Help! i think my cooks have Mycoplasma Gallisepticum

[chica chicka chook]

Hi

I bought three wyandotte bantams at a sale (one rooster and two hens) i know i really shouldnt have because you can never trust the poultry fairs! so now basically my mums laying hens (old battery hens) and my hens are all coughing and sneezing no bubbles around the eyes but there is some dribble around the mouth and wheezy breathing. I read up and i believe it is Mycoplasma Gallisepticum. Now i have 14 sick chickens and 10 non infected chicks! I think i should depopulate all except for the uninfected chicks, as i understand that the Mycoplasma Gallisepticum never completely leaves the chicken and i dont want to spread it to the new chicks.

Do you think depopulating is the right thing to do? It feels so cruel, but if chickens get sick it might be the best thing to kill them before it gets any worse?

oh yeah and another question, i think its the best thing to get those new chicks vaccinated so they dont catch it, anyone know how much that costs? And i have heard of Tylan but i dont think that completely cures the chicken of Mycoplasma Gallisepticum, just gets rid of symptoms?
Thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I personally have chickens for companions, and so if they got sick like that I'd just close my flock (never selling again at auction, for example). They are my friends.

However, if you plan to sell chickens OR hatching eggs in the future, you must do some thinking, as it can pass to the egg and infect the next generation (See below website.), spreading the disease to whomever you sell hatching eggs to.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044

There are MANY people who sell eggs and chicks, and it is their money to put food on the table. If that is important to you, then you must get rid of them somehow, IMO.

Edited to add- I don't know if the disease you think it is is the correct diagnosis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please note this. I wouldn't be experienced enough to tell.

 

[carrlr]

wish it was under better circumstances. How long have you had the chickens you believe were the carriers? MG has a 6-10 incubation period, so if it's been less than that it might not be MG. You are correct, there is no cure for MG. Although I would want to be fairly sure before I wiped out my whole flock. Sorry that you have to make this decision.

 

[chica chicka chook]

Yeah thats true it might not acctually be myco! their just snuffling, but i dont want my chicks to get sick! any medicine anyone would reccomend?

 

[Chilifur]

I just went through this over the winter. The thing with chickens is that it's rarely MG all by itself. The littlest thing can trigger it so there's no point in blaming any particular circumstance.

First off - IF YOU CAN, get your sickest chicken tested by the vet to see what bacteria is presenting itself. Each bacteria that can cause the same symptoms is treated differently, with [sometimes] completely different types of drugs. I had a little one whose test presented just E. coli - which they all carry in their stomachs - and an adolescent rooster who died from asphyxiation that tested positive for E. coli, MG, and MS. The E. coli started the process and, by the time it was bad enough to strangle my roo, all three were active. BAYTRIL, which is the brand name, will eliminate the Mycoplasmas so the bird no longer carries it. It's prescription medication, expensive, and time consuming. Any eggs produced while the birds are taking this need to be tossed until 4 weeks AFTER they've finished the medicine. At the very least, I felt it was worth the money to test at least one bird because the cost of treating for something they didn't actually have (not to mention culling a whole flock) could also be expensive.

If this is NOT an option for you, that's okay, you don't have to cull anyone.

The awful fact is that 75% of flocks already do. It doesn't pass along to humans and carrying it doesn't mean an automatic disease. It just means that if the conditions are right, they can come down with it. Denagard is a medicine that is not approved here in the US to treat poultry for anything. However, if you search these forums, you'll find that nearly everyone who has used it has had positive results. Other than my little one who received an injection, the other birds were improving too slowly with the Baytril. I switched to Denagard and they turned a corner within 2 days.

Another bonus,while they are on Denagard, the eggs are edible. I can say from experience that my flock completely recovered and we've certainly experienced no health issues from eating their eggs. Since then, a new roo came to live with us and his nose started dripping. Dosed the whole flock and everyone is good.

As a relative newbie to the poultry flock world, I can only relate my personal experience, but I can say that I found the original advice here on BYC from long-time flock owners!

Hope this helps!