I did read the thread where the OP posted the slander against Ideal Hatchery and caused the ensuing panic. Here's the thing I've learned trying to use this site to help keep me better informed to take care of my accidental flock: People act like a flock of panicked chickens pretty easily, especially on message boards where a lot of things are treated as absolutes when they are not. I mean, in that thread alone, people were *still* arguing on whether or not the OP had lied even *after* someone contacted the state and Ideal and proved that the OP had lied. The thread had to be closed because of the circles the arguing was going in. I've seen people here getting cutthroat about whether or not pumpkin seeds have any beneficial effect on chickens. Flipping pumpkin seeds. The peafowl section is really condescending and rude to outsiders and newbies to peafowl because god knows the only people who know anything about peafowl would be posting on this site and anyone else is a filthy liar selling under false pretenses. I may still be a little salty about that encounter. Or, hey, how about the user who accused me of being a terrible owner who would end up killing all her birds because my brother's puppy broke into my chick brooder and ate my blue phoenix chick? Because, on here, everyone is a saint and full of magic and can foresee any troubles and stop anything bad or unwanted from ever happening except for me and you, right?
What I'm trying to say, and I should really take my own advice on this also, is that take what people post here with a grain of salt. Just because posters here are throwing a walleyed fit about a disease that, according to vets and a majority of research, is the most common mycoplasma birds can get doesn't mean anything other than that's the hill they want to die on and can't see any other outcome other than doom. ALL those people claiming their flocks are healthy and are angry that people could have flocks with MG don't know 100% for sure that they don't already have MG in their flocks because birds can be carriers of the disease and never show symptoms of it. The *only* sure fire way they could know not a single chicken they own has MG is to have a vet test their entire flock every 90 days. My pullet chickens and my cockerel and my 5 1 year-old hens and the peacock and the other peahen haven't once shown symptoms. They all have MG, that's just a fact of life with how contagious MG is, but if Richmond hadn't shown symptoms a couple months ago I would have also worked under the assumption my flock didn't have MG and I wouldn't have ever known about MG. Reality check for me.
Can MG kill some birds? Yes, it can. Does it devastate flocks like AF or Marek's? In my extremely limited knowledge, no. If it did, vaccinating for it would be mandatory for large scale hatcheries and NPIP certification. Is it okay to have a meltdown when you find out that your flock does have MG? Totally, and I'm saying that because I'm biased and had one of my own. But then I had to think about the same thing I have had to think about since I was 10 and became responsible for the wellbeing of horses and dogs and rabbits and so on: Is this life threatening? Will this negatively affect their quality of life? Am I thinking more about how their death would affect me and euthanasia really is the best option? Talk to the people at the lab again and work out your questions with them. Talk to some vets about it. It made me feel a lot better having my vet explain MG to me and the realities of it because my imagination is vivid and wild and likes to jump to conclusions when allowed to.
At the end of the day, you have to do what's right for you and your flock because only you know what that is in a case like this. Do not let people here tell you what is best for you because they're in a panic. If you want to create a breeding stock, I think you should keep what you've worked on building and do that as long as the birds aren't suffering. Be honest when you sell, unlike this dude you were dealing with was. I have to think that with exhibitions being as unbiosecure as you can get, not a single bird being shown isn't already a carrier for MG as it is. I mean, every time I went to the Stock Show or a comic book or video game convention, I *always* came home with a serious cold! It's so prevalent, it's called Con Crud. I can't imagine that animals wouldn't have the exact same thing happen in that type of environment.
I would seriously love to see the level of biosecurity those people have if they think they can avoid MG or all diseases and infections in their flocks. Those chickens must be like that bubble boy movie John Travolta was in.
