I have decided to do an in depth post on micoplasma because it may help other chicken keepers.
I have researched different sites and will put all the information together here as well as what I have now learned from my own experience. Get ready for a long read as I couldn’t do this in short.
All the facts that I have gathered
Micoplasma in poultry is not new. It’s mentioned in old books from about a hundred years ago. It has become more common in recent years because of the increase in backyard chicken keepers.
The respiratory system in poultry is affected. The organism is neither a bacterium or a virus in size but part way between, having no cell wall but with a plasma membrane. Four out of the known seventeen species of mycoplasma are pathogenic in poultry.
It is the most common respiratory disease and is very infectious.
Symptoms can include foamy eyes, nasal discharge, a particular sweet smell to the discharge and the breath, swollen eyelids and sinuses, swollen face and a rattling sound to the breathing or breathing like darth vader .
It must be treated as it won’t get better on it’s own.With vigilance and early treatment of symptons it can be kept at a low level in backyard flocks. Treatment needs to be early for a greater chance of recovery.
Once infected the bird becomes a carrier and remains infectious for life. The first time the bird becomes ill seems to be the worst and subsequent outbreaks seem to be milder.
Stress can be a trigger, such as, moving birds to different housing, adding new birds, parasite infection or change in weather such as snow on the ground. It can be carried by wild birds.
A blood test can be done by a vet.
What I observed from my own experience
When Caramel and Pebbles came into my flock I was not familiar with seramas and I had never come across mycoplasma before.
We noticed from the very first day that Caramel had a wobble to her head and every now and again a wobble to her walk. The breeder had these birds for a year before they came to us so we figured that this was just something peculiar to Caramel. I now know that was my first big mistake.
The next thing that happened was that Caramel had a swollen eye. I had just finished integrating Caramel and Pebbles so I assumed that Caramel had had a peck to her eye. That was my second mistake. Hind sight is a wonderful thing.
I took Caramel to the vet and the vet thought that it was just an eye problem. She gave me liquid antibiotic and liquid pain killer as her eye was extremely swollen and we assumed painful.
Soon after this I did notice the peculiar sweet smell from Caramel but as her painkiller was really sticky I thought the smell was coming from this. I hadn’t read any information about the smell being associated with mycoplasma at that stage.
I had her in a cat box in our bathroom with food right in front of her as she could only see out of one eye. She had a sticky beak and nostrils but I thought this was due to her sticky medicine, which I later realised was another mistake, as it was the discharge.
As time went on she developed a rattle in her breathing. The final awful thing that happened was that her second eye swelled up and now without the use of either eye there was nothing to be done but to have her put to sleep. I had only had her for three weeks in total.
While all this was going on I had noticed that what I thought was hiccups in Pebbles, which she had also had from the first day, was in fact sneezing. I put her straight on the antibiotic that I had left over from treating Caramel. I have had a girl before, Pepper, that had hiccups, so that was why I thought it was hiccups.
After two weeks of antibiotic there was no improvement so I took Pebbles to the vet. It was while the vet was looking at her that we both noticed bubbles in her eyes. This was the final thing that made both the vet and myself certain that it was mycoplasma.
I made the decision to have Pebbles put to sleep. I couldn’t bear to see her suffer like Caramel and I couldn’t risk the rest of my flock.
The vet then gave me tylan powder to put in the water for five days to protect the rest of the flock. The vet estimated how much she thought the flock would drink daily but when I measured how much water the flock drink I realised that it was less than half. As the tylan in the water has to be discarded at the end of each day I decided to make up half the amount and keep the other half rather than waste it. I am now so glad that I did this.
I missed so many signs last time because I didn’t know what I was looking for. I have since read that once they are at the rattling, while breathing, stage they are advanced and I now know that Caramel didn’t have any chance of getting better but the odd thing with this is that it doesn’t seem to effect the chicken’s appetite. Most illness in chickens mean a loss of appetite but Caramel was still eating as long as the dish was in front of her and she didn’t lose hardly any weight.
Of all the information I have read none of it mentions the wobbling head and wobbling walk but I know that Caramel had mycoplasma because of all the other symptoms. She had the swollen eye and face, the rattle to her breathing, the sticky discharge and the peculiar sweet smell.
Pebbles didn’t have the wobble but was sneezing and had the bubbles in her eye. This shows me that different birds can present the symptoms differently. When Freckles was dozing all afternoon I knew that something was wrong. Young birds are active and don’t doze for long periods. The head bobbing while she was dozing was the same as Caramel and that is because of a difficulty with breathing.
When she stood and her head wobbled and then she kept wobbling as she walked I recognised this instantly as being the same as Caramel. That is why I knew that this time I must act fast. Knowing our birds is so important and we can see things that a vet can miss. Vets are often not very experienced with chickens.
In six years of chicken keeping we have never yet got a girl well after seeing a vet. I think this is partly because by the time the symptoms are bad enough for the vet to recognise the bird is too far gone to get better. This is why being aware as soon as possible is so important.
