A single strain of commercial Leghorn vaccinated with F strain Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) was used in two trials to determine the effect of swab absorbability on MG isolation. For each of the two trials, 34 birds from each of five 10,000 bird houses were randomly selected and swabbed from the choanal cleft region; 17 birds from each house were swabbed with ethylene-oxide sterilized, 2.4-mm diameter calcium alginate-tipped swabs, while the remaining 17 birds were swabbed with similarly sized and sterilized rayon-tipped swabs. Results of this study indicate swab absorbability does not affect the recovery and subsequent isolation of MG from commercial layers.