Why is there such a bias against hatcheries?

[Michael Apple]

I prefer the hatchery in Alberta. Healthy chicks, oldest lived to 11 yrs old.
http://www.rochesterhatchery.com

I have not had great experience where the chicks come from in BC. The local feed store don't order anymore from Alberta, at least from here on Vancouver Island.

I order from Hatcheries so they are Vaccinated against Merecks Disease.

That's such a relief to have a hatchery with reliable stock. I've had good luck with Privett in New Mexico. I must have Marek's vaccinations where I am. I've seen the result of birds without that vaccination.

 

[pwand]

That's such a relief to have a hatchery with reliable stock. I've had good luck with Privett in New Mexico. I must have Marek's vaccinations where I am. I've seen the result of birds without that vaccination.

I wouldn't want Marek's disease, I have learned so much on here, seeing what others go through. Its worth having the birds vaccinated.

 

[chicksurreal]

I wouldn't want Marek's disease, I have learned so much on here, seeing what others go through. Its worth having the birds vaccinated.

Absolutely!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wouldn't want Marek's disease, I have learned so much on here, seeing what others go through. Its worth having the birds vaccinated.

For people that buy from hatcheries regularly, vaccination is probably a good idea.

Another option is to breed resistant stock and keep a closed flock.

 

[BunnyMomma]

I vaccinate all of my birds for Marek's disease and have done so for about 7 years. Even having a closed flock is not totally safe if you have wild birds on your farm. Years ago, I lost several nice hens to Marek's and that is when I started doing research and vaccinating.

This past summer I added fowl pox to my vaccination program as well. We had so much rain this year that a mosquito outbreak caused about 5 of my birds to become infected with fowl pox. It was sooo sad

seeing my birds feeling so depressed. I immediately ordered the vaccine and gave it to the rest of my flock. I have about 150 birds, so it took a while to get it all done. The only regret I have is that I did not add this vaccine to my program sooner. I feel better now that they are all protected. It is a slow moving virus, so I was able to get it under control very quickly. 10 birds became affected and I lost one rooster. He had a really terrible case. He was one of my best little roosters, really beautiful. I felt so bad about losing him.

I usually order my vaccines from Twin City Poultry, or Jeffer's Livestock. I always prefer to vaccinate my birds myself. I have had them vaccinated from the hatchery before, but I feel more confident if I can take care of them myself. I have also found that bantams are more sensitive to the vaccines, especially Marek's. I usually make a weaker solution to vaccinate my bantams. It protects them just as well and I have a lower mortality rate.
I hope this information helps someone!

 

[chicksurreal]

I vaccinate all of my birds for Marek's disease and have done so for about 7 years. Even having a closed flock is not totally safe if you have wild birds on your farm. Years ago, I lost several nice hens to Marek's and that is when I started doing research and vaccinating.

This past summer I added fowl pox to my vaccination program as well. We had so much rain this year that a mosquito outbreak caused about 5 of my birds to become infected with fowl pox. It was sooo sad

seeing my birds feeling so depressed. I immediately ordered the vaccine and gave it to the rest of my flock. I have about 150 birds, so it took a while to get it all done. The only regret I have is that I did not add this vaccine to my program sooner. I feel better now that they are all protected. It is a slow moving virus, so I was able to get it under control very quickly. 10 birds became affected and I lost one rooster. He had a really terrible case. He was one of my best little roosters, really beautiful. I felt so bad about losing him.

I usually order my vaccines from Twin City Poultry, or Jeffer's Livestock. I always prefer to vaccinate my birds myself. I have had them vaccinated from the hatchery before, but I feel more confident if I can take care of them myself. I have also found that bantams are more sensitive to the vaccines, especially Marek's. I usually make a weaker solution to vaccinate my bantams. It protects them just as well and I have a lower mortality rate.
I hope this information helps someone!

Thank you!

As a person new to chicken keeping this information is very helpful!

 

[BunnyMomma]

Thank you!

As a person new to chicken keeping this information is very helpful!

Hi, and Welcome to BYC! This is a great place to find lots of help and ideas!

BunnyMomma

 

[Michael Apple]

I vaccinate all of my birds for Marek's disease and have done so for about 7 years. Even having a closed flock is not totally safe if you have wild birds on your farm. Years ago, I lost several nice hens to Marek's and that is when I started doing research and vaccinating.

This past summer I added fowl pox to my vaccination program as well. We had so much rain this year that a mosquito outbreak caused about 5 of my birds to become infected with fowl pox. It was sooo sad

seeing my birds feeling so depressed. I immediately ordered the vaccine and gave it to the rest of my flock. I have about 150 birds, so it took a while to get it all done. The only regret I have is that I did not add this vaccine to my program sooner. I feel better now that they are all protected. It is a slow moving virus, so I was able to get it under control very quickly. 10 birds became affected and I lost one rooster. He had a really terrible case. He was one of my best little roosters, really beautiful. I felt so bad about losing him.

I usually order my vaccines from Twin City Poultry, or Jeffer's Livestock. I always prefer to vaccinate my birds myself. I have had them vaccinated from the hatchery before, but I feel more confident if I can take care of them myself. I have also found that bantams are more sensitive to the vaccines, especially Marek's. I usually make a weaker solution to vaccinate my bantams. It protects them just as well and I have a lower mortality rate.
I hope this information helps someone!

