- Apr 28, 2012
- 2
- 0
- 7
A friend of mine (we'll call friend A) recently bought some young chicks. She had a friend of hers (friend B) pick them up and bring them to Friend A's house, so she wasn't able to see the woman's property where they came from. Ends up this is a very unreputable breeder. After talking to about 10 people in our local group on Facebook, she's come to find out anywhere's from 1 month-6 months and up, these other people's chicks have died...either sick or just found them dead after seeming perfectly normal. NOBODY knows why yet. But about 9/10 from her place end up dying. This breeder also lies about the breeds and says they are what they look like when they're chicks (IE: a yellow chick with a red hue on its down, RIR...turned out to be a laced something mutt, barred rocks...turned out to be PURE black). The breeder claims that she has too many chickens to count and nobody knows exactly WHAT chickens she actually has there because she doesn't let anyone in her coop to see which is away from the house as well. But we're not talking about lying on breeds...we're talking about SICK chicks.
Ok, now with that in mind, Friend A&B unknownly bought these 5 chicks (think Friend B picked up 10 in total? so they have 5 each?) and they're around 5-6 weeks old now. Friend B's chicks are doing good, no signs of any sickness yet. Friend A's chicks are doing good too except for one (BR roo...yes this one ACTUALLY is a BR!). Within the past week she's started to notice he's losing feathers (pics attached below). I was up to pick up a horse today from her and took a look. I know around 7-12 weeks chicks take on their 2nd molt BUT this doesn't look like a molt. Its skin is pale and flakey and its veins are DARK in color...not black but it looks like the veins on some of the chicken breasts you buy in the store. He started losing feathers around his neck, the 'elbows' of his wings even on his chest. He's kept in a cage with 7 other chicks and he's the only one showing signs of losing feathers. 3 of the chicks in that cage are from my flock of EEs and I checked them, no signs of lice or parasites, I checked the other 4 that came from this lady's 'breeding' farm and there's no signs of lice or parasites. Or mites even. She cleans their cage a few times a week and they're just on hay. They have unmedicated chick grower and an endless supply of fresh water. When I came home I checked my flock of ducks, chicks(out of the same batch as the EEs at her place) and my new chicks(about a week old). There was no signs of illness, lice, mites, parasites. I'll attach some pictures and hopefully someone can clear up what might be wrong with this little guy. He's eating and drinking just fine but in my gut the feathers going missing makes me have a bad feeling. Oh and he's not being picked on either, no pecking at all.
Ok, now with that in mind, Friend A&B unknownly bought these 5 chicks (think Friend B picked up 10 in total? so they have 5 each?) and they're around 5-6 weeks old now. Friend B's chicks are doing good, no signs of any sickness yet. Friend A's chicks are doing good too except for one (BR roo...yes this one ACTUALLY is a BR!). Within the past week she's started to notice he's losing feathers (pics attached below). I was up to pick up a horse today from her and took a look. I know around 7-12 weeks chicks take on their 2nd molt BUT this doesn't look like a molt. Its skin is pale and flakey and its veins are DARK in color...not black but it looks like the veins on some of the chicken breasts you buy in the store. He started losing feathers around his neck, the 'elbows' of his wings even on his chest. He's kept in a cage with 7 other chicks and he's the only one showing signs of losing feathers. 3 of the chicks in that cage are from my flock of EEs and I checked them, no signs of lice or parasites, I checked the other 4 that came from this lady's 'breeding' farm and there's no signs of lice or parasites. Or mites even. She cleans their cage a few times a week and they're just on hay. They have unmedicated chick grower and an endless supply of fresh water. When I came home I checked my flock of ducks, chicks(out of the same batch as the EEs at her place) and my new chicks(about a week old). There was no signs of illness, lice, mites, parasites. I'll attach some pictures and hopefully someone can clear up what might be wrong with this little guy. He's eating and drinking just fine but in my gut the feathers going missing makes me have a bad feeling. Oh and he's not being picked on either, no pecking at all.
