My flock has Mycoplasma! Please help!!

[crystal2658]

I have just discovered what has been wrong with our (12) chickens & (4) bourbon red turkeys. They have Mycoplasma! First off I would REALLY like to thank the breeder for selling these to me, finding out just a few weeks later that his whole flock was contaminated & had to be culled, and NOT notifying me when he found out what was happening! I understand that this has been a tough situation for him, but a quick email or phone call would have gone a long way to easing this situation. We were raising these as pets & breeders & have gotten quite attached to them. Now we have to figure out how to cull/butcher them.

That said, from what I have read tonight & can understand: (1) It will be okay for us to butcher and eat these infected birds (if we can); (2) I will need to disinfect their coop & all their dishes; (3) After all this is done, I will be able to put new birds in the same area as the infected ones were in. Is all this correct?

Also, what about the ground around the coop? Is there something I should spray/sprinkle to decontaminate it or will time do the trick. We live in central Michigan so the winter should get pretty cold. But, will the cold keep the disease dormant to reawaken in the spring? We don't plan on replacing any birds till next spring.

Thanks for your help. This just sucks!

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

From what I've read on this forum the microbe will live in the earth for a month and will be killed by a hard freeze. Since you are not replacing them till spring so it will be safe. That being said you have my sympathy for what that breeder put you through.

I send you all the

and

I hope next year will be better.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Oh by the way

We have tons of people here that can help. Hang in there.

 

[crazyhen]

Last yr I lost a whole flock to ms/mg.

I had a neighbor who took the hens. I then redid my coop floor.

I cleanned everything with clorox and then came back with vikron-s. I put new sand in the under roof exercise area. I limed ,tilled and planted a spring crop of alfalfa in the run. I repainted the inside of my coop. With all that I was not satisfied and bought Denaguard. I have 24 week old pullets now and they get treated with Den. every 2 or three weeks for 3 days as a preventative in their water. So far I have not seen any start of the disease again. I hope I never see it again.

It was terribly heart breaking. I went 3 months with chicks or hens.

My pullets are just now getting ready to lay. The Del. layed her first egg this week..

I send you love and hope you will be as lucky to have new ones without the disease. The one who sold you those could have at least notified you. . People like that make me angry.

Gloria Jean

 

[ODS-n-ENS FARM]

Sorry you have to go through this.

 

[crystal2658]

Thanks for all your responses. This evening has been devestating after finding out what has been going on with our poor birds. I keep being wishy-washy about wether to cull them or not. I mean we are just keeping them here & not selling any, so why not keep them? But then I think about how they are going to continue to get sick at times & how they will pass it on to their offspring come next year. Just a big revolving headache.

Another thing that really sucks about this is that this was a totally new replacement/start-over flock. The summer before we had 16 hens that were wiped out in 2 weeks by a godzilla-sized raccoon while we were on vacation out of state & a friend was taking care of them. We came home to 3 hens that were terrified of the chicken coop & were roosting in the wheel wells of our farm truck an acre away from the coop. They screamed horribly when I put them back in the coop when we got home. I locked them up tight for a couple days until the coon met our shot gun, then gave them to a friend so they could free roam again with no worries from predators. We've had to dispatch 2 more of the varmints in the last couple months. Thankfully the new birds were all locked up at night when they came around. Saved from the raccoons only to be dealt this.

 

[Frithest]

Crystal2658, you've had some horrible experiences. You must really love your birds - I hope things get better for you.

 

[StandardLover]

My flock has some Upper respritory infection as well. We recieved our Tylan two days ago, it seems to be working well. I wouldn't cull your flock just yet. Clean out their encloser, and get etheir denaguard, or Tylan. (Both desighned for Mycoplasma.)

 

[crystal2658]

Thanks StandardLover. I know about the Tylan, but my problem is that I got this flock with the intentions to let them breed and raise chicks of their own that we could later butcher, as needed, the grown chicks. I could use the Tylan, but it won't cure them, it will just cover it up & then the Mycoplasma will just spring on you again when your unsuspecting. It would just be a vicious cycle of who's going to get it next & when? I'm especially upset about the turkeys. I just figured out yesterday that we had a tom & 3 hens. If they proved to be fruitful in the future I was planning on expanding the flock & selling the extras that we wouldn't need. We just started building a new bigger coop earlier this week for the turkeys & I was in contact with another person who raises them to get another breeding pair next week. The chickens were a mixture of breeds that I selected for their meat size, egg laying ability, broodiness, & temperament. I planned on seeing what type of chicken I could have a few years down the road. It sucks big time but I think I just need to cut my losses & start over fresh again (with my fingers & toes crossed). Good luck with your flock also. I hope everything goes good for you & everybody improves.

 

[Elite Silkies]

You need to remove at least 6 inches of the earth and then saturate it with either the Vikron-s or another product that will kill viruses. A good freeze should help kill off the virus. You do need to be aware that wild birds carry MG and if your coop is not 100% wild bird proof your new flock can be infected.