Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I had several little pullet eggs yesterday from my new ones so maybe they'll get to cranking out eggs soon to make up for the hens in molt, I sure hope so. We eat all of the little eggs like that so right now we have plenty for just us.

 

[chicken danz]

I do the same thing Trish. I eat the small ones and sell the larger. Or once in awhile I'll sell a dozen of the small ones for half price. I had to pull my cute little Araucana rooster out yesterday. That makes both of the cockerels I really liked being pulled. The darn rooster is producing tailed chicks. If it were just for me I would leave them cause they are so stinking cute, but I want to breed top quality. I had a couple cockerels I had kept that had no tufts but also no tails, so I chose one of them to use for my breeder. I had two babies hatch yesterday and they both had tiny tail stubs so I had no choice really. It seems like I go along producing perfect chicks and then boom end up getting fewer tufts or getting tails. It's so hard to find show worthy Araucanas or true Araucanas at all. I guess I need to find some homes for some of these cuties. Top breeders still sell their araucanas with tails for big bucks but I don't feel right about doing that.

 

[HEChicken]

Danz, how do you know its the cockerel and not the hens producing the tails? Even if the hens themselves are rumpless, they could carry a recessive gene for tails that shows up in some chicks. I'm thinking if you've had two cockerels in with the hens, maybe it is one of the hens who is actually responsible for the tails on your chicks, rather than either of the cockerels. Or at least, if it is a recessive gene, one of your hens may be carrying it as well as the cockerels.

 

[Plinky]

Hi Everyone,
Perhaps some of you have read my posts about Plinky our Brahma. I have been through a lot trying to determine what her prroblem is and what to do about it. I thought she was improving but she is still as of 1130 sitting on the 4x4 "roosting" bar placed on the bottom of the coop. I put her there by hand last night at 8 pm, otherwise she just sits on the ground!
As soon as another hen lays her egg I'm going to get her out and try to give her food and electrolyte water, etc.
But, I am afraid I'm going to have to think about culling her. It breaks my heart as she is my favorite gal.
Is there any experienced chicken person in or around Larryville that 1) could look at her and advise and 2) humanely cull her if necessary? I have already taken her to the vet and I would rather pay the lab at K-state to test ti see what she had so I can learn, than to pay the vet to put her down.
Please PM me and I'll get in touch.
We live in the SW part of Larryville.
Thanks folks.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz, how do you know its the cockerel and not the hens producing the tails? Even if the hens themselves are rumpless, they could carry a recessive gene for tails that shows up in some chicks. I'm thinking if you've had two cockerels in with the hens, maybe it is one of the hens who is actually responsible for the tails on your chicks, rather than either of the cockerels. Or at least, if it is a recessive gene, one of your hens may be carrying it as well as the cockerels.

I don't know for a fact that none of the hens are responsible. But not all of the hens would be. I did pull two hens that I identified were throwing tails earlier this year. The first cockerel developed a tail shortly after putting him in and let him breed. Usually tail stubs show up at hatching. But once in a while development is delayed. Then the one I have been using for some time, which has produced some tails and some without, developed a low tail just recently. He is probably 18 months old by now. Even though he is missing the last few vertebrae as he is supposed to, he has now developed a low tail stub. Araucanas are such a rare breed with a diverse background which no one can agree on. All of them will have the genes to either develop a tail and or tufts but it won't occur in all the birds. And to make matters worse there is no formula that works to know when the wrong traits will appear. However, to be a conscientious breeder you need to cull the ones that don't have the proper traits. According to some write ups from the APA only 1 in 100 Araucanas turn out to be show quality. And that means they have to be double tufted and tailless. Then to make it equally more difficult 25% of all double tufted birds are lost due to a deadly gene.
The araucanas with tails or without tufts are still pure bred. It's just a matter of breeding for the right traits. I can produce lots of cute little blue egg layers from these guys that are purebred but not show quality. I sell cheap or give away birds that don't make the cut. Kind of sad when they are so darned cute and fun. Or I can breed any of these boys to a brown or beige egg layer to make green or olive layers, or a white egg layer to make blue egg layers. I don't have the room or time to do so so I just sell what I can.
I am so under priced on these with other breeders. Most are getting a minimum of $15 a day old chick that either has a tail or doesn't have tufts.
A good quality pullet at 3 months with double tufts and no tail can easily go for a couple hundred dollars. I don't even want to think how many I have sold for $5 to $7. The reason I do sell less expensively is simply because there is so much confusion over what is an Araucana, Ameraucana, and an easter egger. If I continue to breed for perfection I may increase the price at some point. I just need to be reasonably sure what I have is going to have show potential.
I enjoy them or I may have given up on them a long time ago. But having unique birds is kind of my thing.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Hi Everyone,
Perhaps some of you have read my posts about Plinky our Brahma. I have been through a lot trying to determine what her prroblem is and what to do about it. I thought she was improving but she is still as of 1130 sitting on the 4x4 "roosting" bar placed on the bottom of the coop. I put her there by hand last night at 8 pm, otherwise she just sits on the ground!
As soon as another hen lays her egg I'm going to get her out and try to give her food and electrolyte water, etc.
But, I am afraid I'm going to have to think about culling her. It breaks my heart as she is my favorite gal.
Is there any experienced chicken person in or around Larryville that 1) could look at her and advise and 2) humanely cull her if necessary? I have already taken her to the vet and I would rather pay the lab at K-state to test ti see what she had so I can learn, than to pay the vet to put her down.
Please PM me and I'll get in touch.
We live in the SW part of Larryville.
Thanks folks.

