Mycoplasma Vaccine - Anyone do this? Pros vs cons?

[Rosie85]

Hi all!

I’m new to the forum but have been digging around online without much luck on this topic. I have my first group of chickens this year. They are all adults and living in a fully enclosed coop and run. No outside animals or birds can enter their area (have them set up this way due to concerns over bird flu). I’m part of Facebook chicken groups here in Oregon and have been seeing LOTS of disturbing posts lately regarding chickens becoming very sick and dying due to MG/mycoplasma. Seeing this, I started looking around online for vaccine options for my flock. Apparently MG is pretty prominent in the soil in the state of Oregon (had no idea until recently) and I hope to one day let my chickens outside of their run and coop so I’d really like to vaccinate them all if that’s even an option. From what I could find doing research, there is a vaccine called Zoetis MG-Bac. Has anyone every administered this vaccine to their chickens before and is it effective/worth the cost? Are there any risks involved? I love these chickens so much and would hate to have anything bad happen to them.

Thank you all for reading and please let me know if there are any vaccines/preventatives available against MG.

 

[Kiki]

If you don't make the mistake of bringing sick birds into your flock, then you shouldn't have to worry about getting this disease.
Do you plan on adding any new birds to your flock anytime soon?
If you do, I highly recommend buying chicks from a major hatchery because they are much less likely to carry disease compared to sellers on facebook and craigslist.

 

[Rosie85]

If you don't make the mistake of bringing sick birds into your flock, then you shouldn't have to worry about getting this disease.
Do you plan on adding any new birds to your flock anytime soon?
If you do, I highly recommend buying chicks from a major hatchery because they are much less likely to carry disease compared to sellers on facebook and craigslist.

Thank you for the help! I do have plans to add more/try hatching out babies too eventually. I just was reading in one of these Facebook groups that wild birds carry MG like crazy and that it lives in the soil too apparently? I saw a post that especially disturbed me because it was someone else who just got their chicks from a hatchery last year, no other outside birds etc. let them free range now that they are old enough, and found out a few of them got MG recently! It just worries me thinking they can get it just from walking around outside?

 

[Kiki]

Thank you for the help! I do have plans to add more/try hatching out babies too eventually. I just was reading in one of these Facebook groups that wild birds carry MG like crazy and that it lives in the soil too apparently? I saw a post that especially disturbed me because it was someone else who just got their chicks from a hatchery last year, no other outside birds etc. let them free range now that they are old enough, and found out a few of them got MG recently! It just worries me thinking they can get it just from walking around outside?

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.


It is possible to get MG from wild birds (very unlikely) but much more likely to bring it home by buying sick birds.

 

[Eggcessive]

Mycoplasma gallisepticum and m. synoviae only live about 3 days in the environment. They are spread by carriers, such as infected chickens and other fowl, wild birds, on peoples’ shoes and clothing from infected flocks, and contaminated equipment. It may last a little longer in frozen poop and soil, but only for 3 days if it is not frozen. The most common way to get MG or MS is from bringing in a chicken from a flock with carriers, whether they ever had symptoms or not.

I think that people with large flocks, or with ones that have had a mycoplasma outbreak in the past, probably use it on new birds.

 

[Rosie85]

Mycoplasma gallisepticum and m. synoviae only live about 3 days in the environment. They are spread by carriers, such as infected chickens and other fowl, wild birds, on peoples’ shoes and clothing from infected flocks, and contaminated equipment. It may last a little longer in frozen poop and soil, but only for 3 days if it is not frozen. The most common way to get MG or MS is from bringing in a chicken from a flock with carriers, whether they ever had symptoms or not.

I think that people with large flocks, or with ones that have had a mycoplasma outbreak in the past, probably use it on new birds.

I know eventually I’ll have more chickens/would like to sell layers and have been looking into the NPIP process as well before I do that in the future. Are you familiar with this vaccine/are there other vaccine options for MG? I just read that MG kills chickens and I probably can’t offer chickens to others from my flock in the future if they ended up getting it, so I was just trying to figure out how to best prepare them all before letting them out into the field eventually

With nice weather around the corner, I’ve been thinking of letting them out to range, but became really worried seeing all those posts about MG popping up in flocks in this state.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

More reading

a bit more

hopefully you never need to do this

Oregon NPIP

What you won't find, contrary to FB claims by the frequently not well educated on the subject of avian illness, is literature warning about the long term danger of contaminated grounds, unlike, say.... fowl pox.

 

[Eggcessive]

I haven’t ever vaccinated my chickens for MG. But it is quite a common disease in some backyard flocks, simply because some people will sell sick or exposed birds for profit without considering that someone’s whole flock may become sick or MG positive with one carrier bird. Swap meets, poultry shows, and 4 H are other possible ways of getting it. If I was getting healthy baby chicks from a hatchery, I would not vaccinate or worry too much about it.

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

Here is information from a very reputable sourceMycoplasmosis in Poultry - Poultry - Merck Veterinary Manual https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...Ftfs30qFD2bsp99FawhoCHMUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.dsMercks Manual

 

[Rosie85]

More reading

a bit more

hopefully you never need to do this

Oregon NPIP

What you won't find, contrary to FB claims by the frequently not well educated on the subject of avian illness, is literature warning about the long term danger of contaminated grounds, unlike, say.... fowl pox.

Definitely! I guess part of why I’m overly concerned and wondering if I should vaccinate in advance before letting them out into the field here, is I have also learned from our neighbors that years ago the last people to live on this property also kept poultry. I had hoped to farm poultry here/make it a business, but want to make sure my first ones here are all safe and healthy from the get-go before even attempting to go NPIP.

I can admit I’m also a little bit of a germaphobe on top of it all, so seeing those posts in groups recently definitely made alarm bells ring in my mind unfortunately.