Well, I can almost guarantee that I can at least compete with almost anyone here for worst day. And it takes a lot to write this when all I want to do is crawl in to a hole.
I brought home some adult birds on Valentines day. They were to be the start of my Dorking program and I was terribly excited about getting them. I have had them in quarantine now for almost 2 months. Because they seemed fine after 4 weeks, I have relaxed my quarantine procedures a bit for the last few weeks…(not washing hands or feet etc) but I haven’t let them out with my others because been building a coop/separate area for them ( & didn’t want them interbreeding with my Barnevelders) Well last week one of the roosters started sneezing and got gurgly in the chest. I sat out there with them to observe for a while and realized that two of them were sniffly. So I bit the bullet and took the two birds to the state testing lab on Friday.
I just got the results today. MG.
My immediate reaction was: horror… CULL!
But I just got off the phone with the guy...Straining to understand him.
But the salient points are:
I have seen no symptoms at all in my real flock. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have it or are not carriers. 2-5% of birds who get over the disease become carriers and this is such a mild strain that it is hard to say. Just sniffles, no morbidity. And the fact that I take really good care of my birds and they are not at all stressed EVER would allow this to hide more easily.
So at the very least, my flock is now closed. I will be waiting a month or so for anything to manifest and then have blood testing done on my whole flock. I have some hard decisions to make. If this is in the local bird population…and I know it is, there isn’t anything I can do to not eventually get it if I want to free-range my chickens.
To anyone who has hatched out chicks from me I apologize most profoundly. I tried to do the best with Biosecurity that I could. I have some reason to believe that my eggs to this point have been safe as my girls have never shown any symptoms, but there is always a chance and I don’t blame you if you are worried &/or angry.
Anyone I owe eggs to I will pay off with paypal. Please send me your paypal address.
So now I will never breed any chickens. I will keep the females for eggs and a friend will help me dispatch the males. I will not sell eggs or chicks. My chicken plans are now shattered into a million pieces.
I brought home some adult birds on Valentines day. They were to be the start of my Dorking program and I was terribly excited about getting them. I have had them in quarantine now for almost 2 months. Because they seemed fine after 4 weeks, I have relaxed my quarantine procedures a bit for the last few weeks…(not washing hands or feet etc) but I haven’t let them out with my others because been building a coop/separate area for them ( & didn’t want them interbreeding with my Barnevelders) Well last week one of the roosters started sneezing and got gurgly in the chest. I sat out there with them to observe for a while and realized that two of them were sniffly. So I bit the bullet and took the two birds to the state testing lab on Friday.
I just got the results today. MG.
My immediate reaction was: horror… CULL!
But I just got off the phone with the guy...Straining to understand him.
But the salient points are:
- Most (75%-90%) backyard flocks have MG(???!!!???!!!!) but because there are many strains, and many are not serious, most people don’t know they have it.
- Evidently MG is a pandemic on the east coast in house finches and many on the east coast are carriers. (Also American goldfinches, purple finches, evening grosbeaks and pine grosbeaks.) My Quarantine pen is right under the birdfeeder on our deck where we feed all of these birds BOSS. Some of it falls through and the birds go in to get it.
- Even if I destroy these birds, my flock is at risk forever because it is in the local wild bird population and unless I stop free ranging and put them in a building where they can have no access to wild birds, they can pick it up. This would mean hardware cloth small enough that a finch can’t get through and roof so that a wild bird can’t poop into the run. (2 years ago before I even had chickens I rescued a blind house finch from my garden and nursed it back to health…I just didn’t know that THAT was MG)
- MG can get passed through to the egg in a bird that is actively shedding. The PCR test indicated that the birds were not shedding much (if at all.) I have no idea if my Barnevelders have been exposed but it takes two weeks to become infected. These guys only started coughing last week. And I have had them in Quarantine…but one of the scenarios is that they got it from the wild birds here.
- Most hatcheries don’t test for MG. NPIP makes you test for Pullorium and sometimes AI but they don’t care about MG because it can’t be transmitted to humans. So you can even get it from NPIP certified breeders.
I have seen no symptoms at all in my real flock. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have it or are not carriers. 2-5% of birds who get over the disease become carriers and this is such a mild strain that it is hard to say. Just sniffles, no morbidity. And the fact that I take really good care of my birds and they are not at all stressed EVER would allow this to hide more easily.
So at the very least, my flock is now closed. I will be waiting a month or so for anything to manifest and then have blood testing done on my whole flock. I have some hard decisions to make. If this is in the local bird population…and I know it is, there isn’t anything I can do to not eventually get it if I want to free-range my chickens.
To anyone who has hatched out chicks from me I apologize most profoundly. I tried to do the best with Biosecurity that I could. I have some reason to believe that my eggs to this point have been safe as my girls have never shown any symptoms, but there is always a chance and I don’t blame you if you are worried &/or angry.
Anyone I owe eggs to I will pay off with paypal. Please send me your paypal address.
So now I will never breed any chickens. I will keep the females for eggs and a friend will help me dispatch the males. I will not sell eggs or chicks. My chicken plans are now shattered into a million pieces.
