Chickens Sick for a While Now. Possibly Mycoplasma?

[Eggcessive]

Mycoplasma can kill, but many will survive. All poultry carry mycoplasma, so your other fowl will be carriers if you get new chickens. I would think about closing the flock to new birds, and treating sick birds. You could also just cull the sick ones, and see how they deal with the illness. There is no point getting new chickens if there is one guinea, duck, or turkey left. They will be carriers for life. You could check into the vaccine for mycoplasma (MG.)

 

[fawndane]

Mycoplasma can kill, but many will survive. All poultry carry mycoplasma, so your other fowl will be carriers if you get new chickens. I would think about closing the flock to new birds, and treating sick birds. You could also just cull the sick ones, and see how they deal with the illness. There is no point getting new chickens if there is one guinea, duck, or turkey left. They will be carriers for life. You could check into the vaccine for mycoplasma (MG.)

Hello! Sorry for the late reply.

We’ve thought it over and decided to just restart. We will be culling soon.

We decided on this since the other fowl will be carriers forever. No use in getting chicks just for them to get sick later in life. The main reason we have chickens is for eggs, and MG makes egg production drop like crazy!

Thank you so much @Eggcessive for all of the help!

 

[Stayc]

Im so sorry for what you are going thru. And the way the sellers treated you.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am sorry that you are dealing with this problem. Have your chickens been laying eggs at all? It is true that MG and any other disease can reduce egg laying. I am not sure how many birds you have, but you can always overwinter the birds to see how well they lay, and take your time on culling. There are vaccines if you get a diagnosis first to make sure of MG. In the end if you cull, hopefully your new flock will be healthy.

 

[fawndane]

I am sorry that you are dealing with this problem. Have your chickens been laying eggs at all? It is true that MG and any other disease can reduce egg laying. I am not sure how many birds you have, but you can always overwinter the birds to see how well they lay, and take your time on culling. There are vaccines if you get a diagnosis first to make sure of MG. In the end if you cull, hopefully your new flock will be healthy.

We’re getting 0-3 eggs a day and we have a lot of chickens. Not sure how much exactly, but def 10+.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have about 25 hens, and due to molting and lower light from the seasonal changes, I just got my first couple of eggs in about 6 weeks. In the past I would not get eggs during October, but then by late December, they would start laying again. Just want to point out that this time of year there can be many reasons for no eggs. Dealing with widespread illness would not be easy, but just take some time to make sure that you won't have regrets in culling. There is not any rush, and it only takes a few days for mycoplasma to die in the environment. Best wishes to you.

 

[fawndane]

There is not any rush, and it only takes a few days for mycoplasma to die in the environment. Best wishes to you.

Wait, it only takes MG a couple days to die after everyone has been culled, or when they’re still alive? My birds have had this at least a month, so I was just wondering this.

 

[Eggcessive]

The MG organism only remains in the environment and on equipment when chickens have been removed or culled. But if one carrier bird is left, it will keep being spread. Not all chickens get sick, but may be carriers.