Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

It is mostly the SS from hatcheries but there is also a well known breeder in the US whose chicks also are not hardy. I know someone who has his line & they have had problems too. I think the problem there is his birds are so inbred because he has been breeding them for so long.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
I think sussex in general are a weak breed. Regardless of color or where they came from. I know some of mine were supposed to be show stock and they were the most sickly of all. I've had hatchery birds would seem okay and just drop over dead. But I made a point to keep the especially strong birds and cull the others. There were times I had six or more young cockerels that I grew up just to choose the best ones for breeding. Same with the pullets. I added 6 pullets this spring that were super hearty and did great. They are laying fools too. I am sure that hatcheries could care less about inbreeding for as long as bird will keep laying.
I think hatchery birds in general have problems. First they just breed for quantity not quality. They could care less how they do once they've arrived and a couple days go by. But stress from shipping or worse yet being shipped to a farm store and having tons of people handle them is even worse. It takes about 5 to 10 days for Cocci to develop. So if you have a chick that has been stressed by shipping, about day 5 it will often have pasty butt. This lets the toxins build up in their system and sets them on a roller coaster to poor health. Then because they are weak they are susceptible to cocci and other sickness.
The problem I have with chicks is that I hatch too many and if they aren't picked up or sold then they get overcrowded. That also causes stress on the chicks. I keep saying I will only hatch by order but I tend to load the incubators regardless.
@TeeMom what happened to your sussex that they died? Just curious. Even if it was disease if they were weak for one reason or another, wild birds constantly leave droppings that can make your birds sick.

 

[Trish44]

There are just some breeds I have found are not as hardy as others. They weren't hatchery birds but just a weaker breed I guess. I have not bought hatchery birds for a couple of years at least. I just decided not to buy from hatcheries any more. I either buy from breeders or hatch my own now. I do have a few hatchery birds left in my laying flock but those will be replaced when they die with better birds. I probably will just add from my own breeding stock unless I want something I don't raise. I have been adding some as I need to from my own birds. I agree that hatcheries don't care a bit about quality, just how many birds they can ship out the door. They often will cross things to make them better layers or prettier just to sell them so they aren't even close to APA standards for the breeds.

 

[TeeMom]

Because of how poorly the Sussex did?

Yes...because of how poorly they have done. I'm just not comfortable with spreading the love.

@TeeMom what happened to your sussex that they died? Just curious. Even if it was disease if they were weak for one reason or another, wild birds constantly leave droppings that can make your birds sick.

These are my thoughts exactly...which is why I haven't ever blamed the breeder. I don't know if it was something they picked up after they arrived or something they came home with. I purchased a few Isbars, 16 black copper marans and 16 speckled sussex. The isbars are great and their health was questionable when I got them. They had been picked on by all of the other chicks in the incubator and the breeder wasn't sure they were going to make it, but they were the only isbars she hatched, so I took them and nursed them diligently for the first couple of weeks. The sussex have just wasted away one by one. I will notice that one or two will begin to look rough...puffed up, lethargic, a bit underweight, diarrhea. I will isolate them...I haven't tried medications or anything, but separate them so they can eat and drink and rest at will without being picked on, but none of them have ever gotten better. They eventually get to the place where I feel it's unfair to let them suffer and we cull them. I've done my own necropsies, but have never found anything notable. I had a flock of hatchery barred rocks, a buff orpington and a red sex-link that were about a year old when I brought this group home last summer and they are all great still, as are the 3 Ameraucanas and isbars. I have lost a few of the marans, but one was from a large piece of plastic that got caught up in her gizzard and the other was a laying issue. The one sussex that I have left is in great health and she is one of my favorites now. She's so very sweet!

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
So here is some food for thought on some of your birds. Is there a chance they might have lice or mites. You can't normally see them if they do. They can deplete a bird or even kill them. And yes for some reason some breeds seem to be more susceptible to them than others. Also I recently read about a leukosis that is related to a sex link slow feathering gene. Not all birds of all kinds have this particular gene. So I am thinking that perhaps in my case I have chosen breeders over time that don't carry that gene, because I don't use birds that appear unhealthy. It is basically a problem in leghorns to begin with, but if stock was mixed with other breeds for color or sex link attributes it would make sense that some of these birds could still be prone to the leukosis. It is most prominent in white egg layers but again there may have been mixes with those when the original speckled sussex was bred.
Actually this explains a lot of the problems I've had with certain breeds. They become much more susceptible to getting disease that others do not even if they are kept in the same pen. So if those birds had a weak system because of the leukosis it would make sense they would be the ones to succumb to disease.

