4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Chickybocker Glory]

My little flock has mycoplasmosis caused by bringing in new hens to my existing flock. The hens become very poorly very quickly. The symptoms are:

 

1. Frothing at the corner of one eye/both (clear small bubbles)

2. Quickly followed by conjunctvitis/EXTREMELY runny eyes/nose. They quickly become unable to see as their eyes get gummed up

3. Swelling around the eyes

4. Sneezing

5. Head shaking

 

Your hen might not show all of these symptoms. She may just have a cold. But frothy eyes is a dead give away. It is spread by droplet infection and takes hold incredibly quickly. One of mine was fine when I looked at them in the morning, and two hours later could not open one eye and was sitting hunched in the corner of the run.

 

Do the following as quickly as possible at the first symptoms:

 

- isolate the hen immediately to somewhere comfortable, well-ventilated and WELL AWAY from the others so that sneezing cannot spread the virus

- bathe her eyes, if they are gummed shut,with luke warm water (don't use salt water as it will cause more irritation) until she can open them again

- call the vet and tell them what you suspect, describing the symptoms carefully. They may suggest that you take her in for an injection of antibiotics. She will need another two days later. HOWEVER, as it spreads so quickly and you will have other hens, I would ask for a prescription of anitbiotics to add the their water. This cuts down on stress for the hens and for you at the enormous bill you might be facing if you have to take each hen into the surgery twice...

- ask the vet for Vikon - a disinfectant effective against mycoplasma. Scrub and spray EVERYTHING in range of the hens. Then do it again 5 days later. Then again in another 5 days.

- if you can, remove all bark/aubiose etc. and destroy it or compost it under cover well away from your hens or wild birds, disinfect, then put down new bedding

 

You hens will recover. However, they will remain as carriers for the rest of their lives, so other hen keepers' hens are at risk from yours. You must ensure that you do not enter their hen enclosures or touch their hens without changing your shoes and your clothes if you have been with your hens shortly before. This is especially important if you neighbours/friends with hens look after your hens for you whilst you are away.

 

PLEASE don't do what I did. If you buy in new stock, keep them well away from your existing flock for at least 3 days whilst you observe them for disease. This is a 'nasty little bug' (my vet's words!) and takes a lot of beating into submission.

[Jools]

Sorry you've had such a rotten experience

 

Myco is inherent in most flocks, it just lies dormant until triggered by stress, such as a new home, strangers in the coop, coming into lay, moulting etc etc.

 

Isolating new chooks is absolutely critical, but I'd recommend that you do it for at least two weeks and not just three days. It also needs to be as far from the resident flock as is possible.

 

You don't need a vet's prescription for Virkon - it's available to buy from feed merchants or online, so it's a good disinfectant to keep in stock. I bought mine during the bird flu scare ..... remember that?!?!?

 

Hope your remaining chickens are okay.

[Chickybocker Glory]

Hi, I know you don't need a prescription for the Virkon - it's just often quicker to get it from the vet as there's more of them, usually closer! Thanks though. The myco in my flock was definitely brought in with a new hen. She started with it as soon as she arrived. Your advice is good about the 3 weeks. Every single hen has now got it or had it in the last week. It must be a very virulent strain. I think folk need to lobby for vaccination against this horrid bug, like they do in most countries. What do you think?? It makes our hens so poorly, and if we don't observe really good hygiene practices between flocks we are simply spreading it further.

[Ms Marple]

Sorry to read this, I hope you get it sorted quickly. How quickly these things spread as I seem to be finding out- see Marek's post if you want to know more.

All the best

[amc]

Hi, we have had this too and had a lot of problems. Can I ask where you got your hens from?

Sorry to hear you've had so much touble and do hope it all turns out ok for you.

[Chickybocker Glory]

Hi,

 

It may not be the breeder's fault, as apparently most flocks have this problem which often only comes to light under stress. However, I will be calling them to tell them what has happened.

 

I nearly lost Edna (Miss Pepperpot) and thought her number was up when I went into the garage (have a chicken ICU in there at the moment!) and found her eyes streaming with red liquid, tail on the floor, unable to eat, eyes closed, laboured breathing etc. Put a few grains of Tylan into some warmed milk, veg oil, pinch of poultry spice, mashed bread and syringed it into the side of her beak drop by drop and prayed. Did that again twice more so that at least she had some food and liquid inside her.

