Chicken Breeds Health Problems

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm still trying to find sources that claim examples 1-3, let alone reliable. Number 4 I've witnessed but for most people, making adjustments to lower that one's impact is pretty easy.

It almost seems like you looked at commonly kept breeds and found something wrong about them to justify not keeping them

 

[CoconutCoffee]

I've wondered how the seramas shape affects their health. Like are organs squished in or moved around akin to how corsets shifted organs in women. Animal welfare should be taken seriously and chickens get the short end of the stick. With general welfare let alone breeding standards of show birds. It's slow progress and having discussions can help people think about the "whys" of certain breeds of animal.

 

[kwik-kwak]

I'm still trying to find sources that claim examples 1-3, let alone reliable. Number 4 I've witnessed but for most people, making adjustments to lower that one's impact is pretty easy.

It almost seems like you looked at commonly kept breeds and found something wrong about them to justify not keeping them

I'm missing the point of why I should find an excuse not to have certain chickens.

The truth is, I actually wanted to have crested chickens. At the moment I only have ducks and I read that crested ducks have an open skull, then I started reading about these chickens. I was sad to read that it also happens with chickens.

Of course chickens are chickens. That is exactly what matters to me, for a prey animal it is much more distressing to be deaf, for example. Also chickens (yes indeed, just like people and no that don't make them human) can feel pain and a lot of pain is not nice for them either.

 

[3KillerBs]

for a prey animal it is much more distressing to be deaf, for example.

Unlike a deaf human, a deaf chicken would have no awareness that hearing is possible and thus would not be in distress over it's condition.

Deafness would be a detriment in a prey animal in the wild, but for a chicken that's kept safe and fed in it's coop there is little drawback.

I wouldn't *purposefully* breed a deaf animal, but this is a case where projecting human thoughts onto an animal is unrealistic. The deaf chicken doesn't know it's deaf. It doesn't know it *might* have been able to hear. It has no concept of hearing and doesn't have the ability to think abstractly so that it could long for hearing.

 

[kwik-kwak]

Unlike a deaf human, a deaf chicken would have no awareness that hearing is possible and thus would not be in distress over it's condition.

Deafness would be a detriment in a prey animal in the wild, but for a chicken that's kept safe and fed in it's coop there is little drawback.

I wouldn't *purposefully* breed a deaf animal, but this is a case where projecting human thoughts onto an animal is unrealistic. The deaf chicken doesn't know it's deaf. It doesn't know it *might* have been able to hear. It has no concept of hearing and doesn't have the ability to think abstractly so that it could long for hearing.

Obviously, we completely disagree .
A chicken doesn't know it's a disabled chicken. A chicken does have a flight instinct, but this chicken is always surprised by things that it does not see coming, this can certainly cause stress. The same goes for chickens with a huge crest that cannot see around properly because of this.
It can certainly be frightening if they can't spot possible enemies around them in time. We know we protect our animals from predators, they don't.

 

[NatJ]

I'm still trying to find sources that claim examples 1-3, let alone reliable. Number 4 I've witnessed but for most people, making adjustments to lower that one's impact is pretty easy.

I'm assuming you're talking about the list in the first post, but I've lost track of which items should be numbered how. Here's what I know or could find easily:

Crested chickens do sometimes have holes in the head.
https://bitchinchickens.com/2021/04/05/vaulted-skulls-in-chickens/
(There are photos of actual skulls on that page.)

Seramas: I've read that the SMALLEST ones (either gender) have trouble reproducing. I've never read anything about it being related to fantails. (Sorry, no source at present-- it was on various breeders' websites, explaining why you should NOT buy their very smallest birds for breeding stock, and not expect to buy eggs from their very smallest birds.)

Araucana chickens: ear tuft is caused by a gene known to be lethal in the homozygous state (translation: two copies of the gene makes the chick die before hatching.) It is also associated with hearing issues.
For sources, here are a chicken genetics page, and an article talking about some study (I haven't found the study itself):

http://kippenjungle.nl/sellers/page3.html
"Ear tuft Dominant. Lethal in homozygous state. Thought to be associated with birth defects, particularly in the ear structures."

