BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[dan26552]

My drake weighs 2.5 pounds and both the hens each weighs 1.75 pounds. After laying the egg for the day.

Really? My month olds weighed 2 1/2 pounds last Saturday. Interesting.

 

[NanaKat]

My drake weighs 2.5 pounds and both the hens each weighs 1.75 pounds. After laying the egg for the day.

Really? My month olds weighed 2 1/2 pounds last Saturday. Interesting.

Well, I was using my old fashioned veggie scale...guess I need to bring in the digital one.
Here they are in their 2 X 5 foot goat tank.

 

[dan26552]

Well, I was using my old fashioned veggie scale...guess I need to bring in the digital one.
Here they are in their 2 X 5 foot goat tank.

Ah.

Look like they weigh more than two pounds to me. You said you think they're Pekin X Swede right?

 

[holm25]

Just have to post a few pics of these beauties! Can't wait to start doing some hatching from them! They just have to start laying!

 

[dan26552]

Just have to post a few pics of these beauties! Can't wait to start doing some hatching from them! They just have to start laying!

Guess what!?



(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

 

[Kassaundra]

Chicken butt! lol

 

[holm25]

Guess what!?



(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Chicken butt! lol

I was thinking the same thing earlier!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I am just sick, I lost my Buff Orpington Roo...just yesterday he was happily breeding his hens, and acting quite normal.
I locked up the coop for the evening and he was roosted with the girls in his normal spot. I opened the coop this morning and he was laying on the floor of the coop dead. He was just under one year old and a lovely big bouncy boy.
I have no sick chickens, and I checked for lice, bad crops etc, nothing...I have no idea why he died.
So neurotic me put all the chickens out in the run, and totally stripped the coop, cleaned everything with vinegar, and put down all new diatomaceous earth, then clean shavings. Added raw apple cider vinegar to the scrubbed and disinfected waterers.
I just received my orpington eggs that I ordered from Bobbi Porto, but until they hatch and grow I have no orpington rooster.
The only thing I did different was to allow a hen to go broody and raise some chicks, because of that I changed the food to all flock, with a little layer feed mixed in, and some scratch. They always get oyster shell thrown in the run. they got the same grass clippings, or kale, and some oats for treats.
Typically I incubate the chicks, and raise separate til they are old enough to eat layer fee.
SO sad.....:-(

It wasn't a bad idea to clean out the coop and disinfect things.
The only way to know what killed the rooster is to get a necropsy and lab work.
If you're in Florida, this is your poultry lab.

Florida

Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
Florida Department of Ag and Consumer Services
2700 N. John Young Parkway
Kissimmee, Florida 34741-1266
Phone: 321-697-1400
IAV-A, CSF, CWD*, ND, FMD, IAV-S*, PRV, SCRAPIE


I've done 2 necropsies myself and had 3 done at the state vet school. I've lost 2 roosters quickly and 1 hen that went down fast. After a couple days of the hen looking bad, I took her to the vet school. She was euthanized and necropsied. She had cancer. One of the roosters was like yours. Dead in the morning. The other was breeding hens in the morning and 5 minutes later he was dead. The 2 roosters both died of a heart attack. No disease in either case (except cancer).
One of the necropsies I did indicated fatty liver syndrome.

It's a shame when people have a bird die for unknown reasons that they don't take advantage of the services of their state labs.
My breed is extremely rare and it's imperative I know what they died of so I know how to protect the rest of the birds.

IMHO, one should never allow a rooster to eat layer feed. If people that have roosters die for unknown reasons, it can also be from kidney damage but they never seem to have a necropsy.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So the guy that buys fertile eggs from me came by today, and I told him about my Roo. He said he lost two last night. I should say that we are in Florida and like 55 degrees is really cold for us, lately it has been 80's daytime and maybe 65 at night, but last night it dipped down to about 40 degrees. I didn't think much of it, the 8 week old chicks are fine and my old lady that is like 5 years old and can't even get up to the roost anymore was fine. He told me when we get these weird cold snaps (he has like 100 or more chickens at any one time) that often he'll lose one or two, I am like really, how do they manage to stay alive in really cold places. He said it has to do with they are accustomed to the warmer weather and some just don't adapt? I dunno if I buy it but thought I would share.

Losing 1 or 2 percent of a flock is considered normal.
40F may be cold to you but it isn't cold for a chicken. A sudden drop in temperature is stressful for them but a healthy chicken should be fine with that. Especially an orpington. It can go from 70 to the 20s overnight here and does fairly often. I've lost birds to heat but never to cold. My buildings have huge wide open windows on opposite sides with the wind blowing right through and never lost a bird down to near 20 below.

I think what he told you is nonsense.

Just have to post a few pics of these beauties! Can't wait to start doing some hatching from them! They just have to start laying!

Nice, but let the eggs get a little bigger before you incubate.

 

[dan26552]

Chicken butt! lol

I was thinking the same thing earlier!