Living with mycoplasma

[Jen1989]

Hello everyone!
I have two pet chickens, both 12 weeks old, that have confirmed mycoplasma. I had a vet send their bloods off to a lab, they searched for mycoplasma antibodies and found them present in both birds blood.
Both birds are on a weeks course of denagard at the moment, and I'm not looking to add other birds to the flock (I did want to add a third bird to their flock, but the positive mycoplasma lab results have put an end to that).
I'm wondering is there anyone else on here who is raising a closed flock with confirmed mycoplasma?
I'm interested to hear your experiences!
I have been sold a 1L bottle of denagard by my vet, more than I'd ever need for two chickens probably! But I am glad to have it to hand. What I'm wondering is when you would decide to put a chicken with confirmed mycoplasma back onto a weeks course of denagard? Would you wait for a secondary infection to form (gurgly breathing)? Would you use it as a precaution if you heard them sneeze?
Does anyone have any experiences of treating younger chickens that have tested positive for mycoplasma with denagard, and it killing the mycoplasma altogether? Is it possible to test that (I assume once they have antibodies for mycoplasma, they retain them for life, hence all future blood tests would be positive for mycoplasma)?
Any other nuggets of wisdom or experiences of raising chickens with mycoplasma would be really welcome aswell!
One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with has been that I cannot add birds to my flock, and that one of my birds will likely live out a portion of her life alone... it's very sad for me to imagine such a social creature losing her only companion...
Anyway, please please share your experiences with me, I'd love to hear from you all!

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

My chickens had to be put down due to it, because I am expanding my flock in a few weeks and can’t risk anything. You can definitely keep them though! I’ve heard of people who have 1 or 2 chickens with mg and they adopt someone else’s chicken that has a confirmed case of mg to give it a good home and do they don’t have a lonely chicken.
Good luck!

-ChickenWhisperer101

 

[Jen1989]

My chickens had to be put down due to it, because I am expanding my flock in a few weeks and can’t risk anything. You can definitely keep them though! I’ve heard of people who have 1 or 2 chickens with mg and they adopt someone else’s chicken that has a confirmed case of mg to give it a good home and do they don’t have a lonely chicken.
Good luck!

-ChickenWhisperer101

Sorry to hear about your chickens ☹ that is a brilliant suggestion about trying to find another chicken with mg, that thought had not crossed my mind. Because my two are still quite young, I'm probably going to wait to see if they make it to fully grown chickens before adding any others to the flock, but your suggestion has given me hope that if both or one do make it to adulthood, they dont necessarily have to live out their lives alone, so thank you!

 

[Banana01]

Hey there! I was wondering how things have been going with your flock? I have a MG flock and have been struggling to keep them healthy. Have you picked up any specific routines that you have found work best to keep them healthy and alive? I’ve lost 3 chickens this month and I can’t bear to lose any others. :-( Thanks!

I am confident in how I am dealing with chronic mycolplasma in my younger chickens and the flock overall isn't affected by more than 10% of them getting sick (of 50 birds). It only effects my younger ones, as the older ones that had it have only get mild recurring symptoms and havent needed treatment.

First importance is keeping watch on their leaking eye in the morning, and keeping their face and eye clear of the mucous discharge. During a severe outbreak, I clean their face every morning to keep the mucous from building up causing blisters, infections, etc. Even during an outbreak, sometimes I let it go a couple of days before it needs cleaned for them. So excessive mucous needs to be kept clean.

As for antibiotics, I have a special mixture they get, so I will assume you don't have the same medicines. But I only give the antibiotics the same day of the face cleaning, if it is a severe outbreak. That is partly because I can't treat 5 minor cases every day, I only can do one or two that have mucous build ups on their face. They get antibiitics only one day, sometimes two days on a row. I never keep giving antibiotics every day, only during an outbreak and the medocine does seem to reduce the severity of the outbreak. So only give antibiotics one or two days, folkowed by monitoring the symptoms. Often time a couple of these abtiviotcs and treatments they will grow out of the symptoms and they go away for weeks or forever. Lots of my chickens only got a one or two day treatment, and symptoms went away and they are now adults with no symptoms.

The biggest thing is hygiene of theor eyes and face. Cleaning the mucous during their initial major outbreaks. Yesterday I did antibiotic treatments for two, and cleaned their faces. Today I have none to treat, and tomorrow too. Lidocaine eyedrops also help after the face cleanings, I apply eyedrops and then dry their faces with a towel, and their eyes stay clear for days.

 

[Jen1989]

That’s what I was wondering. I hope she’s not selling sick chicks, because I’m pretty sure that’s what happened to me, then I had to put all of my girls down. I think your chicks will be okay, just have them on the right diet. Have you tried Vet Rx? It really helped my girls when I was trying to figure out what they had and was trying to keep them comfortable.

