droopy eyelid with bubbles

[marinakirsten]

Real quick and to clarify - I am not certain what you have is MG. With no other symptoms, it is really tough to know. Could be a lot of things. But I'll answer your question below about MG and would encourage bio security of your flock for the time being.

Yes. My mother has had a flock with MG for almost 10 years. She has chosen to hatch within her flock, which I suppose is a personal choice. Point is, you would have no idea they were carriers of anything. The chickens seem entirely normal. It is something that can be passed through the egg though. So an infected chicken can hatch or lay eggs that result in infected chicks.

When a chicken exhibits severe symptoms (usually younger cockerels) she will run a cycle of Tylan50 (.5 ml 2x/day) or Tylan200 (.125ml) until symptoms reside, which she claims is around 3 days with notable improvement after 24 hrs. She hasn't ever lost a chicken that she could say 100% was a result of the MG.

Just make sure folks who also have chickens don't handle yours, or thoroughly detox themselves before interacting with their flock.

Lastly - yes, the DE is a personal choice. I know we have been using it forever and believe it is effective - and really the selling point is that it is a natural preventative. But there are other options available as well, like Permethrin

If it is in fact MG that’s wonderful to hear!!! most of the forums I found on here and elsewhere were pushing people to cull their entire flock and that is like a last case scenario for me. I also luckily have Tylan 50 on hand too if that’s the case. I guess my plan now is to not get any new birds in the foreseeable future which i hope will be enough time to see if any more of my chickens develop symptoms of MG so I can confirm whether my flock is infected or not. fingers crossed!!

thanks again for taking the time to give such detailed replies!! i appreciate it!

 

[dawg53]

As you know, MG is highly contagious. The flock would have to be treated.

 

[BastyPutt]

I also luckily have Tylan 50

This is great, but just make sure not to administer it unless the birds are showing severe symptoms. Dawg brings up a great point about it eventually becoming more and more resistant to the antibiotics.

 

[BastyPutt]

As you know, MG is highly contagious. The flock would have to be treated.

If the whole flock was symptomatic. But if you have a single bird in respiratory distress, and they rest fine - you'd only need to treat the single bird.

 

[marinakirsten]

If you're not going to cull your flock, you must maintain a closed flock. No new birds in, none out. No birds given away nor sold, no eggs to be sold or given away to be hatched. MG is passed through the eggs. The eggs are safe to eat. MG is not zoonotic to humans.

Keep in mind that antibiotics will eventually become resistant to the disease and will require a more potent antibiotic. It will get to the point that antibiotics will become totally ineffective, in which case you'll have to make a decision whether to cull or not cull.
There is one product that you can use that there isnt any resistance: Denagard aka Tiamulin. QC Supply sells it.
However, I highly recommend that you cull the sickest bird and send it off for testing to find out exactly what you're dealing with.

You can contact your local extension office or state agriculture department or a veterinary college for a necropsy to find out their requirements for shipment and testing. If you decide to go this route, do not freeze the carcass, it must be placed in the fridge.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

i have not had any “sickly” looking birds. all happy, full of energy, normal appetites, no physical symptoms besides their irritated eyes, so I really don’t love the idea of culling one of them just to check. I will obviously maintain a closed flock for the time being since I am not certain what I am dealing with and want to be extra safe, so I guess i’ll just go from there and if one of my chickens starts developing symptoms again later down the line that could indicate MG, I will assume that I have an MG flock. And if one develops severe symptoms, or even dies, then I will feel okay about sending for testing to 100% confirm what i’ve got.

Like I said earlier, I noticed improvements in their eyes just from saline rinses and eye ointment, so I really can’t make a calculated guess and assume that it’s MG at this point just yet. Their eye symptoms were also very mild, each of them with only one eye affected and none of them got worse without antibiotics so I’m not leaning towards it being MG just yet. I also have 20 birds and of the 20 only 3 from the 7 that stayed confined to the coop with DE showed these symptoms, and they’ve all been living amongst eachother for quite a while. Obviously i’d like to believe it’s not MG, but so far after hours of reading and researching it there are more signs pointing to it not being MG, which is the only reason i’m not choosing to believe it’s MG just yet. Hopefully that’s the case, but obviously taking steps and precautions in case i’m wrong.

thank you so much for your insight!!

 

[marinakirsten]

If the whole flock was symptomatic. But if you have a single bird in respiratory distress, and they rest fine - you'd only need to treat the single bird.

welp, I’m biting my tongue now. I was so hopeful and was almost certain it wasn’t MG, but two of the affected chicks started sneezing the other affected chick has one last dose of oral antibiotics and seemed to recover completely. Now i’m almost certain it’s MG and plan to manage accordingly. I stopped oral antibiotics for these two (they only took it for two days) and have been treating the eye symptoms, I am starting them on Tylan 50 injectable tomorrow morning as long as they’re still presenting symptoms.

I went ahead and ordered Denagard and plan to give a an initial treatment dose just to be safe, then a preventative dose to my whole flock once monthly. found others with an MG positive flock who said they do this and have no flare ups ever so fingers crossed!! With that being said I’m keeping this a closed flock obviously no rehoming of any of them ever, and don’t plan to bring in any birds.

Do you have any more advice or do you reckon this is a good game plan? All your insight has been so helpful!!

 

[BastyPutt]

welp, I’m biting my tongue now. I was so hopeful and was almost certain it wasn’t MG, but two of the affected chicks started sneezing the other affected chick has one last dose of oral antibiotics and seemed to recover completely. Now i’m almost certain it’s MG and plan to manage accordingly. I stopped oral antibiotics for these two (they only took it for two days) and have been treating the eye symptoms, I am starting them on Tylan 50 injectable tomorrow morning as long as they’re still presenting symptoms.

I went ahead and ordered Denagard and plan to give a an initial treatment dose just to be safe, then a preventative dose to my whole flock once monthly. found others with an MG positive flock who said they do this and have no flare ups ever so fingers crossed!! With that being said I’m keeping this a closed flock obviously no rehoming of any of them ever, and don’t plan to bring in any birds.

Do you have any more advice or do you reckon this is a good game plan? All your insight has been so helpful!!

I think you are all set... your perspective is the best medicine for everyone involved

Just be careful, treat only the symptomatic birds and practice good bio security, and you won't have anything to worry about. Plenty of flocks out there thriving with MG unknowingly, but you've got a head start in awareness.

I did call my mom to ask a few questions. She said expect more flare ups in cold weather, but didn't have anything else to add aside from what I had already said.

Good luck

 

[dawg53]

@marinakirsten
Treat ALL your birds with the Denagard, not just the ones showing symptoms. No guesswork about it, you wont regret it.
I recommend that you add Karo syrup or honey to sweeten the mixture.

 

[BastyPutt]

@marinakirsten
Treat ALL your birds with the Denagard, not just the ones showing symptoms. No guesswork about it, you wont regret it.
I recommend that you add Karo syrup or honey to sweeten the mixture.

I'm confused as to why you would treat the whole flock when only a few are asymptomatic??

 

[dawg53]

I'm confused as to why you would treat the whole flock when only a few are asymptomatic??

Due to the fact that MG is very contagious. It can be carried on your person, clothing, the shoes you wear, equipment, tires on a vehicle, feeders, waterers etc etc etc.