My bird has the bird form of Mycoplasma, help!

[JadeFarms]

My bird has bubbles running out of eye, and is starting to shut. I have heard it’s very contagious to the others. It is also called Mycoplasma, it can kill the bird too, and there is no cure. What do I do?

 

[Rammy]

Cull. I had this same thing recently run thru my flock. Anyone showing symptoms got put down. There is no cure and any infected bird that has it can pass it to others and thru the egg. Your surviving birds will e carriers for life.
I now am maintaining a closed flock. No new in, none out. Disinfect everything you can. @speckledhen has a great article on here called The Ten Commandments of Managing your Flock. Its a great read.
From what Ive read about MG it can also be transmitted from being on shoes and clothing so have a dedicated pair of shoes for just the coop. Dont let anyone come on your property that may have thier own chickens because they can take this home to thier flock and not know it.
There is alot of info on the internet about this so I would research it so you know what to do. Im so sorry. I lost six chickens to this so far.

 

[Stockpilejoy]

This feed might help until the experts chime in bubbles-in-eye.1273070

 

[clucking with my chicken]

Please don’t cull!
Every animal has a chance!
Imagine if you had a dieses and you were not allowed to make the choice to live.
How would you feel?
Please read this and reconsider culling that precious life..
http://www.gapoultrylab.org/wp-cont...coplasma handout for Backyard Flocks 4-12.pdf
And if you do choose to keep her life please let me know too!

 

[clucking with my chicken]

This feed might help until the experts chime in bubbles-in-eye.1273070

Thank you for it agreeing to not cull !

 

[Eggcessive]

Mycoplasma gallisepticum or MG is a common chronic respiratory disease in chickens. It can cause bubbles in eyes, crusting, swelling of the eyelids from a sinus infection, and other symptoms. It can spread through a flock, can be passed through hatching eggs, and symptoms may come back later in when a chicken becomes stressed.
MG is treated with Tylan, oxytetracycline, and a couple of other antibiotics. Many flocks in the US have been exposed to MG, and some chickens may never show symptoms, although they may test positive for the disease. Culling is not necessary. More than likely, your other chickens have already been exposed to MG through the same way this chicken has been. I would treat her symptoms with Tylan or tylosin in her water for 5 days and you can buy it here without a prescription:
https://www.jedds.com/shop/tylan-soluble-100-g/

Here is some reading about MG:
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_docs/programs/poultry/FS-1008 Recognizing and Preventing Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) Infecti....pdf

 

[clucking with my chicken]

@Eggcessive yep that’s correct Tylan but you have to give it on a monthly bases!

 

[speckledhen]

Please don’t cull!
Every animal has a chance!
Imagine if you had a dieses and you were not allowed to make the choice to live.
How would you feel?
Please read this and reconsider culling that precious life..
http://www.gapoultrylab.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mycoplasma handout for Backyard Flocks 4-12.pdf
And if you do choose to keep her life please let me know too!

Let's learn a bit more here.You absolutely cannot equate human disease with chicken disease. If I get a cold or the flu, I am not contagious the rest of my life, able to infect others even when I am well again. And I am well again....chickens are not. They are carriers, Typhoid Marys, able to infect others even when they are asymptomatic! They are not cured.

Telling people to keep carrier birds in their flocks and act like they had a head cold is doing them a disservice. Most chicken diseases are like herpes viruses or HIV...they are not curable. They only become asymptomatic (seem recovered). The disease stays with them.

Antibiotics do not cure these avian diseases! You MUST learn this fact. It's a harsh reality of chicken-keeping for anyone, but you absolutely cannot wish it away. You sound young, but what you will be doing if you keep sick birds, and make no mistake, they are sick, and you have the mistaken idea that they have recovered, is that you will be responsible for spreading disease to others, especially if you sell or give away any birds and don't inform the new owner that these birds are disease carriers.

Some make the decision to keep and close an infected flock, which means no new birds can come into the flock and none can leave the property, but you also have to use precaution handling them so you don't spread the disease off your property while your birds in a relapsed state. That isn't an easy way to live, very limiting.
It's thinking like this, that you cannot euthanize a chicken for disease, that brings the government down on backyard flocks - don't live in LaLa Land, they do come and kill flocks for certain reportable diseases! You will have no choice if they find out your birds have something like ILT (Infectious Laryngotracheitis).

Giving Tylan does not cure MG or any other carrier disease, no matter how often you give it.

ALL THAT SAID, simple bubbles in the eyes doesn't always mean MG. It can be a bacterial sinus infection, but that would be less likely than MG, especially if it's glue-like. It's hard to know without testing.

 

[Katonk]

Without jumping into the morality issue of end of life decisions i think it's important we remember chickens are good co workers and were domesticated for food. They can be loved as pets of course, but they're food. As a newbie with a small flock being used to feed my family on a very tight budget I find the thought of not culling an incurable chicken appalling on two levels.
One- if you have a pet like that and you allow someone else's deeply loved pet to be exposed to an incurable disease now the owner has their very own best buddy to grieve and share loss with. But not the expense. Might be a kid, might end up on a table. Thats a pretty tough consequence to saving your feelings that someone else must bear.

Two- with such a tight budget I depend on every bird to work for me. I can't afford loses as they equate DIRECTLY to a meatless night at my personal table. My flock isn't big enough yet to be getting regular birds but their eggs have made meat protein a regular and daily thing. Used to be twice weekly, with larger portions going to sons in growth spurts and the youngest two.
My birds are treasured, and treated as well as I can. If one was to fall ill in this manner it would be culled immediately. Why risk total flock loss, a flock that took me a year to establish with much sacrafice we considered investment to keep them growing?
Our cash is finite.
These birds cannot be easily replaced.
But just one hatching egg from one seemingly cured chicken and we're back at rationing food bank meat.
And that's just one single family. Imagine someone who depends on flock management for a living, spreading this to a backyard producer.
And the families that depended on that small producer to provide organically raised meat free from antibiotics. There are a few human illnesses that cause sensitivities to medical intervention within meat sources.

The chicken continues to live while human adults and children suffer for that comfort. And how long is that chickens life compared to a human?

I totally feel for those that want everything to live. I understand the sentiment. I do hope you consider the unseen consequences that treating farm animals like humans can bring.
I know the way I source my family's meat is by far the most humane way we can exist as omnivores. Industrial factories are heartless places by design so they can meet demand, and their meat birds lead short agonizing lives.
I get a bit less, but we're cutting our contribution to that demand.

Please utilize the privilege of private food security responsibly.

 

[Rammy]

I had my hen confirmed by a vet that it was MG, so my decision to cull was not an easy one to make, but for the health of my flock, it had to be done. Even tho no one else is showing symptoms, I am taking measures to insure I dont spread it. That means washing my clothes after feeding, using Oxine for disinfection of the coop, my shoes, and anything else that needs it. No longer selling hens. No new hens. No one is allowed to come here without disinfecting before and after they leave. Im sure there is more that I can do and will if someone tells me but as others have stated, you need to think of the overall picture and decide whats the best course if action.