Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG). Kill Flock or not?

[yanmar1610d]

My chickens have been diagnosed with Mycoplasma Gallisepticum (MG) per test conducted by a VET. I have the following options.

Option 1: The vet said to treat them with Tylan which will treat the birds that are still alive but they will still be carriers of the disease. Birds could live for year with-out ever having any more problems.

Option 2: Kill all the birds, clean the house and run out of all deprive, burn the Chickens and deprive. Spray the house and run with bleach once a week for a month and then start over with new chickens.

My plan was to sell the eggs from these chickens on E-bay. My plan is now ruined. But with my birds being infected with MG any eggs hatched from these chickens could have MG when hatched out. The Vet stated that the Eggs and chickens would be safe to eat after the treatment period with Tylan. From what I have read the eggs are safe to eat after 16 days from the end of the treatment.

I am thinking I will take Option 2 and just start all over. Reason being, I do not think I could sell my eggs with a clear conscience knowing they may be infected. Also, there are others in my area that have small flocks and I do not what to pass this disease on to their flocks.

What would you do?

 

[ND]

I have a closed flock that has MG (I think...or something...no official testing, but it was very MG like when it showed symptoms), I did not depopulate. Having said that, I don't sell any birds, chicks, or hatching eggs... the chickens are just our 'pets' and we enjoy the eggs.

If your plans are to sell chicks/birds or hatching eggs... I would depopulate and start 'clean'. The risk of it being spread through hatching eggs is a small %, but it's still there. *I* would not feel responsible selling birds or hatching eggs if I knew there was a risk of spreading a disease that I was aware was present.

Extreme care must be taken if you chose to cull and start again... you could easily end up with another infected flock if you do not practice fairly strict bio-security. Know and understand what precautions you must take...and don't ever 'bend the rules' if you start over. MG is EVERYWHERE--- it's easily transmitted... it's easily brought home to your birds...


FWIW, I find that Denagard is far superior to treating and 'preventative maintenance' on an MG positive flock than anything else. They hate the taste of it (add lots of sugar), but it's been far superior to Tylan and even Baytril. It's more expensive (as an initial purchase) than Tylan, but the bottle lasts forever... price per dose is actually very, very cheap...
Anyway, I'd recommend that medication for anyone choosing to treat MG or any other CRD in chickens.

 

[mkeawsh]

Quote:
How did you know your flock had "something"? What are the symptoms?

 

[yanmar1610d]

They started Dying and looked sick. Had a crust over their eyes. They STINK so bad you can smell them 20 feet away from the pen. Their pen has never had a smell. Thick Thick Yellow stuff running out of their mouth and nose.

 

[pips&peeps]

That sounds like coryza, what kind of vet did the testing??????

 

[RedneckChikns]

This may sound a bit unethical but I like to cut my losses....
I would get them well-showing no symptoms
Then I would carry them to the local livestock sale, keep my mouth shut and be happy with how ever many pennies I get for them.
Bleach the POO out of everything and start over.
That way at least you have made a buck-maybe not what you had invested, but you cut your losses and this will sound CRUEL but paybacks a #itch with those little livestock sales with ag inspectors in the hands of the owners and paid to look the other way. How many times years and years ago did I used to COME HOME with funky illnessness from those kinda places that are totally mismanaged and the biggest propogators of serious poultry diseases!

Sooo sorry you are having to experience something like what you are going through.

 

[ND]

Quote:
How did you know your flock had "something"? What are the symptoms?

About two weeks (or a bit more) after I bought my birds (the entire flock, purchased from one place), they began to exhibit "cold like" symptoms. Sneezing, some had raspy breathing, small bubbles in the corners of the eyes, a few coughed. The affected ones acted somewhat lethargic... or some of them did. Some may only have sneezed, or had bubbly eyes. It was fairly mild... I didn't lose any birds. When they got sick (total chicken newbie), I started researching. As I said, I didn't have any tested (not readily available around here), but I feel fairly certain that it's MG-- given the incubation period (mostly) and symptoms (but those are shared among several of the CRD illnesses).

