CRD-MG advice plz

[jh1013]

I have a pet RIR rooster who has been healthy ever since i bought him. I decided to get some chicks from someone i know, for eggs & to raise chicks. I got 3, they are 8-12 weeks in age. The first day i got them i noticed 1 chick had a watery eye. By the next day it had a foamy substance coming from both eyes, shaking its head, a slight wheeze & faint odor. I quarantined that chick alone & the other 2 in a separate area. I disinfected the chicken yard/coop/feed water bowls etc., with bleach water, even spraying the ground. The rooster did stay 1 night in area close to the chicks. The chick got so sick i had it put down or culled. it was wheezing so bad i could hear it 6 feet away, clear liquids running from its eyes. After lots of research i have decided it had CRD, or MG to be specific & have started antibiotic treatment on all 3 remaining chickens, i believe it is duramyasin. 1 remaining chick had slight respiratory symptoms, sneezing & scratching eyes. Im sure both young chicks have it. I dont want to have to kill chicks that are going to recover, but i dont want them infecting any future chickens i get or the rooster. We dont have the vaccine available in this area, i have searched high & low. I dont want to spend $100+ for what i found online.
My q's are if i keep the chicks & they start laying eggs that are MG infected, are they safe for human consumption?
Are the members of the infected flock going to eventually die from this anyways?
Does CRD Always come back again in infected chickens?
Im not experienced at having chickens, so i didnt realize there we so many diseases out there. Any advice from someone who has been through this would be appreciated.

 

[dawg53]

CRD is MG.
I recommend that you cull the infected birds before the disease spreads to your healthy birds. No matter what biosecurity precautions you take to prevent MG from spreading, your healthy birds can get it from being carried on clothing, shoes, hands, feeders, waterers etc...
Depending on the stress factor of your birds and strain of the disease it could be a disaster waiting to happen and antibiotics only treat the disease, not cure it. Once an antibiotic is used to treat it, eventually resistance builds against that antibiotic and you'll have to purchase an antibiotic more potent and more expensive than the last to treat the disease. This can go on and on and be expensive for you $$$...to treat your birds. Survivors of MG are carriers forever and will infect newly introduced birds. You will have to maintain a closed flocked. None in, none out. No selling or giving away eggs to be hatched.
MG is passed through the egg to hatching chicks. However, eggs are safe to eat if properly cooked.
Here's a link for you to read concerning MG:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps034

 

[jh1013]

Thanks dawg53 for your help! I called the person i got them from, explained the situation & she said she wanted the remaining 2 chicks back. She said none of the flock they came from ever got sick so she didnt believe they had CRD. I told her everything, bc she is someone i will be seeing on a regular basis. She still wanted them back so i just have my rooster now. I have my fingers crossed that he will remain healthy, no signs of sickness yet. I took him off of antibiotics (he was on them 1 day) to see if he starts getting the 'cold' like symptoms the other 1 had.
My q now is: how do u know if your purchasing disease free chickens?? How long do new chickens need to be in quarantine to be sure they are disease free before introducing them to the clean flock? I want to get it right this time around

 

[soler]

I would definitely do a necropsy on the next "body" if you get one. Because the respiratory illnesses can be quite difficult to diagnose. You might not have MG at all. You can call the local department of agriculture office, check what common reported diseases theree are in your area, and also, they should be able to help you with a necropsy. In NY, if you send in the bird, they do it for free, if you suspect an infectious disease like that.

Find the right office to call here:
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html
and these are who they partner with
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/state_regions.html
Here in NY state there is a poultry vet whose job is to take calls and emails from people and answer their questions/help! She helped me come up with a vaccination schedule, and told me which diseases i didn't need to worry about given my location and overall profile.

I believe MG can also be diagnosed from a blood test on your chicken - may be worth calling the vet for that and ask? At least then you know your real options. Would be a shame to cull if you don't have it at all, or risk infection on new birds if you do.

I am only suggesting this because sometimes you can drive yourself crazy trying to diagnose using books and not being a vet or doing any tests, and the situation can be entirely different. I had a 10 week old chick whose legs seemed on the verge of paralysis and couldn't stand any longer - i was convinced it was marek's, it turned out to be cocci after getting the poop tested just in case. That chick was totally fine after 5 days on corid. So there you go! It's so hard to know what's going on.

Quarantine for a month is a good idea.