Hi, we bought a house in July that came with a whole flock of birds. (7 chickens, 15 ducks and a wily, vocal goose). We brought our 5 chickens and our pet duck. Yesterday, we found one of the existing residents dead under the nesting boxes. And during retrieval I heard another existing resident cough. Google is telling mycoplasma. We were planning on starting over next month with the chickens because our five were at the end of laying. The previous owner on this house gave us none of the requested info on the birds. So, I don't want to infect a new flock. And I'm afraid all of our current flock is infected. I will be notifying our neighbor down the way whose own roos come I scratch and hang with my flock. I don't want to share illness. His birds all roam freely and I'm surprised haven't been hit by tractors and farm vehicles yet. Questions: is there any way at all to save at least the pet duck? She's my sons favorite, who is ASD. We're all pretty attached to her having raised her by hand from a duckling. And I have three dozen eggs in my fridge from the past two weeks. Are they safe to eat? Or do I need to toss them and buy store eggs until we treat the coop and pools after culling and have new chicks producing by the end of summer? Any help is appreciated? I'm stressed and at a loss of all of our birds.
Welcome to BYC. If I were you, I would take the one that died (if the body has been refrigerated) or the the one coughing, and send it to your state vet for a necropsy and testing. That way you will know for sure which respiratory disease you are seeing, since there are quite a few. Your chickens could have been infected by the visiting roosters from the neighbors if they are carriers. Ducks can get mycoplasma too, so any birds legt on your property would be considered carriers. There are certain diseases that ducks don't get, such as coryza. If it was that, it might not affect the duck, but I suppose he still could be a carrier. The state vet could confirm that. Eggs are safe to eat, by the way. Here is a good link to read about mycoplasma, infectious coryza, infectious bronchitis, ILT, aspergillosis and other diseases, plus a link for your state vet: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044 http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf
