mycoplasma

[trinity2019]

My chickens are being tested for MG. What advise or experience do you have with this horrible disease. I know what the inevitable it but I need support to know that what I have to do it the right thing. I took one to the vet in June and the vet was confident it was only a respiratory infection easily treated with antibiotics. They treated well all seemed healthy, then I heard that sneeze. Waited a few days and started all over again with the antibiotics. I need advise on how to prevent this or what I should do. I even started the red vinegar supplement to their water. (when not on antibiotics)

 

[Duck_life]

@Fairyloop5 has had experience and @Eggcessive knows about it.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Mycoplasma gallisepticum is just about everywhere, and not the end of the world. It is best to do what you are doing to get tested, since there are at least 6 different respiratory diseases with similar symptoms. MG is less infectious than infectious bronchitis, which will go through the whole flock over several months. It is milder, and the chickens will only be carriers for 5 months to a year. MG may affect a few, and symptoms include bubbles or foam in one eye, sometimes swelling around the eye or in the face, and can cause sneezing or crackly breathing. It makes them carriers for life. Some may get sick again later, since it is a chronic illness. Tylan, oxytetracycline, doxycycline and Denagard are some of the antibiotics that will treat it. Keeping your birds healthy, not adding birds from other flocks, with good ventilation, and preventing dust and wet moldy conditions in the coop can greatly help prevent respiratory diseases. Culling a flock with MG is not necessary. But the flock should be closed to new birds, and MG can pass to baby chicks through hatching eggs.

MG by itself is not a death sentence, but some birds may have 2 or more diseases at once, or develop air sacculitis, and those birds may die. Here is some reading:
https://extension.umd.edu/sites/extension.umd.edu/files/_docs/programs/poultry/FS-1008 Recognizing and Preventing Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) Infecti....pdf

https://thepoultrysite.com/disease-...tion-m-g-chronic-respiratory-disease-chickens

 

[trinity2019]

I have new chicks arriving tomorrow, what do I do with them?

 

[Eggcessive]

Keep them separate and use good biosecurity (handwashing, change shoes and clothes when caring for the different chickens. Wait until your test results are back to worry. Consider getting the MG vaccine for chicks if results are positive. Probiotics can help chick immunity.

 

[trinity2019]

Thank you very much!!!