MG and MS.....Depopulating......starting over :(

[redrum81]

I am posting this to hopefully help someone in a situation with sick birds. when my birds started getting sick i had no clue who to contact....well after alot of digging i found out that you need to contact your county extension agent and they will pretty much direct you from there. anyone ever had to go through this because of MG, MS, or any other diseases? i started out with 12 chicks from tractor supply and then went crazy buying other chickens from individuals as well...about 4 different individuals i would say. i also bought birds from one of those tractor supply animal swaps one day.... with all of the diseases going around that birds can get, why do they even have these??? seems like its only a place to get rid of your bad birds. i was wondering why all those people were selling off those beautiful birds...because they knew, and they knew i was a chicken noob. so i ended up with 2 turkeys, 4 guineas, and 25 or so chickens and bantam chickens.....all beautiful and named and ready to walk up and eat out of your hand.....they were all great until one got the swollen puss filled eyes, sneezing, coughing, and wheezing. this goes away but they will be carriers of it for the rest of their lives MG and MS), leaving you unable to sell birds or eggs. While the birds and eggs are OK to consume, you dont want to risk infecting other birds. i will do my part to make sure my property is cleaned properly. i have a guy from UGA coming to help me properly dispose of everything and clean clean clean. shame on all you people for selling your live birds off to infect other flocks, forcing them to go through the heartache of killing off every bird they have come attached to. so i will start over again next spring ONLY buying from a respectable, disease free hatchery. did yall know that over half of the eggs in grocery stores are MS and MG positive? these are words from a poultry vet at UGA.

 

[dawg53]

Excellent information, a tough lesson learned. Unfortunately alot of people think that birds can be treated for diseases and they are cured, just like in humans. Not so in the bird world. Even with the mildest strains of diseases, they are not cured no matter how much meds are given...they are carriers of the disease(s) for life and will spread it to other birds. Maintaining strict biosecurity and a closed flock goes along way in keeping a healthy flock.
Sorry you went through this and good luck.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Well it's also easy to sell a bird that looks perfectly healthy, and may have looked healthy all it's life, only to have the stress of going to the sale and then to a new home bring on an outbreak of whatever illness it may be a carrier of. It is possible to have carrier birds in ones flock, or for birds to have had a mild illness that the owner just didn't catch if they have a lot of birds. Many people have MG or other forms of respiratory diseases in their flocks and may not know it for a long time.

So while I agree that there are certainly unscrupulous people out there getting rid of sick birds at auctions and swaps there are also plenty of people who have no idea their bird is a carrier of something.

The best advice is to stay away from those types of places and, as you mentioned, only buy birds from reputable sources. Even then, it's always a risk bringing in any new adult bird, but it does minimize the risks.

 

[redrum81]

thanks dawg. hopefully this post will come up for someones google search in years to come.

 

[sphillips]

I'm so very sorry you had to deal with this. I got 6 of my chicks from TSC, and another 25 from a hatchery. I've lost three - one to a dog, and two because of crop issues that I couldn't help them with, no matter how much I tried. I would highly recommend getting your birds from a reputable hatchery next spring. I'm new to chickens as well, and it's hard enough to lose a few to things you can't control, much less have a bunch of sick birds on your hands, and not know what to do about it. Chickens are not easy to treat I've found, I have had special needs dogs for the last several years, and chickens are very intimidating. I wish you the best of luck with your new batch, and hope that things go better for you with your new babies.