WheatenLover
Chirping
- Jan 8, 2023
- 25
- 23
- 56
Not an emergency or questions, just a statement and hopefully commiseration from fellow chicken owners.
Several years ago we moved to a farm and I was finally able to expand my few backyard birds to raising and breeding rare and unusual breeds of birds. Poultry has been an absolute passion of mine since I was a child.
This past spring I obtained several birds from two different breeders of my absolute favourite and hard to find breed. These birds are housed away from my main groups in a paranoid effort to make sure they never get sick from anything the main flock might have.
This past week I noted two of the birds had bubbles in their eyes and were coughing. Antibiotics given and they were right as rain, but I swabbed them and sent a sample to the lab to test a respiratory panel to be double sure.
Results came back yesterday, the flock is positive for Mycoplasma G and S.
I am absolutely gutted, these birds have been years in the waiting and now they have an incurable disease.
I am now testing the rest of my main flock to see if they are positive, or if my paranoid quarantine may have saved the main flock I was trying to keep the rare birds from.
I am a breeder who shows at poultry shows and sells birds to others. We test birds regularly to make sure we aren’t unintentionally spreading disease, so the option to close the flock isn’t a pleasant option and one I am reluctant to consider.
Testing for the rest of the birds was sent off today. In 48 hours I’ll know if I have to cull the remainder of the flock I’ve been pouring my blood sweat and tears into, or if they are safe and will receive monthly testing for the rest of the year to make sure they’re safe.
Several years ago we moved to a farm and I was finally able to expand my few backyard birds to raising and breeding rare and unusual breeds of birds. Poultry has been an absolute passion of mine since I was a child.
This past spring I obtained several birds from two different breeders of my absolute favourite and hard to find breed. These birds are housed away from my main groups in a paranoid effort to make sure they never get sick from anything the main flock might have.
This past week I noted two of the birds had bubbles in their eyes and were coughing. Antibiotics given and they were right as rain, but I swabbed them and sent a sample to the lab to test a respiratory panel to be double sure.
Results came back yesterday, the flock is positive for Mycoplasma G and S.
I am absolutely gutted, these birds have been years in the waiting and now they have an incurable disease.
I am now testing the rest of my main flock to see if they are positive, or if my paranoid quarantine may have saved the main flock I was trying to keep the rare birds from.
I am a breeder who shows at poultry shows and sells birds to others. We test birds regularly to make sure we aren’t unintentionally spreading disease, so the option to close the flock isn’t a pleasant option and one I am reluctant to consider.
Testing for the rest of the birds was sent off today. In 48 hours I’ll know if I have to cull the remainder of the flock I’ve been pouring my blood sweat and tears into, or if they are safe and will receive monthly testing for the rest of the year to make sure they’re safe.
Please keep us posted.
