CHICKEN SWAPS OF NH SWAP LISTINGS

[chickery-do]

My heart goes out to those who have lost their beloved animals.
Could you tell me is it air borne? I have never been to swaps and I'm in the northern part of NH but I would test my birds if it is.
I have lost a few from a raccoon and would like to restock my flock and I'm not sure how I should go about it now.
Thank you for your patience.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Since I am one of the ones that tested positive, so I KNOW I had MG in my flock, and I have a very long background in livestock and a degree in biology, here's what I know. These are things I know, not surmise:

- MG makes your birds sick, and in some flocks it does decimate the flock. We lost dozens of young chicks and adolescents and we had very sick and miserable adults. It doesn't kill very many adults, but it is horrible for them to go through. If you have an adult with other issues (for example, if you've just had a heat wave or cold snap and their immune systems are not great, or if you have mites, or if you have coccidia) the MG can without a doubt kill them. And it DOES kill (and MS also DOES kill) chicks and adolescents. The chicks get very stunted and weak and the adolescents get the swollen eyes and can't eat. It doesn't go away quickly unless you medicate them, and once you've medicated you're going to have to keep watching and keep medicating. We had many birds go through two and three cycles of Denagard, six weeks apart. MG ruins your feed conversions - in real life, that means your chickens are always skinny and sad and they lay like crap. They don't thrive - they may live, but they don't thrive.

- MG is a very common disease, but it's not so common that everybody has it and we're only realizing it because we're testing. If that were the case, the Dept. of Ag wouldn't even bother. I was told point-blank that this is a spike in incidence and that's why they're concerned about it and testing and contacting people. Yes, it CAN come in on a sparrow, but by far the most common carriers are chickens and that's how it moves from flock to flock.

- MG has a very limited ability to move through air. Most of the time it's chickens sharing waterers (the nasal mucus and mouth secretions carry it) and people hatching infected eggs that carries it through a flock.

Once I knew I had MG, everything fell into place. Before that, I honestly just thought I was having "a bad month" or "a bad winter" or "a bad few months." We were coming up on "a bad six months" when we got them tested and they all came back positive. Couldn't seem to keep chicks healthy, couldn't seem to have the adults get through stress easily. Eggs would go down to zero at the drop of a hat. The adolescents were skinny. They'd sneeze and wheeze, then seem to get over it, then a few weeks later be sneezing again and shaking their heads. We changed food about five times, we wormed, we culled anything weak, we treated with Baycox - we could never quite get a robust happy group. That's what is meant by MG "not being a serious disease." No, it won't come through and kill all your birds in a weekend. Will it make you and your chickens miserable and never go away, never let them really thrive again? Yes, absolutely it will.

 

[kimb]

Thanks BlackSheep for the information it's hard to get concrete information on the internet, I feel like lots pertaining to poultry diseases is pretty ambiguous as far as symptoms go... part of me thinks it's very plausible that this could be a disease i've been battling, the other part thinks I could just be paranoid. I've had a huge variety of chickens and all different ages and some rough spells of weather, they free range so they could eat something they're not supposed to (I have had to wrestle screws out of my LF Cochins beak before while working on a project outside!) ... all things that could be totally possibly reasons for a chickens demise - and yet I've lost some of my favorite birds to what appear to be rather mild symptoms and yet they just can't pull out of it. They get weak and lethargic and it can go on for sometime. Originally I would go over board and have them in the house and trying to nurse them back to health for weeks at a time only to have them get sick again once they get better or lose them right off the bat. I've gotten to the point now we're I just can't keep "trying" to save them and cull to prevent suffering.

Either way I did contact Cindy and scheduling is in the works to come and NPIP and test for MS / MG for my birds. I would rather know than not - especially for bio security purposes. And also to make a plan for the future.

About Ducks: Cindy said as a rule they don't test web-footed birds so if the chickens test positive they assume the ducks are too since they believe ducks can carry the disease (not sure if that means they can be affected by it or just spread it). Really wish they did test ducks as well (for at least those of us that want to know) ...

 

[mischke]

Could someone please tell me what the age for chickens to be tested for MG MS and NPIP in the state of N.H. is? Thank you

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

According to the Dept. of Ag, the youngest they will do is 12 weeks, but the normal cutoff is 20 weeks. It requires about half a teaspoon of blood per test, and many birds continue bleeding after the test, so you can imagine how much that would affect the smallest chicks and bantams.

 

[Tony K T]

If you wait until cooler weather they will not bleed as much.It's the same as humans heat thins the blood and cold thickens blood.So wait until fall time to do your blood testing.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

That's not actually how blood works. It doesn't thicken or thin, unless the animal is really sick and having major kidney issues. It is possible in the cold weather that the tiny blood vessels right under the skin will constrict and not bleed as much when cut, but the blood draw for testing is from the ulnar vein and that is going to be flowing at full speed no matter the temperature.

 

[hoppy]

and if pressure is applied after the blood draw, it helps it to clot fast.

That's not actually how blood works. It doesn't thicken or thin, unless the animal is really sick and having major kidney issues. It is possible in the cold weather that the tiny blood vessels right under the skin will constrict and not bleed as much when cut, but the blood draw for testing is from the ulnar vein and that is going to be flowing at full speed no matter the temperature.

 

[OtterD]

Other than the few sellers here who have indicated that they tested positive, is there a list that the state keeps that we could check with? I bought at the swaps last year and privately from some of the sellers this year and am wondering if they tested positive. I have had one chicken who has a recurrent swollen eye and now another one. There is no sneezing ofr other symptoms so I'm not sure as I'm not familiar with MG.

 

[blazingsaddles]

CHICKEN SWAPS OF NH
WILL RESTART SWAPS THIS AUGUST
DATES AND PLACES COMING SOON
REVISED SWAP RULES WILL BE POSTED
BEFORE SWAPS RESUME

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE