Mycoplasmosis

[Backyard beauties 4]

I pretty sure my small flock has this. It started with loose stools, then I noticed some raspy breathing and decrease in egg production. What clued me in though was one chicken’s left foot was swelling and I wanted to figure out what that was. What can I do to treat this? I’ve read about different antibiotics, but they aren’t really that sick and I’ve heard that results are mixed. Is there anything natural I can do?

 

[TwoCrows]

Mycoplasma Synoviae. Can you post any photos of the feet, legs, hocks, any bumblefoot and the toes? If this is MS, you will most likely have what looks like a bubble in the webbing along side the toe. As MS advances, fluid drains down into the feet causing this bubble, bumblefoot develops as well. There will be limping and possible lameness. You may also see pale combs, egg laying issues, lethargy, anorexia and runny noses. This is a very wicked bacteria, it hides in the healthy cells of the body allowing it to go undetected by the immune system, and stays there virtually for ever. There are no natural ways to heal this unfortunately.

I did bumblefoot surgery daily to drain the fluid out of the leg and used Baytril combined with Doxycycline for 12+ weeks. I had absolutely no luck with Denagard or Penicillin. Do not soak feet with Epsom Salts while using Baytril, it can cause this drug especially to be more difficult to absorb into the body. This bacteria never leaves the flock and all birds are carriers the rest if their days.

 

[Backyard beauties 4]

Here are some pics. She doesn’t act sickly other than the symptoms I mentioned above. The right foot is fine, however, the left foot has swelling between the toes.

 

[TwoCrows]

Sometimes they show few symptoms, some so mild it's hard to tell anything is wrong, even though you know they are off a bit. Is she developing bumblefoot? It does sound like you are dealing with MS. If you have a vet that knows anything about chickens, you could have her tested for Mycoplasma Synoviae.

It's not going to go away on its own, unfortunately many times MS starts from chicks at the hatchery.

I had no idea how to treat this and had a vet help me with meds and care practices. Most people will tell you to cull the entire flock, I chose to use this as a learning experience instead and I am glad I did.

I used Baytril in combination with Doxycycline for several months. This is an incredibly long term antibiotic run and not all my birds could handle it, a few turned up with slow and sour crops. Fortunately they weren't my worst cases and after a shorter run on the antibiotics, they were able to heal on their own. You can get these antibiotics from here... https://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/ (Both of these meds work better orally vs injectable)

If this one or any are showing signs of bumblefoot, you will need to do a surgery daily to drain the fluid, it has no way to drain on its own. It can build up enough yo make the bird completely lame, daily draining kept them moving, limping but not lame. Here are instructions to doing a surgery...

Here is a list of supplies you will need:

A large towel (for wrapping the bird up in to work on them)
Tiny instruments like dental pics, tweezers, small scalpel, small scissors
Several rolls of Vet Wrap (slice the entire tubes into 1 inch rolls. Like you are slicing a loaf of bread.)
Gauze doubled over and cut into 1 inch squares
Alcohol wipes
Neosporin (without the painkiller)
Preparation H
Hydrogen Peroxide
An empty syringe with no needle

Have everything ready before you begin. Always boil all your instruments for 5 mins before using however it is best to sterilize them right after using them. You do not want to contaminate them for the next use should you need to go back in at a later date. I like to soak everything in bleach for several minutes after they have been boiled. Store them in a clean sanitized container.

Pick a place to do this whether it be on a bench outside or at a table in the house, and make sure you have good light. Get everything laid out next to you so you have easy access during the entire process.

First you will want to soak the birds foot in a warm bath with salt to clean off the foot and help to draw the infection to the surface. Scrub the foot off well and then carry the bird to your work space.While the bird is standing, wrap the towel around the bird's wings and breast area all the way around tight enough to restrain the bird. Then grab them and flip them over and lay them on your lap, head at your belly, head and feet sticking out. Wipe the pad and infection area with an alcohol wipe and you are ready to begin. (If you have any open wounds on your hands or fingers, you will want to wear some thin latex gloves as well to keep any bacteria from entering your own body.)

With a dental pic, gently remove the scab or pussy area of the hole. You are not going to cut into any flesh, just remove the cap to this infection. Imagine this infection like a zit. Basically it is a pocket of pus. Generally the infection is in this hole beneath the scab you have just removed, not to the sides or anything. With your scalpel begin to dig this gunk out of there. It may not be all that deep, however sometimes there is a pus ball at the bottom. Keep squeezing, digging, and picking until you are left with a hole. If you are digging deeply and start to bring up blood, you have reached bottom and probably got most of the infection out. This entire process can take 45 mins to an hour, depending on how bad the infection is. So just take your time and get as much of it out as you can. You should be left with a gaping hole in the pad.

On this first time only, you will want to take your empty syringe and suck up some hydrogen peroxide and flush the hole out. Stick the tip of the syringe in the hole iin the pad and squeeze in 2 or 3 cc/ml's into the hole. (this tip is now contaminated and will need to be sterilized before you ever use it again.) Let this peroxide set in the hole for a couple of minutes and then squeeze the pad to get much of it out. Next you are going to pack the hole with neosporin. NEVER insert the tip of the tube into the hole. This WILL contaminate the entire tube with bacteria. So squeeze a good load onto your finger and scrape your finger across the wound hole so that it packs the wound hole. Then take some Preparation H and squeeze some on your finger. Rub this all over the pad. This will help reduce swelling.

Next, put one of your small cut gauze pads over the hole. Take one of your vet wrap roll slices and begin to wrap the foot. You are going to start up on the leg and inch or so above the foot joint. Start to wrap down the leg, around the pad and up through the webbing a couple of times until all of the foot is covered and then go back up the leg to where you started. Cut the vet wrap and squeeze everything together. Vet Wrap sticks to itself. You do not need to wrap tightly but not too loose it won't stay on. A light pressure as you are wrapping will surfice. A good indication is to check the birds foot 5 mins after wrapping. (during this process the birds foot will probably turn cold) 5 mins after surgery the birds foot should have returned to being very warm. If the toes are cold, you have wrapped too tightly.



After surgery you will need to keep the bird on clean, dry surfaces. No mud, water, dirty pens. Very clean and dry. This is the key to healing.

One last thing, NEVER use any sticky tape for wrapping such as Duct Tape. These sorts of tape will damage the scales of the leg and cause injury to the bird.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am not a vet, nor am I an expert but this was how I dealt with this situation. It was a ton of work, extremely stressful on myself, I went through miles of Vet Wrap the meds are incredibly expensive and it took hours each morning to care for the ones that needed this surgery. I did however pull each and everybird through this, all survived to live long lives. I did add new birds over the years, I was never positive these new birds suffered from MS as well, none had foot issues but they did suffer from other strange issues over the years.

 

[McChooky]

Mycoplasma can be treated with chanca piedra. Here is a link to one article I've found on it.Be advised chanca piedra is also used to remove kidney stones in people. Using this can cause your flock to have a calcium deficiency .You will have to add calcium to their diet if you use chanca piedra to treat mycoplasma https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/feed-health/the-truth-about-mycoplasma-and-chickens/