Arizona Chickens

[Mahonri]

I'm still trying to figure out what I got in my Duke's mixture.

I know one of them is a buff... Orp or Minorca... can't tell sex or breed, just buff.
I got two sultans... they are BOTH looking like roos.
I got 3 Egyptian Faoumis
I got a pair of Blue Laced Red Wyandottes.
I got a trio of Colombian Wyandottes.
I have at least 5 Giant partridge Cochins... 3 are roos
I have at least 5 Lakenvelders.
I have at least 5 Dark Brahmas
I have at least 5 black Cochins
And I have no idea about the other 20!

 

[jbolt]

I have a weird question. Talked to a guy that I met via Craigslist, who bought a few chicks from me about a week ago. He said he had a few of the newborn chicks die off since he bought them, and was a bit upset, because he says he has chickens that are nine years old and he has NEVER lost a chick, or had a sick chicken in his flock. Says he has a ton of chickens on his property, and some are nine years old. Do note that these chicks that I sold him were grabbed pretty much direct out of the brooder, and were less than 24 hours old, so I didn't have time to raise them for a few days before they went to their new home and scan for any weakness in the babies. He said oddly that only the pale colored ones died and the darker ones were fine . . . bizarre! I wish I'd had a chance to "vet" them for a few days before they went to new homes, but since hatcheries shove them in a box and ship them across country, I figured they would be OK? But that's beside the point, I'm still baffled because he says he's never lost a chick or adult, never ever ever and he says he owns tons of chickens and buys them all the time! A friend of mine told me that illness can be carried by wild birds, and by mosquitoes, so you can't really ever isolate your coop totally. He said that was crap, and he'd never heard of illness spreading unless it was directly from another sick chicken making contact with a healthy one, so he just quarantines them for a couple of months before introducing them to his main flock, and says because of that he has never lost a single chicken to illness in years. So my question is: Have any of you long-term chicken owning folks been fortunate enough to NEVER have a sick chicken or a dead chicken? I can see that if you bought vaccinated chicks from ONE hatchery years ago, and never ever ever ever brought in another chick since then. But this person did say he had bought other chickens off of Craigslist, plus hatcheries, and introduced them to his flock. Is he just the luckiest chicken owner on earth? Or have others of you had chickens for many years, bought from various sources, and never had a single one turn up sick or dead? Totally curious . . . . and completely jealous. LOL! If you have had a BIG flock for several years and have never had a sick or dead chicken, pipe up! I really want to know your secrets!

Is quarantine the 100% cure??? Does that mean never a sick or dead chicken ever again?

That's silly, it is absolutely true that wild bird can and do give domestic bird certain ailments. I have hatched out your eggs, and put them in a tractor brooder at 24 hours old. They are in with 6 3 week old chicks, and are on the raw grass in their brooder. i havent lost any. I have specially lost chicks due to raising them with turkey and quail, and those birds have different immunities. It is a well known fact that wild birds carry parasites, and disease to domestic flocks, I think the guy may have mishandled them, because he is certainly wrong about disease transfer, especially in a free range environment

 

[jbolt]

It's kind of like saying a horse can't get parasites or disease from a wild donkey.......nonsense

 

[pipemum]

That's silly, it is absolutely true that wild bird can and do give domestic bird certain ailments. I have hatched out your eggs, and put them in a tractor brooder at 24 hours old. They are in with 6 3 week old chicks, and are on the raw grass in their brooder. i havent lost any. I have specially lost chicks due to raising them with turkey and quail, and those birds have different immunities. It is a well known fact that wild birds carry parasites, and disease to domestic flocks, I think the guy may have mishandled them, because he is certainly wrong about disease transfer, especially in a free range environment

Even me, a newbie, knows the Craigslist guy is a lying liar who lies.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:
OK, folks, before condemning the guy consider for a moment: what if what he said is true? The pale chicks died and the dark ones didn't. It is possible that the dark chicks have some genetic predisposition to be able to handle the guy's particular management style and situation, and the pale chicks did not. This does not mean the pale chicks were necessarily sick, or unhealthy, or genetically weird. It just means that they were not suited for his particular place and chicken-keeping methods. It is odd that he never lost a bird before, but there is a chance he is telling the truth. And it doesn't sound like he was lying about the pale chicks dying and the dark ones being ok.

