Belgian Malines Have Arrived!!!

[Shellz]

Thanks! They are shaping up nicely, I think. I just asked Bart when I should expect the pullets to be laying. Around 6 months of age. This works out perfectly for me.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Nice birds!

I just read a book about capons that was written about a hundred years ago, and one of the breeds that was touted as making great capons was the Malines.

 

[Shellz]

Found Thor dead this morning. Seemed fine last night. Was alive when let out this morning. I kept them in fenced yard. Autopsied & found nothing wrong, to my untrained eye. A heart attack? At 16.5 weeks, he had a good amount of breast meat. I think, had he lived another month, would've been equal in size or more to store bought meat. I will be giving Bart a ring later today.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Found Thor dead this morning.

Seemed fine last night. Was alive when let out this morning. I kept them in fenced yard. Autopsied & found nothing wrong, to my untrained eye. A heart attack? At 16.5 weeks, he had a good amount of breast meat. I think, had he lived another month, would've been equal in size or more to store bought meat. I will be giving Bart a ring later today.

Shellz......Sorry about Thor. It is really hard to find one dead and not know why, especially if it was breeding stock.

 

[Shellz]

Thanks BC, but is ok. Haven't done a cull yet, so still time to consider other birds for breeding. Had a nice chat with Bart earlier. Going to seriously consider doing a group breeding instead of trios or quads in a separate pen.

 

[Gen9]

Oh no that is sad but I guess it's good that you didn't breed him who knows what hereditary issues could have been passed down... Heart attack would be my guess too; finding nothing wrong can be both good & bad imo hopefully it's just an isolated incident. Glad to see you taking it all in stride. <3
*hugs*

 

[theoldchick]

How sad to lose one to unknown causes. Most likely he had a congenital heart defect. You'll see this problem in birds who have a small gene pool. Often birds affected with a cardiac condition are usually noted to have the 'sweetest temperament' because the poorly developed heart simply can't pump enough blood to allow the bird to act normally.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Bart Nagel]

My line of Coucou Malines (the birds that Shelley has been raising this year) is not prone to this. Honestly - as I have told Shelley too - this is the first example I have heard of. My line is built upon several lines and I practice flock/group breeding to avoid a small gene pool. Of course it is very well possible that Thor had this defect, but it is definitely not common. From the breeds I have here (Black Copper Marans and now Bielefelders too) the Coucou Malines are by far the hardiest and healthiest birds.

 

[Shellz]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Much appreciated.

Thanks Bart for chiming in. Its important to note this was an isolated incident & not a common occurrence. I was taken aback at how quickly it happened. I've seen minor things in previous flocks, but nothing like this. I'll chalk it up to another experience in my short 4 1/2 year hobby with poultry. I'm confident it will be many years before I see something like this again. Hopefully never though.

Thor certainly has a few very promising brothers. It's all good!

 

[Shellz]

Top 3 are of Thor the night before he passed. We were trying to leg band him, but his leg was too thick.
Bottom pics are of one of his brothers. He looks mighty good!