 

I honestly did not expect her to be alive this morning and to be honest, she didn't look much better. But the eyes had stopped running and so had her nose. I syringed some more of my patent mixture into her and then to my surprise, she opened her eyes and started slurping it from the mug! I have to confess that I cried. She is my favourite and she has fought so hard to survive. She has got better and better all day. As she is older, the vet didn't really expect her to get over it. But she is doing, and her best mate Ethel has fully recovered and back to her matirachal status in the run!

 

Edna is well enough now to spit out the nasty raisins in her special porridge that I made with mealworms to help her get stronger.

 

Tomorrow is re-disinfection time of the entire set-up with Virkon. Apparently, you can also spray the chickens with stuff. Just remember to wear rubber gloves as it is pretty strong stuff before you dilute it. My vet charges £1.50 per tablet which makes up 5 litres. That appears to be a really competitive price.

 

Have all your hens survived the outbreak? What did you do to get them better?

[Chickybocker Glory]

Sorry just read my last post! Apologies for spelling, grammar etc. I really must learn to preview my waffle before I post it...

[Daphne]

Sorry to hear your story - its becoming all too common unfortunately. You're right about isolation and hygiene and the need to act fast. Myco will not go away on its own and it can kill. The only solution is antibiotics (Tylan) from the vet. An alternative to putting Tylan in the water (its better than Baytril for myco) is to ask for the suspension which goes in a syringe - you get the correct dose down the individual bird fast. Or, if the bird is in a very bad way, then get it syringed in (by the vet unless you are confident and they know you know what you're doing) as this is the fastest acting method (direct into the bloodstream I guess?) Also, ask for enough Tylan to potentially treat the whole flock (if thats not too many!) as then you've got it on hand (because its bound to occur on a Sunday....)

[Chickybocker Glory]

Hi,

 

You are absolutely right about Tylan and the syringing. If I had not used a few grains of Tylan in a syringe full of luke-warm milk and sugar solution, tiny drop by tiny drop, Edna would not be back to rude health and terrorising the flock again! Or should I say, asserting her authority again! I so nearly lost her. Just putting it in the drinking water didn't work for her as she didn't drink enough to have a sufficient dose. She is already laying again and you would not know that anything had been wrong with her. You do have to be incredibly careful with syringing, especially with a respiratory infection as you can make things worse. Tap gently on the side of beak away from the nostril until she opens her beak to peck at the end of the syringe, then syringe a tiny drop into her beak. Let her swallow and repeat until all the syringe full is gone or she has had had enough. Repeat every couple of hours until she is stronger and can slurp it up herself from the container. I used a tiny syringe that only holds about 10ml. I put just a tiny pinch of Tylan into the milk and sugar solution. I guess there was about 40ml of milk and sugar solution altogether. (The usual dose of Tylan is half a gram per litre of water, so it's almost impossible to judge how much to give one hen - just coat the very tip of a teaspoon?). Anyway, it worked for Edna!

 

My vets, Wright and Morten in Macclesfield (Farm and Equine Dept) have been fantastic. So has my OH, putting up with my chicken obsession

[Daphne]

Sorry everyone, I've just realised my post makes no sense in one part I meant to say if the bird is in a very bad way get the Tylan injected in (by the vet) in the breast.

 

Glad to hear Edna is perky again!

[laurmurf]

Here's today's update on Mycoplasma infection:

 

We've had a very poorly Malay with significant joint tenderness and 'off her legs'. We've been treating with metacam - an anti-inflammatory - but with no success. Today's trip to the vet taught me something i didn't know.

 

Mycoplasma infection can produce chronic inflammatory joint disease in animals with no sign of respiratory disease. Maybe you lot knew this but I certainly didn't!

 

She's now being treated with Tylan soluble (our vet said that the powder in water can be hit and miss so suggested 2g (a pinch) in a small bowl of chicken porridge. She also prescribed canine metacam instead of the cat metacam we were using because it is so much stronger.

 

We honestly thought we was going to have to be PTS today because she's been so lame. That'll teach me to 'self diagnose'