The vet that I talked to yesterday said that he couldn’t give me tylan without seeing the bird and making a diagnosis. I know he wouldn’t see any symptoms in Freckles at such an early stage. I was lucky that I already had some tylan but I wonder what would happen if this happens again in the future.
I would have to take the bird to the vet, explain the history as I have in this post and hope he would prescribe it. I know that speed is essential. I never want to have a bird again that is as far gone as Caramel and Pebbles. It has been a hard lesson to learn but one learnt thoroughly and I if I can be of any help to anyone else then Caramel and Pebbles loss hasn’t been in vain.
Sorry for the length of this post but I wanted to be thorough. If it helps one person then it has been worth it.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
VERY informative. Thank you for taking the time to compile this info.
You are welcome. I worried that it was too long and would be boring but then I thought that no one has to read it and it will be good for anyone that could do with the information.
If I had known all this when I first had Caramel and Pebbles, maybe the outcome may have been different. The thing was, at that time, I was putting their particular symptoms into the search and wobbly walk and swollen eye didn’t get me to the right result. Once it got to the point where there was no doubt that it was mycoplasma it was too late. Once I then researched mycoplasma, with hind sight it was much more obvious. I would always know the first signs now. I can’t beat myself up too much though, because the vet didn’t know either and we learned together.
I think with chickens the more information we have the better but we can’t know all there is to know and can only deal with each thing as we come to it.
I also find these kind of posts useful and appreciate it. I’ve just found your blog searching for info on integrating new birds and your posts will undoubtedly help me in that too. We’re currently introducing a single Silkie to a tight flock of three bigger birds and I keep wondering if I’m doing the right thing! I’m keeping a log of it on my website pretty much how you have.
Thanks again
Integrating new girls is always a bit stressful. I have done this many times now. I am able to separate my run so new girls can be safe but see the flock and gradually I give supervised time together. It is always hard at first but you get there in the end. I haven’t added in a single girl as I always go for at least two at a time for support for each other but I know of cases where a single girl has been added. It will probably take a bit longer and some patience. I am sure you will get there. I know the feeling of wondering if you have done the right thing but it works out in the end. I have had some difficult integrations but have never had to give up so it does work out in the end.
Our run is similar in that it has two parts, one is an extension I recently made and that’s where Snowy the Silkie currently lives. It has definitely helped that they can see each other through the fence and I quite often see them having dust baths together albeit seperated by a fence! Once they are integrated I will open up the run so the extension part becomes accessible from the main run. It’s a never ending cycle of modifications and improvements at the moment!
Thanks for giving me hope on what seems like a crazy idea at the moment! I pondered getting two Silkies from the breeder when we went but our plan has always been to keep the flock to four and that would have taken us to five.
My run has also gone through lots of modifications and has been extended. Chicken runs seem never to be finished! I did wonder why you didn’t get two silkies so that answered my question. Plenty of places to escape is key and plenty of water and feed bowls. Just when you think it’s never going to work it settles down. I have never come across a chicken keeper that has given up so we all get there in the end.
Thanks, Carol, for such an informative post. Early recognition, followed by early treatment, is obviously key to managing this. Are seramas particularly prone to this? Wonder if there’s anything on Terry Golson’s blog – I think there’s a ‘search’ facility there still. Hope Freckles continues to do well.
I wonder if seramas are particularly prone to this too, because Sophie has been through the same thing with her seramas. The first breeder did say that they can get colds in winter. She told me that there was little point in going to the vet which also delayed me with Caramel. I shouldn’t have taken her advice but again hind sight is a wonderful thing.
Thanks for that Carol. Very informative.
I take it this means that you cannot re-home any more birds now as you have Myco in your flock and now have to keep a closed flock? I guess additions are fine but you can’t give them away to anyone else as they would potentially spread it to the whole of the farmers flock?
Having just done so much research on this I now know that you are right and I will never be able to re- home again. As you say it is okay to add new girls as they will stay in my flock and I can treat them if it occurs again. I will only ever add seramas so that I will never have to re-home future birds.
Good that you can now help others with that problem. Hope you have no more trouble.
Thank you Mum. The more we know about the chickens the better armed we are to cope with problems.
I don’t think it’s a particular problem with seramas – I just think you and I were unlucky purchasing seramas from a not so knowledgeable breeder. In the future I will always buy birds from my trusted breeder or contact the breed club for a recommendation. It’s such a shame that it’s not feasible to vaccinate for small breeders because of course all hybrids and some pure breeds from big breeders are vaccinated against myco.
Jasmine has picked up as well so we both knew the signs and acted on them quickly thank goodness. xx
I think you are right that we were just both unlucky. The breeder that I got Caramel and Pebbles from was taking her seramas to shows. This means they are in close proximity to other birds and then returned to the flock. They presented symptoms from the very first day but I didn’t know what I was looking at back then. The stress of bring them to a new home probably triggered it.
The breeder I got my current seramas from doesn’t show them so they stay with him until they are sold.
I am glad that Jasmine is looking okay too. We both now have the experience to act on the first signs. xx