[warwick]

Hi a week ago we introduced 3 new chicks to our flock we now only have one left one died on tuesday another today. Looking on line i believe they have Mycoplasma Gallisepticum , one of our older chickens had this around 18 months ago but we treated with antibiotics and she survived  could they have caught it off her or already had it when we brought them. Thanks

[doganjo]

Never heard of it, but if she recovered after treatment it's possible she remained a carrier.  No idea what teh incubation period is either.  How long did you isolate them for before introducing the new birds to your flock?  Hope the last one is OK. 

[Womble]

Hi Warwick,  You have my sympathies!

We lost our entire flock to M.G. last year for sort of the opposite reason - we bought in some new stock from a dealer, but they brought M.G. with them.  We quarantined them for a week with all being well, but after another week, our existing flock started to develop symptoms.

We treated with Tylan soluble, and most of them recovered. However, in the end we had to cull or rehome the whole flock to avoid it spreading to our other poultry.

It's a nasty disease in that once infected, the birds can remain carriers for life. It can then be transferred to other birds (even though the carrier shows no symptoms), or can erupt again in the carrier at times of stress, e.g. moulting.

Not much else I can add really other than my heartfelt sympathy! 

[HesterF]

Just to add to my list of things to watch for, what are the symptoms? I've lost a lot to Avian Leukosis and it was awful - both to see them suffering and to have my breeding plans blown apart (lost my two intended breeding cockerels and three beautiful gold laced hens). Hugs,

H

[Womble]

Hi Hester,  It's pretty unpleasant, and looks like this:



The birds start to get bubbles / weeping around their eyes, followed by really inflamed sinuses (bulging cheeks). They become very lethargic and withdrawn and their breathing sounds as though they're 'sawing'. They can sometimes lose the ability to open one eye completely, and there's also a distinctive sweet-ish smell in the air.

I hope that helps Hester. I also hope you never have to go there!

[shygirl]

did you buy in the chicks or breed them yourselves?
what is the recommended quarantine for birds?

[Womble]

I bought in POL pullets from an established breeder which turned out to be infected. That was the heartbreaking bit really, watching our existing flock dropping like flies, whilst the new arrivals strutted around looking completely healthy. In the end we decided to get rid of all of them to stop it from infecting our peafowl (thankfully we separated the chooks quickly enough that it didn't spread to the peafowl. If it had done, I don't think we'd ever have been rid of it).
 
So, although I did quarantine the new arrivals for a week, a longer period wouldn't have helped since they were carrying M.G. but showing no symptoms. The upshot is that no new birds come onto our holding now except as hatching eggs!

[shygirl]

I bought in POL pullets from an established breeder which turned out to be infected. That was the heartbreaking bit really, watching our existing flock dropping like flies, whilst the new arrivals strutted around looking completely healthy. In the end we decided to get rid of all of them to stop it from infecting our peafowl (thankfully we separated the chooks quickly enough that it didn't spread to the peafowl. If it had done, I don't think we'd ever have been rid of it).
 
So, although I did quarantine the new arrivals for a week, a longer period wouldn't have helped since they were carrying M.G. but showing no symptoms. The upshot is that no new birds come onto our holding now except as hatching eggs!

did you get any compensation or apology from the breeder? sounds terrible

[Womble]

 

[Marches Farmer]

I only buy in fresh cockerels when necessary but they're quarantined away from all the other stock for as long as possible and a minimum of three weeks.  Carriers are always a potential problem, even with this system so I introduce a only a couple of hens to the cockerel to start with and, again, keep them well away from the other poultry. 

I also split the growers of the breeds I want to keep for the following year into at least two groups to overwinter, more if I can manage it, and house them well away from each other.  No system can be relied on 100% though. Avian Leukosis arrived on the farm a couple of winters ago and I lost some of my best birds.  The vet said it could have arrived on a feather blown off a passing tractor - not much you can do about that one!

[WoodlandsDevon]

MG, or Myco as it's commonly referred as, is the last thing you want to get!  It's a carrier for life as other members have said...we brought in 5 new birds in the Spring and we noticed one looked a bit snuffly but didn't take much notice of it.  After they'd been in their new home for a few days (separate from our main flock) they all started to look snuffly and had swollen eyes etc, all the symptoms that Womble has mentioned but we didn't know it was MG at that point.

Then our main laying flock started to go down with it!  Devastating, cos they don't lay while they're suffering with the worst of it!!  One by one they all caught it - fortunately we researched on the net and decided that it was definitely MG then managed to get the Tylan powder into their drink (from the vet).

The best bit is that none of ours died!!  We did isolate some of the worst birds to reduce stress for a few days.

The worst bit is that we've had to get rid of our entire flock, including the new ones we'd brought in (which we'd planned to breed from)   They'll be carriers for life even if they appear healthy afterwards, and apparently the symptoms can come back, brought on by stress from moving/changes in environment/weather etc.  Also, you can't hatch from their eggs as it will even pass thru the shell and infect the chicks!!

The really annoying thing is that it's v difficult to tell if you're buying birds that are infected (although it was quite obvious with ours, just that we didn't know what to look for!!).

As Marches Farmer says, MG can pass through dust, poo, bottom of wellies etc!  So if you're passing between an infected flock and a clear flock you need to leave at least 2 hours between visits so that the infection doesn't spread.

When you get rid of all infected birds, leave at least 2 weeks before introducing new ones to the house/run and thoroughly disinfect everything.

As you can see I did quite a bit of research on this!! 

The long and short of it is - don't get MG if you can possibly help it!!!!  It's a nightmare!

[Small Plot Big Ideas]

I was sorry to read this but also interested because I had thought one of our hens had something similar which we spotted only yesterday.

After looking at the picture posted earlier I'm not not so sure now. I wrote a post about our problem on my blog which includes a picture of our hen so you can see what it looks like. My opinion is now swinging more towards some kind of physical injury given the blood around the comb in my picture.

There are no signs in ours of the bubbles mentioned here or any noticable smell so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Good luck with yours too 

[warwick]

Hi thanks for feed back still not sure if the brought in chicks have it or one of ours is a carrier . The last chick seems fine.

[mojocafa]

Last week I noticed one of my cockerels was sitting quietly in a corner, on further inspection, he had the start of a swollen eye, I immediately quarantined along with his 3 siblings, ( they are always together and i thought if one has infection, probably all will) I gave tylan for 4 days and all appear ok now. All 4 did display very mild symptoms of mg. they all got one swollen eye which closed up and an occasional sneeze, but by no means as bad as bubbling snot oozing from beak and eyes.

My dilemma is, if they had mg , I don't want to reintroduce to my flock as there doesn't at the moment appear to be any other casualties, and they will be  carriers, so do I cull?

I can't responsibly rehome as they will infect other birds
And I can't breed from them as I believe it can carry on in the genes

What's your thoughts please
Mojo

[lord flynn]

they don't carry it in their genes, its an infectious disease caused by a sort of cell-wall less bacterium. I think they are always carriers though in which case I would cull after checking (ie even just chatting to) a good vet.