Mycoplasma - is quarantine essential?

[ChickenCanoe]

There is no known human health risk so you can still eat the birds. Clean and disinfect the housing and leave it empty for a few weeks before you resupply with mycoplasma free birds.

 

[dawg53]

So if some of your birds have MG then all of them have already been exposed to it and the whole flock is sick? Does that mean that I should get rid of all of them? Because the flock that got the disease is the babies that I'm raising their almost young adults and its gonna break my heart to let them go because me and my family have gotten real close with the little guys and we dont want to see them go. But if its going to eventually infect my whole flock I think that I have to get rid of the little guys

It takes just one infected bird to infect a whole flock. There are cases where you dont even need an infected bird to infect a flock, for example; You go to a chicken swap meet and you unknowingly pick up and handle a sick bird. In doing so, you just contaminated your hands and clothing. Then you drive home in your now contaminated car and go straight to your coop and handle your favorite bird. Now your favorite bird is going to get sick and spread the disease. Depending on how severe the strain, symptoms can be slow to appear or will be severe as the disease works it way through a flock. Nightmare scenario but it happens, I've read plenty of horror stories in this forum of similar events and it's sad because biosecurity wasnt put into practice.
There are other respiratory diseases besides mycoplasma diseases that are similar when biosecurity fails.
You are going have to make the decision whether or not to treat your flock, or cull. They are your birds and I cant make that decision for you and neither can anyone else.
I'm sorry you're going through this.
IF you decide to cull; you can repopulate in a short period of time. Mycoplasma diseases cannot survive in the environment longer than 3 days. During this 3 day period, you can sanitize the inside of your coop, nest boxes, roosts, waterers and feeders using activated Oxine. Burn bedding also.
Then after one week, you can add new birds.
One gallon of Oxine with 1 pound activator mixed in a sprayer with the nozzle set on wide spray will do the trick. Here's a link where to buy Oxine and citric acid activator:
https://www.revivalanimal.com/product/oxine-animal-health-ah?sku=15101-801

I forgot to add to what Kikisgirls stated; getting a bird tested for a mycoplasma disease is best. It can be done by bloodwork, but a necropsy is the way to go. Why? Because there are times that birds may have two or more diseases at once. A good example is coryza. Alot of birds that have coryza most likely have mycoplasma gallicepticum as well. Coryza requires a different antibiotic in conjunction with a different antibiotic to treat mycoplasma.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

There is no known human health risk so you can still eat the birds. Clean and disinfect the housing and leave it empty for a few weeks before you resupply with mycoplasma free birds.

Good info! This is something that, I for one, should be reminding people of more often.
Culling, disinfecting and following a waiting period is always an option. It's something that none of us like to talk about because it's sad. On the ER threads there are so many people that ask for help, we often just recommend testing if one dies and offer suggestions for treating symptoms. I do tell people that birds are carriers and provide links, but I'm just not sure how many people actually read that or understand carriers.

Unless strict bio-security has been implemented between flocks (regardless of age) and they have been housed far apart, transmission of respiratory illness is likely. Dust, dander, feathers, bodily fluids/poop are all vectors of illness - this means if you go in one coop and walk to the other....it's probably on your shoes, might be on your clothes, you just tracked it around. Same goes for just walking through auctions/swap and poultry shows, you need to really think about these things.

 

[dawg53]

The meat would be downgraded I'm sure, but edible. I'd eat it.

 

[JBirdy]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies! In terms of housing the chicks together, that's what I kind of thought - they've all been exposed already, so as long as they're all being treated, it sounds like it is not a problem.

I have a feeling that the stress of being moved out into the coop/run while we still have the odd windy, rainy, cold day might have been stress inducing for her.

They are part of our family, so definitely no culling. After the treatment, I hope I can keep them healthy by keeping their immunity up with ACV, lots of veggies, etc.

In terms of culling, from what I understand is that mycoplasma can be easily transmitted by even a wild bird entering the chicken area, so it's really hard to say if by culling, you won't have the problem again. But, each to their own.

 

[JBirdy]

All your birds have been exposed to MG one way or another by the sick one, no need to separate them now. That's why your vet wants you to treat the whole flock with the tylan. Birds with MG that survive become carriers for life and will spread the disease to healthy birds. Antibiotics treat symptoms but do not cure the disease. Hopefully it's a mild strain.
FYI: You must maintain a closed flock. No new birds in, no birds out to be sold or given away. Eggs are safe to eat. However MG is passed through eggs and can be transmitted to hatching chicks. So, no selling or giving away eggs to be hatched.
As mentioned by ChickenCanoe, try and keep their stress level down. Stress will bring out symptoms and effect egg laying (when they start laying eggs.)
The bacteria will eventually build resistance to the tylan, and another more powerful drug will be needed such as baytril.
However there is a product on the market that you might consider purchasing: Denagard.
Denagard (Tiamulin) treats mycoplasma diseases in poultry. There is no resistance to it nor egg withdrawal period.
https://www.qcsupply.com/denagard-liquid-concentrate-novartis.html

I was reading about Denagard but I can't seem to find anywhere that will ship to Canada. If anyone has a lead on this, I would be grateful.

 

[JBirdy]

May I ask where you purchases these chicks?

If from a person...I think you should contact them and let them know, so hopefully they stop selling sick birds to people.
I highly doubt they are not aware that they have had illness in their flock.
I think they need to be reminded that what they are doing is just wrong.

That's what I was thinking! We found them on a craigslist add...it was a farm that had acquired several varieties of chicks from different breeders, so it's really no surprise that this happened, though I didn't realize when purchasing. The vet also said that they probably knew of the problem. I was thinking about maybe posting a warning on craigslist about the add to other potential buyers? I'm not sure if that would be out of line or not...

 

[Kiki]

hope I can keep them healthy by keeping their immunity up with ACV, lots of veggies, etc.

Feeding them a complete poultry feed and fresh clean water is best.
ACV is not a magically preventative and keeping treats to a bare minimum will ensure that your birds get a complete diet.

 

[Kiki]

That's what I was thinking! We found them on a craigslist add...it was a farm that had acquired several varieties of chicks from different breeders, so it's really no surprise that this happened, though I didn't realize when purchasing. The vet also said that they probably knew of the problem. I was thinking about maybe posting a warning on craigslist about the add to other potential buyers? I'm not sure if that would be out of line or not...

This is a personal choice.

I would contact the seller immediately.
Should I happen to be surfing Craigslist and see said selling selling birds again, i would report the post.

I am not one for public shaming and haven't been in a situation where I would have to think about doing it myself so I am not sure if this is something I would do or not.
I have wanted to publicly shame a person or two on here but haven't.

 

[JBirdy]

Feeding them a complete poultry feed and fresh clean water is best.
ACV is not a magically preventative and keeping treats to a bare minimum will ensure that your birds get a complete diet.

Maybe I said that incorrectly, they'll be getting a great poultry feed and they have always had clean water available all day long... I meant boosting their immunity in addition to the basics.