Chicken Breeds Health Problems

[Tankueray]

The first thing you learn when you become an animal keeper or trainer is not to anthropomorphize animals. You do not last long in the industry if you do, it makes you dangerous to the animals and to other humans.

Crests and Araucana ear tufts were landrace occurrences, humans did not create them, nor have they perpetuated them, which is why the real, Chilean lineage Araucana should be considered critically threatened. Having two breeds in which those subjects are relevant, I've done a lot of research; I promise, a lot more than you. They only require different care and to be aware of potential issues, but they are not disabled or less fit in the eyes of natural selection because of it.

Chickens and dogs also have 78 chromosomes as compared to 46 in humans, and 38 in cats; which is why they can tolerate inbreeding and show more genetic issues that might reduce fitness, but not prevent survival. It's also why they have so much phenotypic diversity as opposed to cats and humans.

Your worries are just that, your issues are not issues. I personally don't have feather legged or 5 toed chickens because they creep me out. I have never heard of feather legs making them scratch less nor ever heard anyone recommend them because of that, and if anyone actually believes that, they're going to starve to death because a chicken in a garden is a chicken in a garden, no matter what. Yes, the 5th toe was "created" by human intervention and it shouldn't be there, but it doesn't seem to affect the many breeds that have it. Just don't chase me around with one or I'll scream like a little girl. (I am not afraid of spiders or snakes in any way, so payback is...well.)

If you really want to get behind a cause related to chickens, look at vertically integrated agriculture, the genetic manipulation of the broiler, and how the industry treats its farmers. Do some real good by educating others on sustainable agriculture and shorter distances from farm to table.

Or there's always dihydrogen monoxide. It is a required solvent in the creation of genetically modified organisms, and every human, plant, and animal on the planet is contaminated with it. http://dhmo.org/

(Edited to fix my own mistake of mixing up words.)

 

[Tankueray]

First I'd like to see some actual evidence that certain breeds of chicken absolutely do have certain health problems.

I asked the OP twice to validate her claims of birds being in pain with scientific evidence. She chose not to.

I actually think my Spitzes have an an advantage when it comes to fowlpox because of their dragon nostrils. A cotton swab fits right in there to swirl that snot out just like cotton candy.

 

[NatJ]

Yes, the 5th toe was "created" by human intervention and it shouldn't be there, but it doesn't seem to affect the many breeds that have it.

What do you mean by this?

Chickens with 5 toes have been around for at least two thousand years, so I've always assumed it was a mutation that occurred naturally, and people chose to breed the ones that had that mutation. So it would have been preserved and spread by people, but not created by any human intervention.

I actually think my Spitzes have an an advantage when it comes to fowlpox because of their dragon nostrils. A cotton swab fits right in there to swirl that snot out just like cotton candy.

I've read that those nostrils are caused by the v-comb gene, not by the crest gene.
The breed called La Fleche has a v-comb and big nostrils, but no crest.
Cream Legbars have crest (a small one) and a single comb, with normal nostrils.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

still in awe of our genetics peeps.

Love BYC, always learning.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I have indeed picked a few extremes and I know there are many more. Personally, I'm not a fan of purebred in general, broadly speaking it comes down to inbreeding in the end. I've always liked crested chickens, but I'll never buy them again. I also like to sponsor a local and most here in my village have mixed breeds.

I’m not sure if somebody already said this, but chickens with small crests will not have vaulted skulls. However, breeding two birds with small crests could result in offspring with bigger crests/vaulted skulls.

 

[Tankueray]

What do you mean by this?

Chickens with 5 toes have been around for at least two thousand years, so I've always assumed it was a mutation that occurred naturally, and people chose to breed the ones that had that mutation. So it would have been preserved and spread by people, but not created by any human intervention.


I've read that those nostrils are caused by the v-comb gene, not by the crest gene.
The breed called La Fleche has a v-comb and big nostrils, but no crest.
Cream Legbars have crest (a small one) and a single comb, with normal nostrils.