Not one bit of that to disagree with. Many new people don't know that wild birds, vectors for parasites, and other wild animals can spread disease. Even so, birds fed a proper diet can become resistant to a number of these diseases, with the exception of viruses. Birds that range will be more likely to come in contact with diseases. That doesn't mean good, grassy range isn't beneficial, it just means people need to pay close attention to their flocks, become familiar with certain symptoms by studying diseases commonly found on range. Today I was scouting around the range areas and found coon feces in an area. They are very territorial where they go and choose the same spot to defecate over time. They can spread cholera as well as Baylisascaris procyonis ( http://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/Baylisascaris.htm ). Knowing this, it is my job to be sure birds don't come in contact with it, and keep the coon population down by trapping and culling.

People claim they can breed for resistance against Marek's disease, but even doing so will not ensure the flock doesn't contact it from migratory birds. Recently there was a report about Bald eagles in Utah suffering from paralysis, tremors, and seizures due to an "unknown" disease. I bet you it is a strain of Marek's. None of this info is meant to alarm anyone or create worry, but part of the enjoyment of raising chickens is to always learn more about them, enabling us to keep healthy flocks.

 

[BunnyMomma]

Not one bit of that to disagree with. Many new people don't know that wild birds, vectors for parasites, and other wild animals can spread disease. Even so, birds fed a proper diet can become resistant to a number of these diseases, with the exception of viruses. Birds that range will be more likely to come in contact with diseases. That doesn't mean good, grassy range isn't beneficial, it just means people need to pay close attention to their flocks, become familiar with certain symptoms by studying diseases commonly found on range. Today I was scouting around the range areas and found coon feces in an area. They are very territorial where they go and choose the same spot to defecate over time. They can spread cholera as well as Baylisascaris procyonis ( http://www.zoologix.com/avian/Datasheets/Baylisascaris.htm ). Knowing this, it is my job to be sure birds don't come in contact with it, and keep the coon population down by trapping and culling.

People claim they can breed for resistance against Marek's disease, but even doing so will not ensure the flock doesn't contact it from migratory birds. Recently there was a report about Bald eagles in Utah suffering from paralysis, tremors, and seizures due to an "unknown" disease. I bet you it is a strain of Marek's. None of this info is meant to alarm anyone or create worry, but part of the enjoyment of raising chickens is to always learn more about them, enabling us to keep healthy flocks.

Hi, great post! I totally agree with your statement about staying informed about the diseases and viruses that are spread by other vectors. I have a pretty good setup here where the nearest creek is about 1/2 of a mile to the border of my property. I have never seen any raccoons here.
Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM). I have one horse on the farm and I try to keep a close watch for any raccoons, skunks, opossum, feral cats, etc. that may try to take up residence here. Opossum are my most frequent visitors, but I usually relocate them. I have also shot a few. It pays to bleach out any livestock water troughs or feed buckets that might be contaminated by unwanted visitors.


https://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/1997/fall/raccoon.shtml

I saw the news about the Bald Eagles as well. Here is some of the latest news about them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/27/utah-bald-eagle-deaths-climb_n_4506083.html
There is a beautiful, female Bald Eagle that visits my farm on occasion. I believe she has a nest at a nearby campground that has a fairly large lake. She stays away from my chicken lots, and the last time I saw her a group of 3 crows ran her off. She is amazing! I hope they can diagnose and prevent any more loss.
Here is a photo of the last opossum I had to visit. He was HUGE!

 

[Bullitt]

I am probably one of the people who is biased against hatcheries and. I have just one point.


here is a hatchery "buff Orpington" it is small, thin and doesn't show the true U shape

here is one of my own buff Orpington cockerels (not a particularly brilliant one but he shows the main points)


He has the standard U shape and is very big

The difference is obvious and in my opinion the first bird should not be called a buff Orpington because it doesn't show any of the breed characteristics it may as well be a cross breed hen.

Sure the hatchery birds will lay more but who knows what other breeds have gone into them. The fact that hatchery birds are sold as pure bred angers me because they obviously aren't; they are bred on a huge scale for production because that is what will make the hatcheries money.

Most good breeders will not loose all the key characteristics of their breed like size for meat or egg production but they will do this at the same time as improving their chickens to meet the standards, which in my opinion are vital to the conservation of pure bred poultry.

If you just want eggs get hatchery birds but don't expect any good quality birds.

You have a beautiful cockerel there.

"The fact that hatchery birds are sold as pure bred angers me because they obviously aren't; they are bred on a huge scale for production because that is what will make the hatcheries money."

Sometimes hatchery birds are obviously not pure. You can't say this is true in all cases.

"If you just want eggs get hatchery birds but don't expect any good quality birds."

If a person just wants hens that lay many eggs and the hatchery birds do that, then those are good quality hens based on that person's definition of quality. When you say "don't expect any good quality birds" you are referring to chickens bred to the standard of perfection, and it is true that hatcheries do not pay much attention to the standard of perfection. But what is a quality chicken depends on what a person wants from his or her chicken.