deises resistent?

[BirchHatchery]

with last year i lost my meat flock White Rocks and dark cornish to deises. this year i lost them to picking echother to death as i cannot put 100 birds in seperate pens to let them heal i culled them. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN CORNISH ROCKS FOR MEAT! so far my white leghorns have fit the bill for Fryers but i need a larger bird for roasters so i was wondering what birds are high tolerate to deises and are not agressive?

 

[Dogfish]

How much room do these 100 birds have? Did you ever find out what disease killed them?

Austorlorps are supposed to be a good dual purpose bird, and the 5 I have seem to be fairly calm birds. Bred specifically for meat and eggs.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Find what the disease is first.... A chicken will get sick no matter what breed it is. My Buckeyes seem to be very hardy birds all around.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I would suggest buying a locally bred cross breed. Brunty's Buckeyes are very hardy for him; mine dropped like flies.
It's my opinion that losses are likely to occur when a breed/strain is isolated to an area for a long time and then introduced to new geographic strains of infections, whereas the locally bred birds have developed resisitance. Plus with a cross breed you get that hybrid vigor.

 

[Olive Hill]

I second, or is it third or fourth

, the recommendation to first figure out what kind of disease killed your Cornish X, if it was a disease at all. Any chicken of any breed can get sick. If you're truly dealing with something endemic, something in the soil for instance, you need to address that or you will continue to lose birds regardless of breed.

After that, consider how you're keeping them, if the Cornish X were pecking each other to death you're likely going to have equally adverse effects if you try to keep just about any of the dual purpose or heritage breeds under the same circumstances. Cornish X are very tolerant of confinement. If they were getting restless and overcrowded in your set-up an equal amount of any of the more active breeds will be even more so.

The other potential, of course, was that the feed was not sufficient. What kind of feed were you using?

I'm not encouraging you to get Cornish X again. I, myself, am not a fan and have moved away from raising them. But these things need to be addressed no matter the breed you end up with, so look at those things first and then go from there. Once you have the conditions and husbandry under control you can even experiment with a few breeds and see which you like best -- Australorp, Orpington, Buckeyes, Brahma and Dorkings are all pretty popular.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i didnlt have cornish xs Last year my white rocks and barred rocks and dark cornish got infected with Infectous Coryza but my leghorns didn;t This year my barred rocks and white rocks just started picking echother for no apparant reason they had feed water all times pen was clean they were fully featherd so warmth wasn;t a issue and overcrowding wasnlt either as i have had more birds in that pen then i did this time

 

[BirchHatchery]

also interested in a layer chicken that can lay as many eggs as my hy-line leghorns but isn;t as flighty and high strung?

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:
Brown Egg Layers? - any commercial strain - ISA Browns, Bovans Nera, Dekalb Amber, etc

White Egg Layers? - All have the same temperment as Hy-Line Leghorns

 

[Bantimna]

Try a breed from your area. Try small batches of meat chickens at a time so you can handle if there is a problem.

 

[BirchHatchery]

also i herd that the isa browns and some of the brown layers like to peck echother ive never had a problem with my leghorns doin this since i got rid of my cage housing

also looking for the best feed-egg ratio besides the leghorn?