Vaccination for myco and CRD

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, I have posted on here before a few times about mycoplasma and some troubles that I have had and also offering advice to others through my experience with it. I have recently been looking at it again and seeing if there is not a vaccine available for this for small backyard flocks.

Well I don't want to be too hasty but apparently there is!

It's called LS-50 and more commonly found in America. You can vaccinate chicks by giving it in their water for the first 7 days of life and then again at 4 weeks of age and apparently you can give them a booster annually. The dosage is 2 gram per gallon.

Now I was going to allow all my future chicks (which are raised for meat) to just get immune to it but as it slows down their growth and lasts for such a long time I am now considering this route. I know there will be a few others interested in this if you breed for what ever reason or breed for shows.

Touch wood but this is the only illness I have had to deal with since having them in September last year and I must say I have had enough of this myco and my poor chooks are obviously not as happy as they should be. The first members of the flock are now immune (or seem to be at least).

You can also get LS-50 without a prescription, I only found one seller on the Internet in England and I think
it's about £20.00 for 75 gram.

So I have not tried it yet as only found the info yesterday but thought I'd share it for those who have also been looking for this. Sorry if it has already been mentioned or explored in another thread. And please anyone let me know your thoughts on this

 

[dorinda]

How will you integrate you new vaccinated birds into your existing flock?? don't forget once they have had Myco the birds will always have it.. it lies dormant in their system and if they are ever under strain or stress it will come out again - some people say once you have Myco they cull and start all over again - I could see the sense maybe if vaccinating if you were starting with a new flock, but not if you were integrating vaccinated birds to birds who had already had Myco (does that make sense) 07

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, yes makes sense I have got two coops and runs about 30 m distance and all original non vaccinated stock will be kept in one and new vaccinated stock in the other. I will gradually reduce my current stock as and when the egg layers are less productive and my roo too unfortuntely. Currently I have mixed breeds for both eggs and meat but am switching to one dual purpose bird (light Sussex) I already have the cock and hen to start which seem to have been vaccinated as they have been in contact (unintentionally) with some of my ill birds with no symptoms or illness.

One question though if vaccinated and in contact with birds which have previously had myco surely the vaccinated stock will be protected?? The only reason I ask is that I have two naked neck hens which have had myco before but have now built up a resistance to it and I wanted to put them with my sussex cockeral to see whether the chicks would be better meaties than pure Sussex as I know Sussex tend to take longer to get up to table weight than the naked necks.

In the long run I would intend to carry on vaccinating all replacement stock in the hope that I can be left with a flock myco free. I know a lot of people do a complete cull and start again but for me it seems a waste and I am a bit attached to a few and do not want to cull until they are not economically viable. Also I am not sure of the origin of the illness I don't know whether it was brought in with the chickns or whether wild birds passed it on. If it's the case of wild birds I have the problem of not having covered runs and risk reinfection. I can't cover the runs as they are too big, the bigger one being over 100 square metres.

Obviously whether this is a viable plan or not I don't know. I do know that when a bird is vacinated they can get myco still but do not show the symptoms of the secondary infections which normally is where they suffer and don't put the weight on like they should. Sorry for the very long answer but I'm hoping someone can give me a better idea as to whether vaccinating would be worth it and whether I can eliminate future chickens from becoming ill, especially as I will always have multi age flocks, which at the moment is what's causing me to have regular outbreaks and costs money due to antibiotics (which I try to use as a minimum) and food wasted where they eat it but do not convert food to meat as they should normally.

 

[dorinda]

Your vaccinated chicks will be OK, but NOT the unvaccinated ones. I do have Myco in my flock but as all my breeds are separated and in different runs, it doesn't pass from one to the other. Don't forget either that if I remeber rightly there are either three of even four strains of Myco - does the vaccine cover them all?? One of my birds that has Myco is a Ko-shamo, he got it - and got over it - as most of them usually do, but everytime his wife (who has never had it), goes off to a show he stresses and gets it again.. a couple of days on ABs and he's fine again.. everytime the weather changes - it's the same old thing - bless he's had more myco attacks than I've had cups of coffee!! I have a large flock - of pure and rare breed poultry for exhibition (270 breeding birds and about 450 chicks) and I don't vaccinate for anything - for me it really isn't worth it - I prefer to build up resistance (as in Mareks) and have as few illnesses as possible.. let us know what you decide to do!!

