Michigan

[fifelakelooper]

I CALLED MSU AND GOT RESULTS FOR THE MG/MS TEST....MY FLOCK TESTED NEGATIVE!!! WHOO WOOOO!! I am SO thankful that I tested and quite frankly if not for Olive Hill and Chicken Grandma...I would have just assumed the worst and culled!! They have emailed me the results but my computer won't let me open them (no application...I've had this issue before) so I forwarded it to my sister to is "techy" and asked her to email it back opened so I can print it for my records. I was told by the lab lady all the tests came back negative but I'm calling dr. Mick Fulton tomorrow at MSU to see what he says. I still hear wheezing from the two roos sometimes and maybe one sneeze daily. Maybe the dust from the shavings?? If I get the email opened and it isn't too long...I might try to post it here....if that is allowed.?? The lab lady said I probably would not understand the test results when I get them but that they were negative. I am so thrilled I can't tell you.
Now...I am thinking about asking a friend who has NO chickens if she would watch them for 3 months. That way...they would not be near anothers flock.
Just had to share my good news.

 

[M.sue]

Quote:
Keep trying to be postive.....Things are bound to do a turn around!!

 

[RaZ]

Great news, Fife.

 

[Chickmate]

M.sue :

Quote:
The dark eggs come from my French Black Copper Marans.

Those are the ones I want to get!! Very cool. I see you mark your eggs. I just mark the carton in the order they are filled.​

Yeah, I love my Marans. My customers have all commented that they love that they can see what day the egg was laid.

 

[sj3364]

Congratulations, Fife! That is wonderful news. Your birds are so beautiful. It made me sick thinking about just culling them all.

 

[1muttsfan]

Fife that is so great

Raz that is so sweet, she must have been the one that layed one little gem for me, I have not seen another since you took the girls.

 

[chicken grandma]

So glad for you Fife! Your birds are very very beautiful.
I would try amoxicillan in the birds who are wheezing. I used 0.5ml of Amoxicillan twice a day in my 1.5 lb bantam hen for 7 days.
I am sure your roosters would need a larger dose (double that?) but I was very consistant in giving the dose morning and evening for the full seven days and I gave a probiotic mid day. A lot of trouble for a chicken, I know, but I guess I was just surprised and confused by the diagnosis and followed orders!

Fuzzy -I was SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED at how some folks keep their farm animals. I like rugged and rustic but SICK animals is another story and that is bad for the animals and the community at large. Like Olive said earlier, it is kinder/wiser to cull an animal than to spread disease by keeping/selling/trading sick animals.

I wonder what we can do to improve chicken flock health in Michigan? Does anyone know?

When I went to adopt an adult hen this Summer I found farms with sick animals. It concerned me that people did not seem to want to stop the spread of disease. One VETERINARIAN who raised chickens offered me a hen from his flock. He was very honest to disclose that he had lost some of the chickens from that flock to Mareks disease but I was surprised that he would consider keeping and even rehoming from that flock. Flocks with Coccidia are common and it is up to us to test for that before adding new chickens into our flocks.

On a funny topic - you are all gonna love this - I went to LOWES and they put a thermostat on my heat lamp!!!!!!!!!
Not a thermo cube - a regular house thermostat wired to an extention cord and my heat lamp plugs into the extention cord.
So I can set the temperature to 50 degrees and the lamp will come on and off as needed! IS that a HOOT!!???

 

[taprock]

Fife - that is wonderful!!!

Egg production has stepped up here to a whopping 6 eggs yesterday and 5 today.......out of 19 hens. So much for paying for themselves. To be fair some still have feathers growing in from the molt.

I spent the day on a Doe Season Quilt shop hop in the U.P. Lots of neat ideas and snow. Found some neat chicken fabric and patterns.

 

[chickflick]

Great News Fife!!! I'm so glad that all is well.

 

[fifelakelooper]

I'm attaching them as pictures.


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Well...I tried to post the results here...my sister opened the PDF file for me so I could print the MSU test results. I couldn't get it on here however. It said:

Test Name: Parasit/Immuno

Avian Mycoplasma PCRs
11/15/2011 Test Result Parasit/Immuno

Pooled swab samples were negative for Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma iowae, Mycoplasma meleagridis and Mycoplasma synoviae by PCR assays.

Hurrah! Note: I didn't even know there were that many forms of Mycoplasma
I still am calling the lab to discuss it with Dr. Mick Fulton





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