Mycoplasma management

[lynnmhari]

I think its possible I have a cockeral with M G ,its been not quite well for around a week but hes been moulting and looked pretty ragged ,most of my flock are moulting and looked pretty miserable when the weather turned bad, he wasnt looking like he had an actual disease,hes been eating and I wormed him etc so I havent been too concerned, but theres a local case of MG so I did a closer search ,hes got a snotty beak and when I picked him up hes got gurgly type breathing ,hes quite skinny too ,another cockeral he shared a coop with has the same breathing but hes not got a snotty beak and seems fine in every other way.I moved them both into new places a few days back to make way in their old coop for a mother hen and some new hens.So both have been in two different coops with other chickens and some of those chickens have in turn been moved ready for winter .So if it is MG most of my 40 plus chickens have been exposed.I am going to contact a vet but due to the covid situation for various reasons its not viable to make a visit to one in person,household mixing is forbidden here , we dont drive ,we live a very long way from the town and I am in a vulnerable catagory . So I am wondering what my options are if it is Mycoplasma? We live many miles from anyone else with chickens, we live around half a mile from a road which is a back road ,we have very few visitors even normally and because it would need a taxi we dont visit other peoples places .Also the land we live on a huge valley of gated farm grazing so nobody ever just passes by ,Theres no way we could transport the disease except via rehoming chickens or giving out hatching eggs which I obviously wont do if its MG .Would it be viable to keep my chickens as a closed flock .Also if chickens get better do they stay healthy or are they always going to be sickly ?

The chickens are mixed ages ,free range on a mix of heath ,garden and grass with boggy areas .There are deer and migrating as well as resident wild birds use the land .My cockerals are a couple of years old .My flock is a mix of different breeds who all have runs and coops but mix outside of breeding season .I have a broody due to hatch chicks and several batches of chicks from hatches since June. One chick died from what seemed like gapeworm but over 20 have been fine as I now worm them .I have a problem with gapeworm it seems endemic ,A lot of new hens pick it up within a few days. Some breeds dont seem affected but others need retreating

 

[Perris]

Sorry to hear about your flock's symptoms. You might find this helpful to answer your questions
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/poultry/diseases-of-farmyard-poultry/part-1-mycoplasmosis/

 

[lynnmhari]

Thank you ,I think its ,mostly older birds that are infected so it doesnt look good for them,I had my cockeral cullled this morning I am waiting to see if any others get sick.I do smell the sickly sweet smell ,I wasn't sure if that wasnt a sign of coryza but people say thats a nasty smell ,where as the smell isnt really nasty just weirdly sweet with a slightly sour edge to it sometimes

 

[Perris]

Thank you ,I think its ,mostly older birds that are infected so it doesnt look good for them,I had my cockeral cullled this morning I am waiting to see if any others get sick.I do smell the sickly sweet smell ,I wasn't sure if that wasnt a sign of coryza but people say thats a nasty smell ,where as the smell isnt really nasty just weirdly sweet with a slightly sour edge to it sometimes

sounds like it is Mycoplasmosa then; did you read that they can acquire a level of immunity if they get it mild and young, so it's not the worst of many common infections for a flock to have? If you breed them for sale though it's a bummer.

 

[lynnmhari]

Hi ,I was going to give away hatching eggs or chicks of some very rare breed chickens to help increase their numbers, Shetland tappit hens, Marsh daisys ,Scots Grey and Scots Dumpy and though they arent as rare Hamburgs.I was also experimenting with breeding for egg colours ,so it will be the end of all those plans .I am hoping the chicks that are due to hatch around the 18th of this month are going to be ok,the broody started sitting pre infection.If they are ok at least I will be able to replace losses.I was due to have some new chickens delivered do thats gone on hold .

 

[Perris]

Heritage breeds generally have tougher constitutions and thus better health than modern high production breeds, so I wouldn't write off your plans prematurely. It spreads slowly. And some of them at least might have natural immunity!
Shetland tappits lay a green egg yes?

 

[lynnmhari]

Hi ,thanks for replying ,yes the Shetland tappit hens lay tinted green ,sometimes blue green eggs not as deep green as easter easter Eggers or olive eggers ,but they are incredibly rare I was rrally keen to increase thwir numbers, luckily at the moment I only have the cockeral the pullets wont be ready until late winter ,early spring ,the marsh daisys were due to arrive soon but I have put that off for now .I am talking to the vet later ,almost all my chickens are rare breeds and hardy ones except the legbars who dont seem to tolerate bad weather very well ,I am not likely to get more .My hamburgs never seem to get anything ,one or two got gapeworm when they first arrivdd but never since ,not even scaly leg mites which did the rounds in their coop .They are a brilliant breed ,incredibly hardy and clever and excellent egg layers for a rare breed .They dont like being stuck in their runs they would rather forage so they dont even eat much feed