Compromised immune system

[chrismahon]

I have long suspected we have Mycoplasma within our flocks, but apart from the odd sniffle it has never surfaced until now perhaps.

Reading on the subject confirms what I have thought -keeping your flock healthy and stress free seems to prevent it from surfacing. That means good diet, regular worming, controlling external pests (like mite and lice) and good housing with plenty of good quality run space.

We have just lost Poppy, the last of our original Brown English Leghorn bantams, to Mycoplasma. She follows Daisy who had to be despatched two months ago due to peritonitis. Apparently peritonitis is a side effect of Mycoplasma. Our single remaining hen, the offspring of one of the originals has been very 'off colour' for a while. This is also a side effect and we wait to see if the problem is more serious -she is on a short course of Nettex Nuitidrops at the moment and has perked up. The cockerel (Boris 3rd) is completely unaffected.

Poppy was treated with two courses of Baytril, but failed to respond much, if at all. Bit of a relief when she died really as we didn't know how much longer we could see her suffer. It was only the day before she died that the bubbles in the eyes were noticed, despite her being checked every day.

There are two possibilities here. Firstly that they all carried Mycroplasma and their immune system has been weakened more than ever before. Secondly that they have just recently caught it from the numerous wild birds, although no-one else is suffering and the wild birds didn't go into their covered run.

My feeling is the first possibility is most likely. Although were quite old at 4 ½ years, they were far from ancient. Most of our birds are that age.

So what could have caused a weakening of their immune system? We had a very hot spell for a week or so. It was around 37 degrees in the shade. This triggered a moult and an explosion in the red mite population. The Leghorns have never bothered with heat though and seemed to thrive on it. The red mite were eliminated from the coop by treating it with creosote. It was thoroughly dried before they went back in. It is a very small coop, just big enough for 4 bantams. What we did at the same time was to apply 'ant powder' all around the floor to kill the red mite dropping off the birds at night (red mite live outside here and are carried in regularly). Of course with all the flapping about in the morning a lot of this powder went into the air. It was at this point Poppy started coughing. We just put it down to a respiratory infection due to all the feather dust initially. Now we realise she had Mycoplasma we think the problem was actually caused by repeated exposure to permethrin. The 'Ant and Crawling Insect' powder comes with a list of health precautions being essentially don't breath it in or have skin contact with the dust.

We have now removed the powder from all of the coops and won't use it again. Has anyone else had a problem like this and is using ant powder to control red mite?

 

[dinosaw]

Obviously the answer from me is no Chris, I used it for three years, I know someone who had used it for decades and again no problems otherwise it would not be something I would ever recommend to other people. I always found that the dust in the crevices soon caked into a solid and the stuff on the coop floor was below 3-4 inches of bedding so never flew up. While there are several side effects of exposure to permethrin, notably neurotoxicity it has been found not to present notable immunotoxicity in farm animals or humans, so it is unlikely that it would be responsible for a depressed immune system. Obviously as with all substances you evaluate risk vs reward and I think you are absolutely right to remove it if you even remotely think it is responsible for what ails your chickens. I would reiterate what I have said about safety when using it to anyone who is reading this, don't use it around cats or near water, wear a face mask and long sleeves when applying and of course remove your chickens from the area when doing so.

 

[chrismahon]

Interesting point about the "caked into a solid" Dinosaw. It doesn't here and that could be the problem. It remains a loose powder and that will be due to the considerably lower humidity in this part of France, compared to the UK. So any wing flapping raises the dust in the coops all the time. We don't use much bedding, simply because of the cost. In fact we are generally using newspaper now, a huge pile of which I bought back from the UK.

 

[dinosaw]

Yes I forgot how humid the UK is, I wouldn't want my birds raising clouds of the stuff and breathing it in on a daily basis either.

 

[Marigold]

I agree with Dinosaw about the necessary precautions when using it, but I also feel these should be in place when applying diatomaceous earth. This is often sold as a cure-all for mite and people dust it liberally all over the coop and nestboxes, instead of simply in the cracks and crevices where presumably it may do some good, but it's very dangerous stuff if inhaled either by humans or chooks. It does the same thing to the insides of your lungs as it does to the mite, i.e. it's an abrasive which has serious, possibly carcinogenetic effects on mucous tissue. I know some people make a slurry of D.E. and paint it on to cracks and perch ends, maybe one could do the same with permethrin?

 

[dinosaw]

Your spot on about diatomaceous earth Marigold, I think because it is organic many people seem think it has no risks.

 

[chrismahon]

Five days on and Bluebell, the sole surviving young hen, is improving. She is talking now and her comb is reddening. Poo's getting bigger in the morning means she is coming into lay we hope.

After all this I am not convinced ant powder is much use against red mite anyway. Just been into the young TNN's coop with a torch to find red mite nesting in the powder itself. I've applied creosote because it is not hot enough today to 'cook' the coop.

 

[dinosaw]

Chris, if you are intending to avoid permethrin in the future then you should be aware that it is also the active ingredient in Nettex Total Mite Kill Spray and liquid concentrate at 2.3%.

 

[chrismahon]

Thanks Dinosaw. I've just sprayed the perch from the aforementioned coop with Nettex to kill all the mite trapped on it this morning, unable to pass the creosoted ends. I'll thoroughly wash it off before they go on it again. Hot enough today to cook the coop, so that should resolve it before Winter.