M. Gallisepticum in my flock. Safest way to repopulate?

[crazyhen]

I am so sorry that you are dealing with this. I too know how you feel!

I followed the advise of the vet. I culled my whole flock. I have cleanned , put in sand etc. I however will never feel positive that it will not happen again. I have waited 3 months to reintroduce chicks and will use virkon s as a follow up disinfectant before the chicks go in. I have already done the clorox disinfection route. The mg/ms hit during the winter when my hens were under a lot of stress from winter. Mine was MS more than anything and yes it was congestion and clear runny nose. I lost one hen and had them all tested. How did they get it? They do not range free and no wild birds were in the pen but droppings could have gotten in. Also I had a rat problem just before it started. There were so many ways it could have come in. My flock had tested neg. 4 months before.
Mine were more pets than anything and I don't think I could go through that again. I would probably just keep a closed flock. I do not sell chicks anyway. If anyone wanted one and I had extra I would give them away. Now, no more give aways unless I have just checked them. I had hens for 3 yrs without this happening maybe I can go a long time this time too.
I wish you the best of luck with your answer to your question of flock culling. It is so hard. Gloria Jean

 

[mama24]

I had some chickens come down with an illness that I was told by a state ag vet was most likely MG. He told me it was NOT contagious when they weren't showing symptoms, so if your hens are healthy, not showing symptoms, the eggs will not be contaminated. He also said I could dip them in dilute Tylan solution to make sure the eggs weren't infected before incubating. He actually recommended I not cull my flock, just don't sell any birds that have ever shown symptoms. He said so many wild birds carry and spread it, it was almost inevitable for a backyard flock to contract it eventually.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm really sorry you're having to deal with this. Yes, I do think that percentage is WAY exaggerated. I think you may have it more in some regions of the country than others, yes, but no way most flocks in American are MG positive.

What I hate to see is an attitude I do see in many threads--why cull when"everyone's" flock has it and it's so common? That leads to a lax attitude about disease prevention and more heartache when the folks who now believe this is no big deal start selling their carrier birds to others. You must do all you can to keep disease out of the flock, don't let down your guard. If by some chance, it does find its way in, you need to have a plan ahead of time to deal with it.

I decided before I ever got chickens (yes, I research everything and wish more folks would before starting with chickens) that I would not allow respiratory disease to reside in my flock, that I would cull if it ever happened. I do sell chicks on occasion and I do sell hatching eggs locally, plus occasionally, I rehome an adult bird. I don't want to be the cause of heartache for someone else. To me, it's just being ethical.

 

[Kansaseq]

Thanks, Cynthia,
I really appreciate your input and respect your opinion. I would never want to visit this heartache on someone else.

 

[speckledhen]

Knowing what you need to do and doing it are quite different things, I realize. I don't wish this on anyone. I love my birds and I do mean I adore them, some more than others, yeah, but they are such special creatures. I pray I'm never in a position to have to euthanize my friends so I just try my best to keep disease out. It's all anyone can do and even then, I could someday be faced with this. It's just awful. Gloria Jean had to make that devastating decision and I know how much she loved some of those birds. She had hers tested every few months for MG/MS and even then, MS came into her flock via hatching eggs from an infected flock.

 

[Kansaseq]

Quote:
Thanks for sharing that. It helps to hear from people who have lived it, and what their outcome was. So sorry you had this happen

 

[Erica]

I've bought MG carriers in the past and it was just awful and depressing. As soon as there's a minor stressor (in this case a goshawk was flying over daily) they showed symptoms — gurgling, runny nose, and gradual decline. And that's the pattern with it — invisible unless there's another stress, but then it can be catstrophic. I would hate to do this to someone else by selling an invisibly sick bird.

I've since only bought what I'm sure are MG free birds — I can believe this because the same stressors aren't bringing any symptoms and I never hear more than the occasional dust-based sneeze. Growing chicks have a variety of stresses but don't develop respiratory signs. Fowl pox stays simple fowl pox, goshawk fly-overs lead to cowering but nothing more. And despite my share of rodents, visiting birds etc, I haven't had any sign of MG since, so I would say environmental contagion isn't quite as big an issue as chicken-to-chicken (i.e. breeder) contagion.

For the OP: apparently it's not long lived off the chickens, only a matter of days, though it can live slightly longer on feathers etc. A general sweep and single disinfect, plus a wait of a couple of weeks should suffice if you down the all-in-all-out path. That's for MG of course, not necessarily MS — I haven't read much on the synovial form.

The ducks are a harder issue... For me, if I couldn't find decent information on carrier potential with ducks, my decision would probably be (unfortunately) to cull the ducks, or not get new chickens until the ducks have passed on naturally. If they're healthy you might give them away or sell them to a duck-only keeper... They wouldn't have to be kill-culled.

Remember I've had MG here and despite an ongoing rat population (which I deal with but never quite remove) I haven't seen MG since culling the flock, doing a basic clean-and-wait (I didn't even disinfect — just swept out and waited 2 weeks) then starting again.

I feel it's really worth taking this seriously, and trying to eradicate it.

NB I know at least one breeder who has been 'breeding for resistance' for many years... She still hasn't achieved it and still loses birds, especially when she brings in new blood. Some diseases like Marek's have high resistance heritability... I'm not sure given MG's role as a secondary infection (allowing other infections to go rampant) that the same thing is worth saying about MG.

 

[chickengrl]

Quote:
This is probably the closest to being able to be sure your flock is clean a person can get. IMHO

 

[tls_ranch]

Quote:
This is probably the closest to being able to be sure your flock is clean a person can get. IMHO

I just hope I never have to go through with "the plan". I too would have a hard time culling my flock. But, if anyone has any other "steps" to add I would like hear about them. I think I would also add "natural" aids as well. Like AVC in the water and Tumeric to boost immune systems etc....

Trisha

 

[schellie69]

Kansaseq just thought I would check in and see how things were going? I hope you are okay. I am sorry this happened to you.