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/560108
"The mutation in the Araucana lead to the formation of the ear tufts and abnormal middle ear blockages, causing conductive deafness.... The middle ear, which should normally have an air-filled cavity, instead is full of cellular tissue that causes conductive deafness because the middle ear bones cannot move and sound is not transmitted from the outside world to the inner ear."

For frizzles ("curled feathers") I think we all know they are less weatherproof, but I don't think that's a big problem (just provide suitable housing.) Frazzles (two copies of the frizzle gene) have worse-quality feathers and sometimes other defects, so "do not breed two frizzles together" is common advice on this forum and elsewhere. (Source: any thread about breeding frizzles.)

Feathered feet have already been discussed here. At the very least, there are SOME feather-footed chickens that scratch just fine.

 

[NatJ]

The truth is, I actually wanted to have crested chickens. At the moment I only have ducks and I read that crested ducks have an open skull, then I started reading about these chickens. I was sad to read that it also happens with chickens.

Some crested chickens have skulls that are just fine.
So yes, you should be able to have crested chickens without worrying about their skulls, if you a bit careful when buying them in the first place.

Big floppy crests can block the chicken's vision, but some chickens have crests that are small and stand straight up, and some have crests that are small and lay backwards. Either of those smaller types should let them see just fine.

 

[kwik-kwak]

Some crested chickens have skulls that are just fine.
So yes, you should be able to have crested chickens without worrying about their skulls, if you a bit careful when buying them in the first place.

Big floppy crests can block the chicken's vision, but some chickens have crests that are small and stand straight up, and some have cerst that are small and lay backwards. Either of those smaller types should let them see just fine.

I did read it, that some do have a (more) closed skull. Still, I personally think it's a reason not to buy them, it certainly doesn't add anything to their health. As a child I also had chickens with a small crest.

Thanks for sharing your research.

 

[YardMoa]

Some crested chickens have skulls that are just fine.
So yes, you should be able to have crested chickens without worrying about their skulls, if you a bit careful when buying them in the first place.

Big floppy crests can block the chicken's vision, but some chickens have crests that are small and stand straight up, and some have cerst that are small and lay backwards. Either of those smaller types should let them see just fine.

I think it's mainly the difference between crested and vaulted skulls. A CCL is not going to have the skull issues a Polish can have. Chickens with a small crest aren't going to be suffering any issues.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm assuming you're talking about the list in the first post, but I've lost track of which items should be numbered how. Here's what I know or could find easily:

Crested chickens do sometimes have holes in the head.
https://bitchinchickens.com/2021/04/05/vaulted-skulls-in-chickens/
(There are photos of actual skulls on that page.)

Seramas: I've read that the SMALLEST ones (either gender) have trouble reproducing. I've never read anything about it being related to fantails. (Sorry, no source at present-- it was on various breeders' websites, explaining why you should NOT buy their very smallest birds for breeding stock, and not expect to buy eggs from their very smallest birds.)

Araucana chickens: ear tuft is caused by a gene known to be lethal in the homozygous state (translation: two copies of the gene makes the chick die before hatching.) It is also associated with hearing issues.
For sources, here are a chicken genetics page, and an article talking about some study (I haven't found the study itself):

http://kippenjungle.nl/sellers/page3.html
"Ear tuft Dominant. Lethal in homozygous state. Thought to be associated with birth defects, particularly in the ear structures."

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/560108
"The mutation in the Araucana lead to the formation of the ear tufts and abnormal middle ear blockages, causing conductive deafness.... The middle ear, which should normally have an air-filled cavity, instead is full of cellular tissue that causes conductive deafness because the middle ear bones cannot move and sound is not transmitted from the outside world to the inner ear."

For frizzles ("curled feathers") I think we all know they are less weatherproof, but I don't think that's a big problem (just provide suitable housing.) Frazzles (two copies of the frizzle gene) have worse-quality feathers and sometimes other defects, so "do not breed two frizzles together" is common advice on this forum and elsewhere. (Source: any thread about breeding frizzles.)

Feathered feet have already been discussed here. At the very least, there are SOME feather-footed chickens that scratch just fine.

Okay, thanks for the links. I couldn't find anything for the seramas or araucanas especially (maybe i was searching the wrong keywords?)