Im at a loss

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I have a small flock of 25 birds. It was 27 but I lost 2 in the last 2 weeks. Everything was going great til one day I started hearing sneezing. It seemed they all caught a cold at once! One of my orginal girls went from looking fine to being immoble and then dieing in a 5 hour span. I talked to a friend down the road and she gave me a bottle of Sulmet. I followed direction and treated everyone since they all seemed to sneeze . Well yesterday I let them all out in the morning. I notice one of my 3 barred rocks acting a little off. When I went back an hour later I found her flat on her back with her feet in the air. The symptoms seem to be Sneezing, runny noses, occassionally some type of bubbles in the corner of their eyes-well thats the younger (less than 6 months old). The adults (1 year) seem to go from being fine to dieing in an extremely short time frame. Iv checked their feces and all seems ok-no diharria,blood, worms, or anything outv the ordinary.
 
Hi,

I'm in a real hurry now but briefly- these are classic signs of Mycoplasma Gallisepticum. You will need a trip to the vet to get prescription of Tylan - at this stage you would be best to ask your vet for Tylan 200 injectable. They may offer Baytril but Tylan is the more commonly prescribed antibiotic.

You will need to act fast and treat the whole flock.

Take a look at our Poultry Diseases and disorders section - there is some info under the Respiritory Tab.

I also found our recently that your vet can now run blood tests to test for MG.

Tim
 
I currently have some Agrimycin powder here to mix in their water. Will this help them since I cant get to vets til some time next week. Im also going to add some ACV to their water.
 
I'm sorry I don't know what that is, I'm thinking you might not be in the UK either...

You will need antibiotics for MG.

ACV helps a little with respiritory problems as it cuts through the mucus but short term it won't be much help. Make sure their coop is clean and well ventillated too - a build up of ammonia at night will not help.
 
Im very glad to hear that! Now I need to figure out the dosage-Im no vet. The package is more than a little confusing and the clerk at the feed store wasnt much help. Is it ok to add the meds in with the water/ACV or should I use just water with it?
 
Oh I also started adding a vitamin/electrolite supplement to their water as well.
 
The package says to add 10-20 of these packets to 2 gallons of water but if I follow that-it will be sludge not water theycould drink.
 
Oh my god. $6.oo per packet 20 packets per 2 gallons for 14 days!
 
Just seems like 20 of these big packets wouldnt dissolve in only 2 gal
 
I found Duramycin-10 at a diffrent feed store. It claims to work for MG. The directions make alot more sense too (not so worried bout oding my girls). Its a Tetracycline Hydrochloride instead of Oxytetracycline (no clue if that makes a diffrence). I found the Tylan 200 injectable too but it said it was only for cattle or swine. There was also a Tylan 50-does anyone know if that was the right stuff?
 
Normally Tylan powder (or Baytril) is prescribed but some poultry vets will give the Tylan 200 injection into the breast muscle if the bird is really far advanced. Victoria Roberts a well known poultry vet in the UK also recommends this in her book Diseases of Free Range Poultry too.

We have to keep in mind though that here in the UK these are prescription only medications that you need to go and see your vet for antibiotics and they will have their own preferred antibiotics and methods, Tylan 200 would be given 'off label' in these circumstances under the vets clinical judgement.

I don't know what the rules are in the US (assuming you are there!) I'm afraid but if at all possible you should consult your vet to be sure. The cost of getting it wrong usually far outweighs the vets bill.

Hope this helps...
 
Well I thought Id post an update. Its been 7 days since I started treatment with Duramycin-10. I havn't lost any more birds nor have I seen anymore with foam in their eyes. Theres still a little sneezing here and there but on a whole they all seem better. My best layer has even returned to her "egg a day" routine.
 
That's great. Remember, they will always carry MG now - but the first outbreak is usually the worst. The biggest risk is now when you bring new birds into the flock, they will catch it.

It usually re-appears at times of stress - heat, cold, pecking order upset, change of diet, overcrowding and so on...

I try to keep my birds immune system strong by giving ACV monthly and crushed garlic in the water monthly as well as a good diet that is rich in greens and as much free range as possible. It takes time to build them up but in the long term it helps.

Good Luck.

Tim
 
Thanks for all the help and 'well wishes" guys, I appreciate everything y'all told me. Ya I read that they're carriers for ever now. As far as adding birds-I have no plans for this year, but thats not "written in stone" (wink wink). So if I do add some in the future-do I just make sure I have meds available or do I wait til this flock is gone since it would it be inconsiderate to the new birds? Kind of a moral judgement call I guess. Iv been having a hard time finding ACV around here. Oh I have offially let them become "full free range" as of yesterday. Until then they only had a .5 acre run to use, but now they have all 12 acres of my property at their disposal. Hopefully they'll find all sorts of goodies to help them stay healthy.
 
Oh I forgot to mention-I've added Vitimins and Electrolites to their water
 
That's great, they will love having the free range and should pick up quite a few good morsels to keep themselves healthy.

If introducing new birds, I would first quarantine them away from these birds for 2 weeks. This first of all gives you some protection against unwanted disease, and it gives them a chance to get used to their new surroundings. After this, it would be best to let them out to free range so they all meet up with lots of space. It will be cause the least stress to them all. After a few more weeks, then pop them into the same house together at night.

Good Luck...

Tim
 
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