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, thanks for your advice. I checked into it and one site says it covers gram positive and gram negative bacteria so I assume it would cover all of them? It also says it's good against cholera. So I think it's something I'm goin to try simply because my meat chickens don't get up to weight as quickly as they should when they get it. I shall see how it goes. The LS-50 is made up of two antibiotics and is also used for treating ill birds. I currently use tylan soluble to good effect but it seems Ls-50 is more effective. Until I try I won't know really! So I will get some as soon as I can, although I don't plan any more chicks for a while but when I do I will try amd post results on here.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,with regards to vaccinating against myco,some vaccines shed the disease that you're vaccinating against.This means that the vaccinated birds are protected,but,un-vaccinated birds would not be, and at risk of catching myco from the vaccinated ones.
I appreciate that you are going to keep your birds seperate,but,it might be worth checking if this vaccine does shed.
The diseases that dogs are protected with by vaccines,I can't remember which one of the vaccines does shed,but one or more do,so dogs that have not been vaccinated are at risk of catching the disease from a vaccinated dog.I think it takes 2 weeks for the shedding process to stop,but,i could be wrong on that.

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, thanks I appreciate what your saying but all of my current birds have been exposed to myco and most have suffered illness from it. That was the idea of vaccinating all future chicks to prevent symptoms. I hope then that my future flock will all be fully vaccinated and not physically get ill

 

[brahmist]

So,where does one buy it ,please????? 08 17

 

[wendywoggles]

As a newbie chicken owner I'm finding this all very confusing. 07 I've got the vacinated choocks in with un-vacinated chooks idea sorted I think but what about putting unvacinated chooks in with infected but symptom free chooks. What happens then? and with reports of up to 95% of backyard flock being Mico positive any newbies are probably infected anyway.

Also when you say let them build up their own defence do you mean not administer ABs when they are ill?

 

[Chuck]

As a newbie chicken owner I'm finding this all very confusing. 07 I've got the vacinated choocks in with un-vacinated chooks idea sorted I think but what about putting unvacinated chooks in with infected but symptom free chooks. What happens then? and with reports of up to 95% of backyard flock being Mico positive any newbies are probably infected anyway.

Also when you say let them build up their own defence do you mean not administer ABs when they are ill?

You are not alone in mixing vacc/unvacc birds. Very few homebred chickens are vaccinated and nearly all bought in hybrid layers and meat birds are. I have birds of mixed status, some home bred and some bought in and it doesn't seem to cause me any problems (in common with a lot of other people I think).

 

[foxy]

I agree with Chuck.

You are also far more likely to bring infection into your backyard flock through buying birds from another source, where the suppplier is sourcing their own stock from markets, auctions and other breeders. In those scenarios the probability of existing field (wild type..) infection is high.

A good reputable supplier of quality vaccinated birds kept in good conditions won't necessarily infect your birds with the vaccinated diseases. be more cautious of the above supplier as well as studying carefully the husbandry and general health of the birds.

 

[lacy blues]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the site.

I know this is an old thread but I was wondering how this experiment turned out?

Has anyone actually picked up one of their chickens and listened to its breathing? Has anyone put an ear on their birds' backs so they could hear what was going on inside? Mine crackle pretty badly. This is their only symptom. The chicks crackle when they hatch too, don't have to put them to my ear.

I look forward to hearing a little more conversation on this subject and perhaps getting some answers.

 

[chrismahon]

Hi Lacy Blues. I've just started a thread about Myco treatment. Picked our hen up and she was chesty but is relatively OK now. Just the sneezes fill her eyes with bubbles and she tries to scratch them away. We can't vaccinate against anything or we can't export our flocks. So she had better pick up before the vet gets here again for the blood tests!