- Mar 18, 2017
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We have 150 laying hens of about 13 different breeds. We had 15 Praire Blues that are 18 months (a blue layer mixed with a leghorn purchased from one of those national hatcheries -- so probably terrible genetics). We had never had this "breed" before and initially liked them. They were an easy breed to raise, pretty and decent temperment -- not aggressive, not so friendly they get under foot, but not crazy and stupid like leghorns -- skittish but not insane. Every 2 months one comes up dead. This doesn't happen with any of the other breeds, we've never seen anything like it. It's happened 3 times right now. We were out of town and it upset the kid watching the hens that the hen seemed listless, so he separated it. Then that afternoon was dead.
No signs of mites, no sign of injury, or fatal laying problem, not under weight. I know i SHOULD do an autopsy to look for congenital tract deformities, tumors, organ problems, but I don't have it in me and I care for my 83 year old dad fulltime in addition to running the farm and driving to the post office to send in a corpse for autopsy isn't something I can find time for between his diaper changes, feedings, and me trying to stay sane. This obviously isn't our first rodeo with chickens, and it's not upsetting (unlike many other ways chickens die between fox strikes, or a tract issue or a tumor -- we allow our chickens to live out their natural life, so some of the older ones can have isses and we've seen a lot). My gut says they might be prone to problems, or that we got some that were badly bred (they're not a terribly popular breed). I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this happen. It's not a flock problem, it's VERY specific to these handful of chickens. I definitely will think twice again before buying them, which is frustrating because I really liked them overall.
If one of the experts feels this would be better in the "breed discussion" thread or a different thread, please repost over there. Because it's not a "real" breed and because this is such an odd question, I posted it here. It's not an emergency, these are sold as a breed, but in my mind don't really qualify as a breed (more of a hatchery specialty mix.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Hope for some insight.
No signs of mites, no sign of injury, or fatal laying problem, not under weight. I know i SHOULD do an autopsy to look for congenital tract deformities, tumors, organ problems, but I don't have it in me and I care for my 83 year old dad fulltime in addition to running the farm and driving to the post office to send in a corpse for autopsy isn't something I can find time for between his diaper changes, feedings, and me trying to stay sane. This obviously isn't our first rodeo with chickens, and it's not upsetting (unlike many other ways chickens die between fox strikes, or a tract issue or a tumor -- we allow our chickens to live out their natural life, so some of the older ones can have isses and we've seen a lot). My gut says they might be prone to problems, or that we got some that were badly bred (they're not a terribly popular breed). I just wanted to see if anyone else has had this happen. It's not a flock problem, it's VERY specific to these handful of chickens. I definitely will think twice again before buying them, which is frustrating because I really liked them overall.
If one of the experts feels this would be better in the "breed discussion" thread or a different thread, please repost over there. Because it's not a "real" breed and because this is such an odd question, I posted it here. It's not an emergency, these are sold as a breed, but in my mind don't really qualify as a breed (more of a hatchery specialty mix.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Hope for some insight.