.

With the "lower form", infected turkeys develop airsacculitis. As with chickens, birds can show no outward signs if the infection is uncomplicated. Thus, the condition may go unnoticed until the birds are slaughtered and the typical legions are seen. Birds with airsacculitis are condemned.

MG in chicken embryos can cause dwarfing, airsacculitis, and death.

Transmission: MG can be spread to offspring through the egg. Most commercial breeding flocks, however, are MG-free. Introduction of infected replacement birds can introduce the disease to MG-negative flocks. MG can also be spread by using MG-contaminated equipment.

Treatment : Outbreaks of MG can be controlled with the use of antibiotics. Erythromycin, tylosin, spectinomycin, and lincomycin all exhibit anti-mycoplasma activity and have given good results. Administration of most of these antibiotics can be by feed, water or injection. These are effective in reducing clinical disease. However, birds remain carriers for life.

Prevention: Eradication is the best control of mycoplasma disease. The National Poultry Improvement Plan monitors all participating chicken and turkey breeder flocks. '



I call it CRD and it is difficult at best and never leaves the flock. Infected birds recover and become carriers. Some make a complete recovery and never get sick again. Some get sick at the first drop in temperature and really never recover. Some die of the disease even though most say it is not a killer, it is.

 

[caralouise1974]

Thanks for advice everyone, and for really and truly caring about how a poorly buff orp halfway across the world is getting along! I'm seriously touched! xx

Anyway, having realised that Henrietta wasn't eating or drinking, and therefore having no way of getting the soluble Tylan down inside her, we called our breeder, Marie, who suggested that the best thing would be for us to bring her and her companion Bella (perfectly fit and healthy - as strong as an ox in fact!) back over to her so she could put them in isolation for a few days and given them the intensive care that we don't have the time (we're both working full time) to give.

While we were there, we met the original pullet, Deirdre (who fell ill on Sunday and probably inected Henrietta) in her isolation cage next door to theirs, and she looks remarkable! Almost completely recovered! Our breeder says that while they are in isolation together and all on antibiotic therapy she may try and mix them back in (the big girls hated Deirdre the first time, and the stress of the bullying brought on Deirdre's original illness), and if she succeeds, we can take all three back home with us again. So that would be lovely, as we really miss feisty little Deirdre and her very vocal displays of annoyance!

So, whilst I cried buckets when we had to leave them there yesterday, and feel completely bereft every time I look out of the window on an empty coop and run, I know they're in the right place. Especially as, when Marie picked Henrietta up, she was shocked at how thin she is compared to Bella. She's going to look into that too, and see if it's behavioural or something - I suspect it may just be a case of 'failure to thrive' because they're the best of friends, so it certainly isn't Bella bullying her or chasing her away from the food. She's going to try and tempt her to eat some really high protein foods and bulk her up a bit while she's there (although I don't fancy Marie's chances - I've tried it myself with scrambled egg, drained tuna, melted suet, wild bird fat-blocks, cat food - she's not especially taken with any of them).

So, she's going to give us a call over the weekend and let us know if we're okay to pick them up again. I'm hoping and praying she's going to succed at getting them all better for us.

And in the meantime, I have swotted up on everything I can about MG (in no small part thanks to all you wonderful people!), as I know my girls will be carriers for life now - so, next time (but here's hoping there isn't a next time), I want to be able to handle their recovery by myself.

Wish me and the girls luck - and I shall let you all have an update on their progress once I hear back from Marie xxxxx

 

[sweet_peeps]

How nice that you have someone that will take such good care of them.
She sounds like she is in very good hands and I hope she makes a full recovery.

Please keep us posted on her progress okay?

 

[caralouise1974]

Certainly will. Am getting nervous already, as they've been away 24 hours and I've not heard anything.

I do hope they aren't getting terribly upset in their little metal isolation cage. It must be awfully depressing for them, after having the luxury of a whole coop (designed for six hens), a nestbox each, and a 6x8 foot run recently moved onto lush grass! And I'll bet she isn't spoiling them with treats like I do!

I want my chuckie babies home with me

 

[HennyPennies2007]

LS-50 worked wonders for my outbreak. It is water soluable so it's easier to treat than injecting several birds. I have heard that the ingredients are more MG specific. It worked better than injectable Tylan and Terramycin (I don't bother with Terramycin anymore.) I have heard Tylan works better for injury infections and that sort of stuff. Also Oxine fogging is supposesd to be really helpful as a preventative. I use oxine to disinfect everything. I think people with birds as pets as opposed to breeders are more inclined to treat rather than cull. It makes sense for breeders to cull infected birds in order to keep offspring and breeding facilities from being infected and so on.

 

[Barn Maid Ann]

I still haven't found the answer to my question (maybe I just lost the question - this forum is so big!): If all birds are culled/removed, is it possible to eradicate the organism from the building/grounds sufficiently to stay MG free with a new flock?
Mine free range.

 

[Redtractorranch]

Barn Maid--

I think the short answer is no, not if they free range.

Several species of song birds can carry MG and it can survive on your or a visitors clothes or in the human nasal passages for several days. I think that unless you are raising them in a building with an extreme biosecurity, you aren't going to stay MG free for long (also remember that there are a LOT of different types of mycoplasma that affect chickens, MG is just one.)

Just to see, I tried depopulation/cleaning/repopulation with MG free stock/Vaccination on my free range stock. I had strict biosecurity and was able to stay MG free for about 18 months, then it reared its head again. I am, however, in a much better place to deal with it now. I am culling any bird showing signs and if two birds in the same line shows signs, I am culling the whole line. Hopefully, I will be able to breed some sort of resistance into my flock.