Yes they have. The topic is covered in Genetics of the Fowl by F.B. Hutt, it's quite a few pages to type out, but here are some Cliff's Notes:

"The so-called "fifth toe" is a variation fairly widely spread among domestic fowls and is a breed characteristic of Dorkings, Houdans, Silkies, and Antokolkas. Columella, writing in the first century, described the best hens for breeding and stated 'those are believed to be the best bred that have five toes.' "
"Actually the fifth toe is not an extra digit but a duplication of the hallux and more comparable to the teratological dichotomy, or re-duplication, occasionally found in other parts of the body and in double monsters."
"Polydactyly results from the action of a single dominant gene, Po, but its expression is extremely irregular"
"It is evident that some fowls carry genes which entirely or partially prevent the manifestation of polydactyly, particularly in heterozygotes."

There's quite a bit of discussion about how it occurs in many random forms naturally and discussion of many studies of it. Studies where homozygotes would produce 4 toed chicks, or 5 and 4 toed chicks, mostly based on the breed they were. Or color, there was some interesting stuff in brown vs. white leghorn experiments. In general, only a few breeds show "normal?" symmetrical polydactyly, because they were selectively bred that way (maybe due to that bit of press put out by good ol' Columella back in the day), to not only be homozygous, but also to not have the genes that prevent it. When you see genes to prevent it, it usually means nature didn't want it there. The natural manifestation of polydactyly isn't symmetrical, not always in the same place on the foot, or sometimes even on both feet. (i.e., It looks like a mutation when it shows up naturally.) Strangely, one study appeared to show that when it did appear on just one foot, it would be the left one, they had no idea why. There's also a dominant allelic variant proposed, Po^d, which is duplicate polydactyly, and looks even more creepy.

Yes again on the nostrils (I was just saying they were an advantage and not a disability, just so happens Spitzes also have crests), but the genes for the v-comb, nostrils, and crest are all on the same chromosome, which if all are present, makes it more likely that they all show up together. However the nostrils and v-comb are the closest and present together more often than all three. I've got a bunch of Spitz/EE mutts that show all kinds of combinations.

And something else just occurred to me.... Are the OP and others here confusing the DUCK crest with the chicken crest? The duck crest is more toward the back of the skull, selectively bred knowing it's bad by hatcheries, because people at the feed store want poofy headed ducklings, and there is a soft spot under it that can kill them. Chicken crest notsomuch. (Vaulted) Crested chicks do have a soft spot from the cerebral hernia that forms the crest, but it ossifies as the chick ages and is fully encased in bone at maturity. Hence the "vaulted skull" and not "skull with a giant hole in it." "Cerebral hernia" is a physiological term in this context and not a bad thing, in a medical context it's a bad thing.
Not all crested chickens have vaulted skulls, not all breeds of crested chickens have vaulted skulls, vaulted skulls were selectively bred for and are apparent when they are born.

(edited to clarify that crests and vaults aren't the same thing.)

 

[Tankueray]

I noticed that my langshan roo walks a little strange sorta like a dog wearing shoes but my BLRW walks similarly and hes clean legged. At first I thought it was due to the feathers but it may be down to lanky teenage growth. These boys are TALL and comparable to my full sized roosters at only 18 weeks old.

Make sure they're getting enough amino acids and vitamins to keep up with that rapid growth, that might be the problem. (No water mix-in vitamins, too much salt.)

 

[CoconutCoffee]

Make sure they're getting enough amino acids and vitamins to keep up with that rapid growth, that might be the problem. (No water mix-in vitamins, too much salt.)

What about a feed supplement? Right now they're on dumor all flock along with occasional scratch and veggies/fruits.

 

[Tankueray]

What about a feed supplement? Right now they're on dumor all flock along with occasional scratch and veggies/fruits.

The DuMOR definitely isn't as good as the Purina or Nutrena all flock products, the ingredients are slightly lesser quality, although, I can't remember, but it may have been the only one with an animal protein source, which is a good thing. The DuMOR is okay if you've got a mature flock, but I prefer one of the other two if there are juveniles in the mix.

Sure, you could get something like calf manna and mix it in at 5% total weight, or the rooster booster top dressing (as far as TSC availability goes), there's also one called Super Spur from Bluebonnet feeds, or Poultry Nutri-balancer from Fertrell.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I've asked twice for evidence to support your position that these animals are in pain.

For a discussion to be meaningful one needs to debate in good faith with assertions backed by facts.

When I was in college(at 30 yrs old) we had to write a lot of papers, all resources that we got our information from had to be valid and verifiable resource, not just something we googled so it was the word.