Australorps breed Thread

[starlingdaly]

That's good, prsiriechickens! We can rule that one out.

 

[ronott1]

Congrats on your 600th post, Vamvakas!
Hopefully someone will have the answer to your question. I am not experienced enough with Australorps yet to have that answer.

I have a question for everyone! Has anyone bought Australorp babies this year from a hatchery in the US and at 1-2 weeks of age notice the chicks start developing underbites and eventually lead to possible scissor beak problems? I have bought 4 chicks at two different times from a local feed store and didn't think that the underbites could be genetic until I noticed they were all getting them.
Anyone know which hatchery might be at fault here?
And also, I've noticed as my chicks age (I've lost two to random deaths and a third is acting suspicious) their heads start looking like they might be a big misshapen, or perhaps too small for their body. Very strange. Never experienced such a high incidence of problems with any other type of bird in any previous season.

I hatched chicks this year and they are fine. It is possible that the flock was treated for worms too soon to collecting eggs.

 

[starlingdaly]

Hmm, amazing. I never would have thought dewormer was capable of causing birth defects and genetic mutations but it *does* make sense.
I bought three new babies from a different store and these look very healthy and sticky compared to my previous Aussies.

 

[ronott1]

Hmm, amazing. I never would have thought dewormer was capable of causing birth defects and genetic mutations but it *does* make sense.
I bought three new babies from a different store and these look very healthy and sticky compared to my previous Aussies.

Wazine is known for causing birth defects.

 

[starlingdaly]

Wow, remind me not to use it with my breeding flock! I try to go the most all natural route anyhow.

 

[ronott1]

Wow, remind me not to use it with my breeding flock! I try to go the most all natural route anyhow.

You should not hatch eggs for a month after treating them with wazine.

 

[thedragonlady]

You should not hatch eggs for a month after treating them with wazine.

Why would you use Wazine on mature birds ? It only gets round worms. Safeguard 10% Goat wormer and Valbazan have had ZERO side effects for me. They are much broader spectrum wormers too. Each bird is weighed, and individually dosed 4 times a year.

 

[ronott1]

Why would you use Wazine on mature birds ? It only gets round worms. Safeguard 10% Goat wormer and Valbazan have had ZERO side effects for me. They are much broader spectrum wormers too. Each bird is weighed, and individually dosed 4 times a year.

You would be amazed at what people will use--feed store nonsense and etc.

 

[starlingdaly]

To each their own.
I use pumpkin seeds and feed most of the pumpkins I grow to the chickens each year.
I've been putting a tiny amount of DE in the food to keep bugs out and I hear that has some deworming qualities. I've recently added an experiment in oregano oil to my deworming protocol with promising results.
Oh and I occasionally put garlic in their water. Most of these are preventative but I also believe small amounts of certain kinds worms can be beneficial (it's been studied with humans lately) and I also don't want to shock their systems with a sudden die off of EVERYTHING. So I don't mind if I don't manage to kill every single parasite with every worming. So far so good. I'll change my methods if it becomes an issue or if there is new research about it.
Anyone do things similarly?

 

[starlingdaly]

On a side note, I have used fenbendazole to deworm my dog and cats and it worked perfectly with no side effects except one angry cat. I've always been too scared to try it with my chickens though since I eat their eggs and may eventually eat them too.