In the future you might want to keep an eye on the pale chicks in particular. Is there some recessive genetic thing that affects their vigor under a variety of conditions? They may be ok on your place, but are they less adaptable than the dark chicks? Maybe, maybe not, but it's something to watch for in the future. You do want to make sure you breed a healthy, vigorous stock. Especially if you're going to be selling chicks. Sometimes the feedback we get isn't what we want to hear. But we do need to pay attention to it.

 

[jbolt]

OK, folks, before condemning the guy consider for a moment:  what if what he said is true?  The pale chicks died and the dark ones didn't.  It is possible that the dark chicks have some genetic predisposition to be able to handle the guy's particular management style and situation, and the pale chicks did not.  This does not mean the pale chicks were necessarily sick, or unhealthy, or genetically weird.  It just means that they were not suited for his particular place and chicken-keeping methods.  It is odd that he never lost a bird before, but there is a chance he is telling the truth.  And it doesn't sound like he was lying about the pale chicks dying and the dark ones being ok.

In the future you might want to keep an eye on the pale chicks in particular.  Is there some recessive genetic thing that affects their vigor under a variety of conditions?  They may be ok on your place, but are they less adaptable than the dark chicks?  Maybe, maybe not, but it's something to watch for in the future.  You do want to make sure you breed a healthy, vigorous stock.  Especially if you're going to be selling chicks.  Sometimes the feedback we get isn't what we want to hear.  But we do need to pay attention to it. 

I absolutely agree with you, however, the fact that he stated that disease cannot be transferred by environment, leads any nominal chicken owner to believe that he is exaggerating either his non losses, or his experience. Any basic knowledge in disease management or control would negate these statements. I have not done any particular source checking on this but google has that handled. I stand by my assumption ( which may make an *** of me) that the chicks were mishandled and that caused their deaths. This assumption is only based on the facts stated by aloha chickens, and my own experience in hatching out the same eggs, so I could be wrong and am ready to correct my statement in the presence of more information.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
I agree too. There is so much that we don't know about the situation that could change my mind one way or the other. First of all, it shows that the number of years you've raised chickens or the number of chickens you've raised doesn't necessarily mean much. That he discounts the notion of disease vectors other than chickens is very disappointing coming from someone who claims to be so experienced. It's rather shocking, in fact. Having said that, consider the things that are likely to have happened to chicks in that short time-period. Few of the common wild-bird or insect communicated or airborne diseases would have had time to induce fatality in a week period. Coccidiosis in the soil does come to mind. As MagicChicken and others pointed out, under what conditions did he keep the chicks? For all we know the guy may have only previously dealt with POL birds. Did he provide a heat source? We don't know. 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.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I'm still trying to figure out what I got in my Duke's mixture.

I know one of them is a buff... Orp or Minorca... can't tell sex or breed, just buff.
I got two sultans... they are BOTH looking like roos.
I got 3 Egyptian Faoumis
I got a pair of Blue Laced Red Wyandottes.
I got a trio of Colombian Wyandottes.
I have at least 5 Giant partridge Cochins... 3 are roos
I have at least 5 Lakenvelders.
I have at least 5 Dark Brahmas
I have at least 5 black Cochins
And I have no idea about the other 20!

fantastic!
When I finish the new digs I will have 2 runs and coops. I plan on some day having 18 chickens, 17 : 1. 1 roo if it is ok with my neighbors. I want to add a min of 2 at a time.
it is like being in an international mega fine foods market, BUT you can only use tokens, you have only 18 tokens for 18 items. Fine caviar, live fish from the world, spices, hams, fruits and vegetables all fresh and most you could only get if you traveled the world.

Wyandotte's (I have a SLW), Polish, Silkies, Lakenvelder, and true Buff Orpington are on my A List. A Columbian is very high on the list. If you are doing to have extra's of any pullets let me know. The Mystery 20 are interesting to. Dispute being hard to tell when they so young still interested.
..................................
Pics of our bees
S's bees

MY BEES

I'm not really looking forward to cutting open my shed floor and moving them to a Supper. Hoping I can capture a sworn from them.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

LKD, nice hive! Were the bees under the shed floor feral?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I just wanted to give a shout-out to my daughter's high school, Basis Tucson North. It was just ranked as the number 2 high school in America by US News and World Report, which is down one spot from last year, but still an amazing achievement. It is ranked as the number one charter school in the nation. Basis Scottsdale did fantastically well too, scoring the fifth best high school in the nation and the third best charter school.