Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

@Grain Gypsy , I've not had any problems with the heat and brahmas. In fact those big black brahmas haven't suffered from the heat either. I was very nervous about that. And have normally avoided black chickens because they tend to be more susceptible. That is one of the deciding factors, aside from their outstanding gentle nature that has made love brahmas. They don't seem to be bothered by the heat or the cold.
Are the birds able to get out during the day and get some shade and breeze when it's hot? Have you put out water pans for them to stand in? I suspect you still have something else going on there that is caused the problems. Are the birds that died feeling skinny on their keel bone? Have you noticed any congestion?
Occasionally I have a case of failure to thrive which can affect all breeds of birds. A bird will seem to grow slower than others and not act quite as active. It may live for months but finally just dies. This can be due to any number of things. Normally if I do a necropsy I can pinpoint a physical problem of some kind. An enlarged heart, lesions in the lungs or liver, tumors on the liver. Also, since you did have a bout with Cocci there could have been lesions and damage left behind from it and time just took it's course.
That is one reason if I have time I like to do necropsies. After a bunch of them you realize what is normal and what is not. I even inspect the parts from birds I butcher. It's kind of a trained eye of sorts.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

I am glad you confirmed that you haven't had problems with your Brahmas and heat, Danz. I love the breed too much for them not to be heat and cold hardy! Both of the Brahmas we lost from seemingly unexplainable causes were oudoor frequenters. They left the coop often to enjoy the run. My black birds seem to do just fine in the heat, as well. I watch them closely, but it just doesn't seem to bother them too much. I haven't done pans with water for them to stand in, though. I tried a kiddie pool one day with just a little water in the bottom, and they avoided it like the plague. I haven't noticed any skinniness from any of the deceased birds. I can't bring myself to do a necropsies on the birds that die. I just can't.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

@chicken danz Thanks for all the great info, and congrats on the EE egg. I have some Ameraucana/Brahma mixes and I think they are lovely.

@Grain Gypsy I second chicken danz's asertation of Brahmas and heat. I was worried about them in the Summer, but wanted good winter layers. They do great in the winter and summer both, although you do have to watch thier feathers in the snow, they can get caked and cause frostbite. I am a forever lover of Brahmas.

 

[girlsnammo]

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes it has been very appreciated. So I think my dh has been keeping me occupied so I don't get depressed. I have been able to update my "new run building project" here on byc because he decided we needed to drop everything and work on it all the sudden. I'm not complaining though it has kept me busy and kept my mind off of everything else. Yesterday was spent enrolling the kids in school during the day which broke me for the week. $225 to enroll 4 kids. Then yesterday evening I made homemade hot pockets and he worked on finishing the roof for the run. I am excited about it though, finally getting it done so my girls have plenty of room now. When we finally get it completed we get to start building their permanent coop. Dh is even going to set up a watering system with those little cup waterers that also ties into soaker hoses and a small waterfall that will water my corn, green beans, peas, and cucumbers. I'm pretty excited. Its definitely a benefit to be married to an engineer with construction experience.

 

[chicken danz]

I understand not being able to do necropsies. If you only have a limited number of chickens it would be like doing a necropsy on a pet dog. Impossible. I helped a vet do surgeries on Saturday afternoons when I live in OKC. I was just there as a pair of hands but it got me over any queasiness and stuff when it comes to opening up an animal. I just find it all very interesting and love investigating it all. It has answered so many unknowns for me. In your case Grain Gypsy I am guessing they were damaged from the cocci and it weakened their systems. No way to know for sure.
Tarabella this isn't an EE per say. I was actually trying to get some Olive eggers. In this case it was an accident. The others I have were intentional. EEs are normally bred using an Ameraucana and some other breed. This was an Araucana. Not that it matters much. They won't look at all the same at all, but they are only going to be egg layers anyway.
I sold all my extra Araucana cockerels so I threw a couple of eggs in the incubator a while back. I get very nervous when I don't have a back up roo. I did it just in time cause they were laying like crazy and quit when it got very hot.
I am getting so few eggs right now it's insane. This hot weather is killing me.
Congrats Girlsnammo on getting the run done. It does help to be busy. It sounds like you have quite the plan there for watering. Are you going to shut it all down in winter? I'm battling in my own mind right now if my auto water system is going to stay warm enough once I put my pop doors in. I had planned to put it on the South wall of my building but my pop doors are going there as well. There really isn't another option using the pens and gates I have in there. I've planned this forever but just the last few days it crossed my mind that it could be colder right there. I only plan to keep the building about 33 degrees all winter. I may have to come up with some other options some way.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I understand not being able to do necropsies. If you only have a limited number of chickens it would be like doing a necropsy on a pet dog. Impossible. I helped a vet do surgeries on Saturday afternoons when I live in OKC. I was just there as a pair of hands but it got me over any queasiness and stuff when it comes to opening up an animal. I just find it all very interesting and love investigating it all. It has answered so many unknowns for me. In your case Grain Gypsy I am guessing they were damaged from the cocci and it weakened their systems. No way to know for sure.
Tarabella this isn't an EE per say. I was actually trying to get some Olive eggers. In this case it was an accident. The others I have were intentional. EEs are normally bred using an Ameraucana and some other breed. This was an Araucana. Not that it matters much. They won't look at all the same at all, but they are only going to be egg layers anyway.
I sold all my extra Araucana cockerels so I threw a couple of eggs in the incubator a while back. I get very nervous when I don't have a back up roo. I did it just in time cause they were laying like crazy and quit when it got very hot.
I am getting so few eggs right now it's insane. This hot weather is killing me.
Congrats Girlsnammo on getting the run done. It does help to be busy. It sounds like you have quite the plan there for watering. Are you going to shut it all down in winter? I'm battling in my own mind right now if my auto water system is going to stay warm enough once I put my pop doors in. I had planned to put it on the South wall of my building but my pop doors are going there as well. There really isn't another option using the pens and gates I have in there. I've planned this forever but just the last few days it crossed my mind that it could be colder right there. I only plan to keep the building about 33 degrees all winter. I may have to come up with some other options some way.

