Mycoplasma and management - Advice, experience please!

[gmjarvi]

I dont know the demographic of 4H at all, but if its primarily middle class or lower, I doubt they have an avian vet writing them copious antibiotic scripts.

True

 

[gmjarvi]

I agree about the parasites. Chickens are more susceptible picking up parasites from wild birds.
As far as the wild turkey's go...tomorrow is Thanksgiving, meat on the table! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I've heard wild turkey meat is terrible, but I'd like to try it someday and see for myself . I know I like grouse/partridge!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I'm curious as to where you read that MG cannot be passed from wild birds to chickens? I've not read that anywhere. It's also worth noting that lab tests for MG performed on species that aren't the normal species tested may not produce reliable results. At least, that's what my state extension lab says, and I trust their educated opinion.

You said it yourself you bought someone's birds thatt had runny noses indicating they were sick meaning someone else birds got the rest sick not wild birds and what google crap are you reading that mg is transmitted by wild birds...and hope you dont take your birds ever to a 4h as it's very contagious and if the state found out you have mg will go to your house and cull the birds for you as you are putting other native species at risk from being selfish and if you hatch it's transmitted through the eggpeople who have mg flicks usually keep a closed flock meaning no birds in or out but your birds are already roaming around infecting everything else.

 

[gmjarvi]

You said it yourself you bought someone's birds thatt had runny noses indicating they were sick meaning someone else birds got the rest sick not wild birds and what google crap are you reading that mg is transmitted by wild birds...and hope you dont take your birds ever to a 4h as it's very contagious and if the state found out you have mg will go to your house and cull the birds for you as you are putting other native species at risk from being selfish and if you hatch it's transmitted through the eggpeople who have mg flicks usually keep a closed flock meaning no birds in or out but your birds are already roaming around infecting everything else.

Take a couple deep, deep breaths! I'm not sure this is worth getting super worked up about.

I don't have any plans to show birds in the near future, and have every intention of managing my flock responsibly. That's why I'm here! If you've been reading along, you'd know that I have every intention of testing my flock in the spring when drawing blood or doing swabs will be less stressful for them.

My birds are not "roaming around infecting everything else," they are allowed to free range during the spring, summer, and fall on my property, and rarely venture more than 25 feet away from their coop. There are 15 acres to my property, I have one neighbor and they don't have poultry . Yeah, I could have sourced my original flock in a better way, but I had no idea what I was doing at the time and was under the impression that chicken "colds" were not chronic bacterial infections.

Every state agricultural/veterinary extension article I have read about MG has stated that it is present in wild passerine flocks, and therefore keeping wild birds away from your flock is an important part of keeping an MG free flock. If you can't produce a reliable source that says MG cannot be passed from wild birds to chickens, I'm not really interested in hearing more.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Take a couple deep, deep breaths! I'm not sure this is worth getting super worked up about.

I don't have any plans to show birds in the near future, and have every intention of managing my flock responsibly. That's why I'm here! If you've been reading along, you'd know that I have every intention of testing my flock in the spring when drawing blood or doing swabs will be less stressful for them.

My birds are not "roaming around infecting everything else," they are allowed to free range during the spring, summer, and fall on my property, and rarely venture more than 25 feet away from their coop. There are 15 acres to my property, I have one neighbor and they don't have poultry . Yeah, I could have sourced my original flock in a better way, but I had no idea what I was doing at the time and was under the impression that chicken "colds" were not chronic bacterial infections.

Every state agricultural/veterinary extension article I have read about MG has stated that it is present in wild passerine flocks, and therefore keeping wild birds away from your flock is an important part of keeping an MG free flock. If you can't produce a reliable source that says MG cannot be passed from wild birds to chickens, I'm not really interested in hearing more.

When I see proof someone's chickens got mg from a wild bird then I'll be interested to hear more to until then I don't need notification on this post anymore

 

[gmjarvi]

When I see proof someone's chickens got mg from a wild bird then I'll be interested to hear more to until then I don't need notification on this post anymore

Okay, feel free to turn notifications off for this post! Thanks for coming.

 

[NatJ]

Do you show birds? I would like my son to do 4H, which would involve showing birds at the county fair...and shows just scream infection to me, even though they have signs about biosecurity everywhere.

When I was a kid, we raised meat rabbits, and one year I wanted to enter some in the fair.
My mother said I could only take ones that were not needed for breeding, and that we would butcher them as soon as we got home from the fair.
Obviously, that approach only works in some cases

Of course you will want to be sure you are not bringing diseases to the fair, so make sure your entire flock is healthy, and especially the particular birds you bring.

 

[ackie]

oh it should be worth noting that birds with MG/MS can still be safely eaten including their eggs

 

[gmjarvi]

When I was a kid, we raised meat rabbits, and one year I wanted to enter some in the fair.
My mother said I could only take ones that were not needed for breeding, and that we would butcher them as soon as we got home from the fair.
Obviously, that approach only works in some cases

Of course you will want to be sure you are not bringing diseases to the fair, so make sure your entire flock is healthy, and especially the particular birds you bring.

Your mom sounds like a wise woman! This sounds like a reasonable approach to me, but I do know some chicken people that have prized show chickens and might have a cardiac event if they had to butcher their favorite show bird!

And absolutely, I would never willingly or knowingly endanger other people's flocks. I think maybe I didn't word that part of my original post right. I was thinking more from a biosecurity standpoint, if my son hypothetically enters a /healthy/ bird into a show, how can I expect my flock to remain MG free if the disease is as rampant as is claimed? If i knew a bird was sick i would never enter it, not if it were my kid's favorite bird on planet earth.

 

[Myrshine]

From what I’ve gathered and read about Michigan State University on poultry diseases MG/MS ARE reportable diseases in the state as you’re putting native species in danger as well as spreading the disease to other flocks. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdard/Reportable_Disease_List_668347_7.pdf

I honestly dislike the ignorant people who claim that they’ve “cured” their birds of these diseases or don’t believe that they’re as serious as they are. Honestly, they are the reason these diseases continue to spread. I try to teach others the truth about MG, MS, ILTV, IC, IBV, NDV, AIV and even FC, but they never believe me and ignorantly put others birds in danger.
From my devastation and experience, if I ever have a bird express ANY sort of respiratory symptoms, it’ll unfortunately have to be culled. I’ll never buy from locals again and only stick with reputable hatcheries. I will from now on, have strict farm biosecurity and won’t allow ANYONE to just come over and visit my flocks.