Mycoplasma - is quarantine essential?

[Kiki]

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.

Probiotics and vitamins.

 

[dawg53]

Probios.

 

[JBirdy]

Probios.
View attachment 1415913

I will be definitely looking for these! It's unfortunate that there are so many products available in the U.S. that we can't get here in Canada.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Are either of these available there?
http://gro2max.com/
http://www.nutridrench.com/
Those are what I keep on hand and use for probiotics and vitamin/mineral/amino acid supplementation.
Pet stores often have an avian probiotic powder. Plain yogurt or kefir with live active cultures works too.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I will be definitely looking for these! It's unfortunate that there are so many products available in the U.S. that we can't get here in Canada.

I know a couple of members from Canada that may chime in with suggestions of what is available @chickens really and @Wickedchicken6

Here's my notes on a few products they have shared over time:
Vitamins and Electrolytes
External Parasites Here and Here
Antibiotics

Hope that helps.

 

[chickens really]

Pet shops carry stuff like that and it's in the Parrot section.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

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.

I agree with everyone that your birds will likely have been exposed and with the information regarding biosecurity. It is incredibly difficult to practice "complete" biosecurity. At some point, you may make a mistake and not even realize it. Every choice you make is a calculated risk. It requires almost a complete lifestyle change a person or farm's biosecurity is only as good as the people practising it. Every time you walk into a feed store, a vet clinic, an abattoir...you run the risk of bringing uninvited pathogens home with you.

I'm more familiar with high health hog facilities and their biosecurity protocol; showering in, showering out and lifestyle changes of where you are allowed to visit. (No vet clinics, no feed stores, no abattoirs, no fairs, no places anywhere that had pigs, no mingling with others who worked at other hog companies, no bringing pork products to the barn. That's just a start. )

Even with a variety of disinfectants and boot washes and bleaching, disease transfer can still occur, not just for chickens but for other livestock and grains/plants as well. As you mentioned, wild birds and rodents can transmit disease and parasites. Mosquitoes, flies, snails etc. are vectors in transmitting disease as well.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

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...

Personally...I would contact the sellers and notify them so they are aware. They may not know and reporting them is jumping to conclusions.

I'm not familiar with British Columbia but from the looking that I've done, Canada doesn't appear to have surveillance testing or assistance with costs of necropsies as some States do. The last time I asked about necropsy costs, it was in the cost range of $200 plus for a bird. If you or anyone else has any information on the testing of poultry, I would love to know.

 

[dawg53]

I agree with everyone that your birds will likely have been exposed and with the information regarding biosecurity. It is incredibly difficult to practice "complete" biosecurity. At some point, you may make a mistake and not even realize it. Every choice you make is a calculated risk. It requires almost a complete lifestyle change a person or farm's biosecurity is only as good as the people practising it. Every time you walk into a feed store, a vet clinic, an abattoir...you run the risk of bringing uninvited pathogens home with you.

I'm more familiar with high health hog facilities and their biosecurity protocol; showering in, showering out and lifestyle changes of where you are allowed to visit. (No vet clinics, no feed stores, no abattoirs, no fairs, no places anywhere that had pigs, no mingling with others who worked at other hog companies, no bringing pork products to the barn. That's just a start. )

Even with a variety of disinfectants and boot washes and bleaching, disease transfer can still occur, not just for chickens but for other livestock and grains/plants as well. As you mentioned, wild birds and rodents can transmit disease and parasites. Mosquitoes, flies, snails etc. are vectors in transmitting disease as well.

You're correct, and it's tough. Every time I go to a feed store I get concerned and hope I'm not bringing something back home to infect my chickens. Before I go out in the backyard where the coops are located, I change shoes. I call them 'chicken shoes.' I avoid swap meets, chicken shows etc...
I'm sure poultry commercial biosecurity procedures are much the same as it is with hogs. BTW, I used to raise Durocs many years ago. I loved it but the cost of feed got too expensive and I got out of it.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I know a couple of members from Canada that may chime in with suggestions of what is available @chickens really and @Wickedchicken6

Here's my notes on a few products they have shared over time:
Vitamins and Electrolytes
External Parasites Here and Here
Antibiotics

Hope that helps.

@Wyorp Rock has listed a number of products that are available in Canada from previous posts.

Here's the entire list of what I've found in Canada. Poulte-Vite is the one I was prescribed from our vet for my Buff Silkie line that showed wry neck. All of the items listed below come in powder form. Here I've found them in Peavey Mart stores, Co-op Feed Stores and also at independent feed stores. Most cost from $5 to about $7.

Vitamins
http://www.domvet.com/poulvite.html
https://clubvetoquinol.ca/ca_en/poly-tonine-a-complex-100-g.html

Vitamin/Electrolyte
https://clubvetoquinol.ca/ca_en/stress-aid-100-g.html

Electrolyte
https://clubvetoquinol.ca/ca_en/electrolytes-plus-400-g.html

Vitamin/Antibiotics
https://www.drugs.com/vet/poly-tonine-a-super-booster-no-1-can.html

Antibiotics
https://clubvetoquinol.ca/ca_en/tetracycline-250-10-kg.html - But in a 400g package!

And the one @chickens really posted about, I also have:
http://www.domvet.com/oxy.html

In regards to probiotics, I've never noticed seeing anything in stores. I haven't used probiotics myself and I haven't looked further into them...so I apologize for not having any pertinent information about them. That's something I'll take more of a notice of in the future.

In regards to the suggestions of bird vitamins found in stores, I purchased Vita-Sol for my budgies and the last one passed about a month ago. I gave away their feed etc. to a friend who still has his budgies, but I kept the Vita-Sol for its ease of administering in small amounts for single birds...just in case.

https://www.petsmart.ca/bird/health...ol-multi-vitamin-bird-supplement-2041077.html