I didn't realize you had Araucanas. I may have to pick your brain about the lethal gene traits! Are your Black Brahmas laying again?

 

[chicken danz]

Yep, they are laying a couple eggs a day between the ladies. I'm collecting. I may just set them as they come and let them stagger hatch by a few days. I need to candle the others I set to see if we are showing development yet.
The lethal gene in Araucanas is fairly simple. If both the hen and the rooster have tufts, the gene will exist. If the hen has a left tuft and the roo has a right tuft it won't exist. If they both have left or both have right tufts it will exist. If one is tufted and the other is not it won't exist. However, some Araucanas can be non-tufted but actually have a hidden tuft. In that case the gene will exist. You can also breed two non-tufted birds and end up with tufted offspring as well. The deadly gene will result in about 25% losses if it is present. It's not a total loss kind of thing.
The catch 22 is to show them, they both must be double tufted so you most likely won't breed show birds to each other. Even in large fowl they are really small birds. They are super quirky and can fly quite well because of their size. I only started with them because purebred Araucanas are so rare. But I decided I really like them. Those pretty blue eggs are the icing on the cake. They fall into the category of unusual looking birds for me. I have them and Breda fowl just because neither resemble a normal chicken, and I love their unique personalities. One thing about the Araucana is that they crank out the eggs when they are laying. During laying season I was getting an egg a day from every hen. I expect they'll start back up again when the heat breaks.

 

[girlsnammo]

Well danz I'm not sure how exactly he plans on doing it, he gets pretty technical when he talks about what his plans are and I get lost in the conversation. I do know that he is planning some kind of weird mechanical stuff for both the coop and watering system. I just usually wait til he puts stuff together and then I'm like oh, I get it now! My girls make me pretty happy and so he likes doing stuff for them to make me happy. We still have a lot to do to get this new property prepped for winter. Still have to finish the old property so it can be rented out too. I will be glad when we get everything done and can just relax for a while. Or at least as much as possible with 6 kids. Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask if y'all think that potato's and radishes would grow OK in the planter box under the mammosa tree? It ain't very big and gets dappled sunlight most of the day and direct light in the evenings for about 2 hours. I know root vegetables can tolerate shade but I just want to make sure the light they do get would be sufficient. I'm doing what I can to work with limited space cuz I only get half the yard.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
I have a lovely little rumpless, tufted, black Araucana cockerel if you would like to have him back as a backup. He is very sweet and friendly (brooder raised, so he is fairly tame -- he runs out to meet me when they are free ranging). I also have a non-tufted cockerel from the same batch of eggs. ;-) It is looking like I got 2 males and 3 females (all black) plus that weird little gray chick with a tail that hatched out of the first egg. He is cute, just not what I was expecting. I think only one of the Breda fowl is male. The two gray chicks (9 weeks old like the Araucanas) are male and female (obviously at this point) and I think the black one is also female (fingers crossed on that). They are the softest little birds. They roost in the window of the run in the hoop and I have to put them in at night by hand, and they don't mind being handled. They are so much softer than the orps. Now all I have to do is figure out who stays and who goes. When they get a little bigger, I'm going to try to sell some of them. The orps are shaking out nicely. The Jubilees still have me baffled as to gender. They all look pretty much the same. The lavender and white orps are female, I'm pretty sure, and the one BBS is clearly male. I have one male and one female chocolate. That adds up to at least 3 hens (and maybe as many as 7) plus the 3 araucanas and 2 Breda. I have room for (maybe) as many as 6 total. Decisions, decisions. They are beautiful birds.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Yep, they are laying a couple eggs a day between the ladies. I'm collecting. I may just set them as they come and let them stagger hatch by a few days. I need to candle the others I set to see if we are showing development yet.
The lethal gene in Araucanas is fairly simple. If both the hen and the rooster have tufts, the gene will exist. If the hen has a left tuft and the roo has a right tuft it won't exist. If they both have left or both have right tufts it will exist. If one is tufted and the other is not it won't exist. However, some Araucanas can be non-tufted but actually have a hidden tuft. In that case the gene will exist. You can also breed two non-tufted birds and end up with tufted offspring as well. The deadly gene will result in about 25% losses if it is present. It's not a total loss kind of thing.
The catch 22 is to show them, they both must be double tufted so you most likely won't breed show birds to each other. Even in large fowl they are really small birds. They are super quirky and can fly quite well because of their size. I only started with them because purebred Araucanas are so rare. But I decided I really like them. Those pretty blue eggs are the icing on the cake. They fall into the category of unusual looking birds for me. I have them and Breda fowl just because neither resemble a normal chicken, and I love their unique personalities. One thing about the Araucana is that they crank out the eggs when they are laying. During laying season I was getting an egg a day from every hen. I expect they'll start back up again when the heat breaks.

Yay! I can't wait for some of those beauties!

That is very like the Dumpy's short leg gene. 25% loss in shell when bred short to short. Most breed Long legged roo (long leg is any over 1 1/2") over short legged hens and vise verse. I find the whole thing fascinating, that coupled with the age of the breed (over 700 years, with some indication to the ancient Celts keeping them!!!) just makes them irresistible to me!