In any event, it can be assumed that my birds are carriers of whatever it is, and will infect healthy birds if I sold them to someone else. I won't knowingly infect other birds, so no bird will leave my property alive, for any reason. I don't show (didn't want to anyway), don't breed (would only want to for personal flock replacement, not for selling), and don't have any interest in selling hatching eggs... so aside from the pain in the butt aspect of the acute stage of the illness when I was treating them, there's virtually no risk of my flock spreading this to outside healthy birds. (I don't even have any friends or family with chickens)

 

[RedneckChikns]

PS dont feel bad...you could have got it in a carrier bird or a wild bird passing by. There is a MG vax you can get and after having it I would SURE vax any new chicks you get in!

 

[ND]

Quote:
I feel fortunate that I don't live anywhere near close enough to accidentally do business with you.
FWIW, the only people you'd be "paying back" in that scenario was the unsuspecting sap that bought your chickens... not the owners or the inspectors even. It'd be 'newbies' that didn't realize healthy LOOKING chickens could decimate their entire healthy flock. And this is why these diseases are so rampant and there's no real hope in containing them.

 

[DAFox]

When I was dealing with a possible outbreak of MG, Kathyinmo and I were PMing information back and forth. This is one of the PMs that Kathy sent me. It was from a thread here. I can't remember the exact thread name. I use Denagard now on a monthly basis. Eggs and chicks "should" be MG free. I have not had any tested, but, since starting the prevention program, I haven't had any symptoms.

Sonoran Silkies wrote:
Boring Farm wrote:
...they have CRD, Chronic Respiratory Disease, caused by Mycoplasma bacteria that is considered to be one of the smallest cell bacteria that has no walls, where no antibiotic will cure and then it acts like a virus, only rearing its ugly head when your birds are stressed, over heated, cold, or during molt. I was hoping I could successfully treat them with two antibiotics, terramycin and streptomycin, but within the last two days they have started to show mucus around the nostrils and as of today, one has reverted to a pneumonia like symptoms, coughing, gurgling, swollen face and frothy eyes.
...
From a very recent post on another website "I also found the articles about Mycoplasma interesting, as he talks about Tiammutin (Denagard) as an effective treatment
http://www.octagon-services.co.uk/articles/avian_mycoplasma.htm

http://www.octagon-services.co.uk/articles/mycoplasma_sensitivity.htm


Mycoplasma is present in 75% - 89% of ALL flocks, both commercial and private according to Dr. Scott Jones at the Baron Diagnostic Lab in Wisconsin. If you have bought birds from somewhere else or birds were previously raised on your property, it is highly likely that you have Mycoplasma in your birds. Most people never know it, as symptoms usually do not appear unless the flock is under stress. Common symptoms are decrease in egg production, also embyo and chick mortality (Mycoplasma can be transmitted via egg). Mycoplasma It is extremely hard to treat but Tiamulin (sold as Denagard) is a very effective antibiotic, especially against bacterial respiratory diseases. Denagard has the added advantage of having zero withdrawal period for eggs as it is unrelated to any antibiotic used in humans. You can read more about it here:

http://www.tiamutin.com/vet-poultry/firstchoice/en/protection.shtml

I ordered it from QC Supply. http://www.qcsupply.com/
I keep it on hand as an effective broad spectrum antibiotic that is available without Rx. It can also be used as a preventative against Mycoplasma. Dosage instructions;

Preventative is 8cc's to a gallon of water
Treatment is almost double the preventative dosage, 15cc's to a gallon of water.

Give as only water for 3-5 days, repeat in 3 weeks

If breeding for chicks with your birds, I would do the treatment dosage for the 5 days, then again in 3 weeks reduce dosage to 12cc per gallon. (Denagard given to breeding hens prevents transmission via egg)

Don't exceed the 15cc's to a gallon of water, it can harm kidneys. Denagard is bitter, if your birds won’t drink it add a bit of sugar to the water

Make sure you are not using medicated feeds. Chick starter with Amprolium in it IS SAFE to use with the Denagard, the Tiamutin site lists the drugs that are safe to use with it. You don’t want to use other antibiotics at the same time as antibiotics can be hard on the bird’s kidneys"

I've since read up on it; sounds very promising. And note that it is a bacteriacide.