I must have missed your earlier post. Is this hen of laying age? Have you tried soaking her in a warm water bath, in case she is egg bound?

 

[Plinky]

I posted in the sick chicken part of the forum.
Oh boy, I have done everything I can think of including warm baths. This is a Brahma 6 1/2 months old. I was told she should'n't be laying at this point, I took her to two vets who admittedly didn't know much about chickens (one more than the other) did a fecal check which was negative. They alos gave her fluids and electrolyte and vitamins. But she weighed only 3.7 pounds at 6 mos (from what I read Brahma hens should be between 6 and 7 lbs!). She appeared to eat but was wasting away. At the end of the day, her crop was empty. Her poop was dry. she was separating herself and putting her head under her wing. After the vets I called the K-State poultry folks. Someone was kind enough to talk to me but didn't have many ideas. After much research on the internet I separated her and started giving a gruel of chick crumbles (went back to that for the protein and since she was not laying), yogurt, molasses, olive oil, eletrolytes and vitamins. After a few days of this I added some chick grit hoping that if her gizzard (not crop) was filled up with something it would help grind it up. Then I added on various days garlic and turmeric and various herbs. After a few more days she was looking quite perky. her weight was up to 3.9 lbs and I put her back with the others fearing that any longer would be hard to reintegrate. No problems there. I continue to take her out in the evening and give her her gruel. She kind of acts like she cannot see. pecking toward the dish until she finds it. Today she did finally come out on her own and I have her separated giving chick crumble and electrolyte water (18 hours w/o drinking!). Tomorrow I will go to the vet's to see if she has gained any weight.
That's it.

 

[Plinky]

And she continues to lose feathers and pick at them though sh still looks good- no obvious bare places.
I've thought of Mareks and read about all the vaarious ways it can affect the chicken. We have four hens (different breeds) but all the same age, bought at the same time directly from the same NPIP hatchery rep at a local feed store. The other three started laying perfect eggs at 4.5 months and continue with one almost everyday so I think they are healthy. I suppose it's possible that this one missed out on the vaccine or something. or maybe it's something structural and congenital.Up to about 5 months of age she was fine. In fact to look at her she seems fine.
Since people justifyably worry about bring disease home to their birds, If someone was able to take a look at her I would provide a disposable suit and shoe covers!

 

[sharol]

I had a chicken from my first 7 I got from MPC that never thrived. She lived to be just over a year old, but never seemed quite right from about 5 months on. She finally died (leaving her Welsumer sister devastated) at about 13 months after never laying an egg. When I had her euthanized by the vet, he said that she was egg bound or had egg peritonitis. I've always regretted not doing a necropsy on her, but I suspect that her machinery just wasn't right and the eggs weren't making it to the exit.

 

[Plinky]

Thanks Sharol,
The K-State guy said as a Brahma she wouldn't be laying yet. But at some point in this - it's been going on now for almost two months, one of the hens laid a perfectly round egg about the size of a quarter. I also found a bare yolk one morning. It may have come from her because, as I said, the others have alid beautiful eggs since the beginning. only a couple of gigantic double yolkers from the Leghorn.
Wish I was a chicken vet!