Breeds and Disease Resistance

[gootziecat]

I have read Naked Necks are fairly disease resistant as a breed. Can't remember where I read it or would quote it.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Here is the link -
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/2/2-6/Don_Schrider.html

Chris

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I believe good husbandry is great, too but I have found some breeds are just not strong enough to survive on my farm. In my area we are having trouble getting the Speckled Sussex to do well. I, personally, had more trouble with Welsummers, no matter the bloodline, to do well.
Some breeds do thrive well for me, regardless of bloodlines while others have been nothing but weak and unthrifty. I do not keep those birds for long. I try to find out the cause and treat but if not better soon then I cull.

I do not vaccinate and I let a lot of mine free range and move my breeding tractors every week so mine are exposed to fresh ground, often under trees where migratory birds stop and soil the area. I do not want to breed birds that have no natural resistance to diseases.

 

[Chris09]

If you are breeding for Disease Resistance (no matter the breed) you are going to be doing a lot of culling at first.
Fowl that become sick or does not recover from a illness on there own with out medication will have to be culled and that calls for a good hatchet.

Some breeds are more Disease Resistance than others but all breeds will has a tendency to pick up a illness As fare as breeds that tends to be more Disease Resistance than others, I would say any of the Gamefowl Breed would be more Disease Resistance than the "traditional" breeds. Breeds like the American Gamefowl, Asil, Spanish Gamefowl etc. tend to have a greater immune system to fight off disease.

Chris

 

[WestKnollAmy]

That does remind me of a little Serama I got when she was a chick.
She became very ill and I was close to culling her out but for some reason never got around to it. Very unlike me!
However, I only had the one Serama and knew I would never breed her and she eventually recovered, much to my astonishment as she should have died.
Two years later she is going strong, never been sick again and lives with my pet Silkies. Her glossy black feathers show how healthy she is and she seems to be very resistant to lice and mites whereas her fellow flock members, the Silkies, have to be treated every few weeks. One day I may even have her fecal checked separately to see if she is more resistant to intestinal worms as well as the external parasites. Right now I just scoop up some from under the roosting pole first thing in the morning and label it Pet Silkie pen to have it all checked together.

You saying that about the game birds made me remember that about her.
She isn't a quality Serama. She is too big, I believe. But I got her from a breeder that seems to always have sick birds. None of my Silkies she has been living with ever get sick and I am not sure what she had but she was on deaths door for about a month and I thought every day I would open her cage and find her dead but she responded to the little treatment I gave her.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
What birds DID work out for you?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

My Cochins have been super strong and healthy. LF and bantam. Only if I bring in a few certain bloodlines have I lost any and I fear it is from them being kept in more "secure" conditions than I have ever allowed mine. I treat all of mine like chickens and they get dirt clods from my barnyard from 2 weeks old and up along with some grass attached.

My Marans can be strong but so far only one bloodline has been doing well for me. I have brought in a few other bloodlines that I am watching as they mature with some being hardy and others not making it past 2 months old. I figure I will stick with the Whitmore Farms birds since they have been great for me for several years.
My cuckoo Marans from hatcheries are mostly okay. I have other problems with them like crop problems that cause them to have to be culled.

I got some d'Uccle hatching eggs from 4 different breeders this year. My first year with d'Uccles and one breeders' birds all have lived while 2 of them didn't make it out of the brooder and one has faltered a bit.

My Araucanas have always been strong. None have ever gotten sick.
Certain Ameraucana bloodlines have been good while Easter Eggers from hatcheries were always hardy for me.
My Silkies have been okay. The ones I first got years ago from Fluff N Stuff Silkies are still around and have seen sick birds come and go but they have not ever gotten sick. Some other Silkies I have gotten from others have done well but I have hatched from some breeders and the chicks never make it out of the brooder or if they do then they do not live long.

My Wyandottes have been okay. The BLRW I raised this year from the Foley bloodline have done extremely well, while some SLW chicks have made it out of the brooder room from other breeders. My own SLW chicks I hatched and raised from my collection of birds have done well even mixed in with those that didn't.

I do tag my chicks to keep up with bloodlines.

I got some Partridge Rocks years ago and those girls are still here and kicking well from Meyer hatchery. I got more this year and all those are 4 months old now and have been fine.

I have many breeds in my free range flock and I try to keep going with the ones that do well for me. The Jersey Giants have been great but the Langshans breed I have ordered twice from 2 separate hatcheries and only have one pullet to show for it. I have a Langshans roo that was given to me several years ago that came to me sick, mostly just covered up in internal and external parasites. Once cleared up he has been great and his daughters out of the Jersey Giant hens have been really good and strong.

Delawares were a bust for me, from breeders and hatcheries. Brahmas have been good for me except for the light ones I hatched from a breeder. I have 2 left and they are not thrifty. They eat well and play but are not as big as the dark Brahmas I hatched at the same time nor as good as the ones I got from a hatchery. But I did lose some dark Brahmas I got from the hatchery.

Red sex links have always done well for me. I like to keep those in my free range flock.
Hatchery stock buff Orps have been good.

I am sure there are a few others but that is the list I can think of now.

 

[Beekissed]

I often wonder if the new movement to have backyard flocks and treat them as pets instead of a food enterprise/livestock will lead to weaker genetics. From what I've read on here the only selective breeding seems to be for the show birds and that is more about looks than hardiness. The rest of the people incubating and selling chicks seem to be the kind of folks that cannot bear to kill a chronically sick bird from their flocks or gene pools.

Perpetuating these genetics can only lead to weaker and weaker birds, no matter the breed.

As to the OP's question, I've noticed that the production blacks and reds seem less hardy all around and the Doms I got from Meyers seem to be less hardy by far than the old Doms my grandmother used to raise. The rest of the breeds I've used seem to be hardy to the max.

My fave breeds for sheer egg laying longevity and hardy, beautiful birds year after year:

Black Aussies
White Rocks
New Hampshire
Rhode Island Reds
Partridge Rock
Barred Rock
White Leghorn
Speckled Sussex

 

[Arielle]

westknoll amy--I find it interesting that 2 of the hardier birds are crosses. Genetically, most breeds get a boost in vigor when crossed. So I wonder if that is why.

Beekissed-- you pointed out the red sexlinks and the blacks were not so hardy. Could this be the influence of mas production hatcheries keeping all the stock in an environmentally control housing and feeding antibiotics.

Many factors to consider, that muddy the waters.

Love this thread--thanks OP for starting it.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I'm glad I started it too. What WestKnollAmy said about her birds is interesting...

I tried to find a way to contact Gail Damerow (email or something) herself, but alas, nothing..