 

[TeeMom]

So here is some food for thought on some of your birds. Is there a chance they might have lice or mites. You can't normally see them if they do. They can deplete a bird or even kill them. And yes for some reason some breeds seem to be more susceptible to them than others. Also I recently read about a leukosis that is related to a sex link slow feathering gene. Not all birds of all kinds have this particular gene. So I am thinking that perhaps in my case I have chosen breeders over time that don't carry that gene, because I don't use birds that appear unhealthy. It is basically a problem in leghorns to begin with, but if stock was mixed with other breeds for color or sex link attributes it would make sense that some of these birds could still be prone to the leukosis. It is most prominent in white egg layers but again there may have been mixes with those when the original speckled sussex was bred.
Actually this explains a lot of the problems I've had with certain breeds. They become much more susceptible to getting disease that others do not even if they are kept in the same pen. So if those birds had a weak system because of the leukosis it would make sense they would be the ones to succumb to disease.

Leukosis is an interesting thought...I will have to dive into that a bit more. I have examined them very thoroughly for lice and mites and have never found anything on any of them. That being said, I have exactly zero experience with either, but was a vet tech for 10 years before I became mom, so I am adept at identifying parasites on mammals. I will definitely keep looking. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Trish44]

There are certain types of mites that suck the blood on a chicken & eventually they will become unthrifty & die. You can Google chicken mites & see what kind they are. Birds are subject to all kinds of parasites both internal & external. They also are subject to quite a few diseases, some being brought in by wild birds.

I have never had a lot of luck with the Marans breed for another that seems to be a weaker breed. I don't know if it was just the birds I got, but they were from a breeder, not hatchery. I have had problems with them having heart issues & just getting sick easier than the other breeds. I do have two hens left in my laying flock that seem to be doing fine, so maybe they are the exceptions. I gave up on trying to raise them so now just use the two remaining ones for the dark eggs. I have found that I like the Welsummers better, they're hardier birds & lay pretty speckled dark eggs. They're very good foragers as well for my free range flock.

I looked up Lymphoid Leukosis of chickens Danz & that liver looks grizzly, yuk!

 

[TeeMom]

There are certain types of mites that suck the blood on a chicken & eventually they will become unthrifty & die. You can Google chicken mites & see what kind they are. Birds are subject to all kinds of parasites both internal & external. They also are subject to quite a few diseases, some being brought in by wild birds. 

I have never had a lot of luck with the Marans breed for another that seems to be a weaker breed. I don't know if it was just the birds I got, but they were from a breeder, not hatchery. I have had problems with them having heart issues & just getting sick easier than the other breeds. I do have two hens left in my laying flock that seem to be doing fine, so maybe they are the exceptions. I gave up on trying to raise them so now just use the two remaining ones for the dark eggs. I have found that I like the Welsummers better, they're hardier birds & lay pretty speckled dark eggs. They're very good foragers as well for my free range flock. 

I looked up Lymphoid Leukosis of chickens Danz & that liver looks grizzly, yuk! 

I agree about the marans. My current flock seems strong at the moment, but the loss of so many in one year has been a bit discouraging. Live and learn, I suppose. I have definitely researched mites and lice and still have yet to see anything. I don't have aspirations of being a chicken breeder, they are mainly for me and my happiness with the added egg bonus. It's definitely a mixed flock and I guess I've been left with the hardiest individuals that I started with, so my fingers are crossed that we're good from here on.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz,
How is Precious? Any pups?

 

[ashncarson]

4 years ago we built a city coop in Hutchinson and I loved having all my girls and the babies they hatched. I used to be on the group a lot at that time. 17 months ago we moved so we rehomed them (they where later almost all killed at the new home) and sold everything. I am really missing them all and we are planning on getting more and building a new coop and run. We are wanting certain kinds of chickens but with a limit of 4 I know our choices might be limited in what we can find locally. Does anyone sell locally and what do you have?