Also, for all the reasons MC pointed out, it seems very curious that only the light colored chicks died and the darker ones survived. I'd really want to know more about that, for example, how many chicks are we talking about? For all we know, he could have raised the chicks on moist dirt, without medicated feed and the light colored birds were less suited to fight off the particular strain of cocci that he had in his chicken yard. Knowing the sample size would tell you if the mortality was more associated with coloration than chance alone would predict. I think it's more useful to the welfare of future birds to focus on what likely caused the mortality rather than get distracted by the frustration of dealing with uninformed individuals. I say that even though the guy would have probably driven me crazy.
I think it was about a dozen chicks that he picked up? Hard to say, I was pulling them directly out of the 'bator and I sold a
lot of chicks that weekend. Jbolt has chicks that just hatched from the exact same parent set, from eggs laid at the exact same time period. If her yellow chicks all suddenly lay down and die this week, then I guess we'll have answers on if it's genetic, LOL.
I can say that of the previous two batches of chicks that I have raised, one group is about four weeks old (30 chicks) and I have not lost any of those. Another group is about 2-3 months and I have not lost any of those, either.
Sometimes I get a weak baby that may pass in the first 24-48 hours. No visible flaws or idea why, kind of a "failure to thrive" kind of thing. This week I hatched 40 chicks, and had one die. I kept this group a few days to make sure they were doing OK, and then sold them last night to a family in Buckeye. All were alert, bright-eyed, drinking, eating, no sign of lethargy, no pasty-butt, etc. The oldest were about 6 days and the youngest about 3 days. No other deaths, in the last few days, beyond the one chick that died the first night out of the hatcher.
The one that did pass, was not yellow, it was a darker one.
As for illness in the general flock, I do have a "sniffles" thing that showed up about a year ago (in my "closed" flock!) that is not very deadly but really annoying. Seems to affect teenagers around 2-3 months old when I first put them on the ground, so it's either in the soil or being carried around by the sparrows that share their water dishes. Chicks show no signs when kept isolated in the wire cage where I raise them until four weeks old. If I give them antibiotics it clears up in a few days.
Anyone know if the price of a necropsy at U of A is running? I heard years ago it was $200. Has it gone down any? In KY, they only charge folks $10 for the service! I would love to know exactly what this ailment is. It's annoying more than deadly but I'd still vaccinate for it, if I knew exactly what it was. Adults seem mostly unaffected.
That's about it that I've seen in my flock in general . . . I have lost a few adults through the years for no apparent reason.
So losses here are pretty minimal. But unlike this guy, I can't say I've
NEVER had a sick or dead chicken. Wish I could say that for sure!!!
