- Jun 6, 2013
- 497
- 129
- 181
I've recently butchered 4 roosters that had a deformed breastbone. The first one I thought "Oh wow, he came out funny! Just a fluke." Then the next 3 I butcher (over the span of 2 weeks) were each prograssively more deformed. The last bird's pectoral process, the big boney ridge that divides the breast muscles, whatever its technical term is, was almost collapsed looking and distinctly S shaped near the bottom. I could feel his deformity through his feathers when he was alive! Their muscles have been healthy and robust regardless, no sign of atrophy or illness in the birds. The breast muscles were just shaped/adapted to the curve.
These roosters were all from the 2019 season. Adults, but young yet. The first dozen or so butchered roosters did not have any deformity. But the last 4 have had increasingly deformed breastbones. These roosters are in an enclosed aviary with no access to free range or forage, just their formulated feed, some hay/bedding, and dirt/substrate. Their genetics range between marans, ameraucanas, and cemanis. They are not interbred. I have never seen this before, having raised thousands of birds and butchered hundreds of them.
I've also lost 2 birds without warning. They looked the picture of health. These birds were free ranging and had access to abundant diverse feed, pellets were not their only food source. I opened both of them up and found their body cavities completely impacted with fat. Solid gobs of fat. Their skin thick and heavy with fat as well. One was a Fayoumi rooster, the other a buff orpington. The rooster died in the fall, 2 months after switching to the new feed, the orpington died in December.
I've only seen this once before and it was a ranger who died with a body cavity completely blocked by solid fat. I figured it was genetics on that one. But a fayoumi dying of fatness??? 3 of the roosters I've butchered this winter have also had dangerous levels of fat in their bodies, though it hadn't killed them before I did. All these birds looked otherwise healthy inside and out. I should note though that I've also butchered many this winter that weren't worryingly fat.
The few roosters left in my butcher pen are losing condition in their feathers as well in the last few weeks. The flock that free ranges doesn't seem to be having this problem.
I'm wondering about the new feed. Problems started 2 months after we switched feed. We had none of these issues last winter on our old feed. And I've never really seen these problems before in general. When we switched, egg laying went down and the chicken obesity started showing up. I have to supplement protein to keep production up. It's supposed to be 18% formulated feed, local/unbranded.
Any thoughts on what causes these two ailments and could they be feed related? I'm not sure what the root of the problem is; mineral imbalance, improper caolrie ratio, etc. Could the problems be combatted with supplementation? We bought 7 tons of these pellets to get us through to next year, so we still have quite a bit to get through.
These roosters were all from the 2019 season. Adults, but young yet. The first dozen or so butchered roosters did not have any deformity. But the last 4 have had increasingly deformed breastbones. These roosters are in an enclosed aviary with no access to free range or forage, just their formulated feed, some hay/bedding, and dirt/substrate. Their genetics range between marans, ameraucanas, and cemanis. They are not interbred. I have never seen this before, having raised thousands of birds and butchered hundreds of them.
I've also lost 2 birds without warning. They looked the picture of health. These birds were free ranging and had access to abundant diverse feed, pellets were not their only food source. I opened both of them up and found their body cavities completely impacted with fat. Solid gobs of fat. Their skin thick and heavy with fat as well. One was a Fayoumi rooster, the other a buff orpington. The rooster died in the fall, 2 months after switching to the new feed, the orpington died in December.
I've only seen this once before and it was a ranger who died with a body cavity completely blocked by solid fat. I figured it was genetics on that one. But a fayoumi dying of fatness??? 3 of the roosters I've butchered this winter have also had dangerous levels of fat in their bodies, though it hadn't killed them before I did. All these birds looked otherwise healthy inside and out. I should note though that I've also butchered many this winter that weren't worryingly fat.
The few roosters left in my butcher pen are losing condition in their feathers as well in the last few weeks. The flock that free ranges doesn't seem to be having this problem.
I'm wondering about the new feed. Problems started 2 months after we switched feed. We had none of these issues last winter on our old feed. And I've never really seen these problems before in general. When we switched, egg laying went down and the chicken obesity started showing up. I have to supplement protein to keep production up. It's supposed to be 18% formulated feed, local/unbranded.
Any thoughts on what causes these two ailments and could they be feed related? I'm not sure what the root of the problem is; mineral imbalance, improper caolrie ratio, etc. Could the problems be combatted with supplementation? We bought 7 tons of these pellets to get us through to next year, so we still have quite a bit to get through.