-ChickenWhisperer101

It's hard to say whether the MG originated from her or me, but the fact that I'd had the pullet four days when she developed a secondary infection implies she already had MG. I have actually been using vetrx regularly and it does wonders! Whenever I see either birds nose with any fluid around the nostrils I put vetrx on their beaks and it really helps them, especially at night.
I think mg is a lot more common than people realise, the woman I bought the chicks from said her birds sometimes sneeze and she uses aviform in their water (it's a herbal remedy for racing pigeons) and it clears up any sneezing within the week. The fact that her chickens sometimes sneeze implies they may all have MG but never suffer with it. She is a very loving and caring woman with an incredible garden, high security from predators, and she uses herbal remedies a lot, antibiotics as a last resort, its possible all her chickens have MG but never get stressed enough to be symptomatic, the move from her coop to my coop alone could have been enough stress for my two to start showing symptoms.

 

[Silkie Princess]

Hey there! I was wondering how things have been going with your flock? I have a MG flock and have been struggling to keep them healthy. Have you picked up any specific routines that you have found work best to keep them healthy and alive? I’ve lost 3 chickens this month and I can’t bear to lose any others. :-( Thanks!

I'm sorry for your loss I bought 3 chickens from a poultry show. The day after I found out that one had a bubbly eye. And was sneezing. I seperated them. Then I gave the hen back to her owners. But the others were sneezing... But I refused to give up. I didn't have anything to treat them. So I researched on what herbs were good for respiratory issues and made tea for them. I know this might sound weird... But It worked.

They still have snot running out of their noses If it's cold But they are in a flock with no issues. And the flock is healthy. I don't think there is a vet that would actually test them but as I said. It did not spread. I'm very thankfull for that If you would like I could give you the ,,recipe" for the tea.

Good luck!

 

[kurby22]

I'm sorry for your loss I bought 3 chickens from a poultry show. The day after I found out that one had a bubbly eye. And was sneezing. I seperated them. Then I gave the hen back to her owners. But the others were sneezing... But I refused to give up. I didn't have anything to treat them. So I researched on what herbs were good for respiratory issues and made tea for them. I know this might sound weird... But It worked.

They still have snot running out of their noses If it's cold But they are in a flock with no issues. And the flock is healthy. I don't think there is a vet that would actually test them but as I said. It did not spread. I'm very thankfull for that If you would like I could give you the ,,recipe" for the tea.

Good luck!

Thank you! It’s a depressing illness They get better with meds and then another cold spell and they get sick again :-( I’d love the recipe for your tea! Any extra help is always welcome! I got a beautiful pullet from a breeder who was unaware she was sick supposedly. She reimbursed me the cost of the chicken and gave me meds for them, but it was too late for my flock :-( I didn’t practice good biosecurity because I’d gotten others from her and stupidly thought that meant they’d all be healthy. The worst is that it’s the holidays and I can’t get a vet that won’t cost lots of and CA requires prescriptions for all the best antibiotics. :-( I’m just hoping I caught it in time to not lose more of my babies.

 

[Silkie Princess]

Hi Silkie Princess, I am interested in your recipe for the medicinal tea. How can I find out about it? Thanks!

Hi! I'm so sorry for not replying! I'll post it in a minute

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

Sorry to hear about your chickens ☹ that is a brilliant suggestion about trying to find another chicken with mg, that thought had not crossed my mind. Because my two are still quite young, I'm probably going to wait to see if they make it to fully grown chickens before adding any others to the flock, but your suggestion has given me hope that if both or one do make it to adulthood, they dont necessarily have to live out their lives alone, so thank you!

Your welcome. Where are they from and how long have you had them? Also, what breeds?!?

 

[Jen1989]

Update to my original post - one of my birds, a silkie (I think pullet) has been struggling with stunted growth, likely because of the mg. From the day I got her she was on the skinny side (both birds were), but the other bird, an easter egger has been growing healthily. I weigh the silkie everyday to monitor her weight gain, most days she puts on somewhere between 5g and 20g, occasionally, maybe once a week, she loses 5g....
Since they've both been on denagard, the silkies weight gain has improved noticeably, the easter egger has however developed occasional diarreah (I find maybe one watery poop a day among many healthy looking poops). Learning the balance of when best to use the antibiotics and when not to is going to be the hardest part of all this.... does anyone on here ever stop a course of antibiotics midway for a day or two to provide probiotics? Say, 3 days of denagard, 3 days of prebiotics, 3 more days of denagard? Or is it better to stick with a full week of antibiotics and then a full week of probiotics?