Dominique Thread!

[Beezer]

Loving the beautiful pics.

 

[Faraday40]

Hi everyone, I don't mean to interrupt this thread, but I could really use some help, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I ordered 5 bantam dominiques and 10 silkies from a hatchery. Because I lost half of my exsisting flock to a very bad strain of Mareks disease, I chose to find a hatchery that uses the best vaccine on the market (there are several kinds and I did some lengthy research).. the closesest hatchery was 2 states away and shipping took 2.5 days and unfortunately there was a cold spell with the weather during that time also. Due to not being able to sell chickens once they are on my property and exposed to the virus, I also had the dominiques sexed.

My problem is that they keep dying. The hatchery sent extras. I've lost 4 out of 6, and one of the 2 left looks like she might not make it either. My friend is raising them for me at her place so they aren't exposed to Mareks until they are older. But one has a limp leg with its toes curled. Going on about 6 days now. I made a splint for the toes, and she wore it for 2 days, and I put a multi vitamin, electrolytes, and probiotics in the water. After day 2 I took the splint (or boot) off and she was doing so much better she was running and jumping! Now this morning all of a sudden her toes started to curl again and she has almost no energy! What happened!?! She looks like she won't make it. All I did was take the tape stuff off her toes when she was doing better, and I backed off on the vitamins. Was it too soon? Does she have multiple issues? I understand it's common to lose chicks, but this many?? Was the sexing and shipping too hard on them, or is it possible there was a batch of weak unhealthy chicks at the hatchery?

Today I am trying poly vi sol, ACV, and a couple drops of poultry pro vita. Can anyone else suggest anything else? I really want to try and save her, our chickens are much loved pets, we don't raise them and eat them, and if I only have one left I don't know what I will do because I think she will be so lonely she will go down hill too.

Side note: I only lost 2 out of 12 silkies one of which had a twisted neck. The dominiques were kept in a separate brooder once they stated passing away.

You may have already ruled it out, but do you think it could be cocci. That's a common but severe threat for chicks. Not all strains have bloody poop, but I've read many posts about people losing one chick after another. After Corid - survivors!

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi everyone, I don't mean to interrupt this thread, but I could really use some help, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I ordered 5 bantam dominiques and 10 silkies from a hatchery. Because I lost half of my exsisting flock to a very bad strain of Mareks disease, I chose to find a hatchery that uses the best vaccine on the market (there are several kinds and I did some lengthy research).. the closesest hatchery was 2 states away and shipping took 2.5 days and unfortunately there was a cold spell with the weather during that time also. Due to not being able to sell chickens once they are on my property and exposed to the virus, I also had the dominiques sexed.

My problem is that they keep dying. The hatchery sent extras. I've lost 4 out of 6, and one of the 2 left looks like she might not make it either. My friend is raising them for me at her place so they aren't exposed to Mareks until they are older. But one has a limp leg with its toes curled. Going on about 6 days now. I made a splint for the toes, and she wore it for 2 days, and I put a multi vitamin, electrolytes, and probiotics in the water. After day 2 I took the splint (or boot) off and she was doing so much better she was running and jumping! Now this morning all of a sudden her toes started to curl again and she has almost no energy! What happened!?! She looks like she won't make it. All I did was take the tape stuff off her toes when she was doing better, and I backed off on the vitamins. Was it too soon? Does she have multiple issues? I understand it's common to lose chicks, but this many?? Was the sexing and shipping too hard on them, or is it possible there was a batch of weak unhealthy chicks at the hatchery?

Today I am trying poly vi sol, ACV, and a couple drops of poultry pro vita. Can anyone else suggest anything else? I really want to try and save her, our chickens are much loved pets, we don't raise them and eat them, and if I only have one left I don't know what I will do because I think she will be so lonely she will go down hill too.

Side note: I only lost 2 out of 12 silkies one of which had a twisted neck. The dominiques were kept in a separate brooder once they stated passing away.

I don't know a whole lot about Marek's but did pick up some info that said young birds are very susceptible to contracting Marek's and displaying severe symptoms if not vaccinated. The vaccination doesn't prevent Marek's but is supposed to prevent the severe symptoms of the disease. And followup boosters are supposed to be given which I only learned this year. I don't know if the Marek's vaccination covers all 5 strains of Marek's. Anyway, with Marek's a bird might look like it is getting better when getting treatment of supplements or vitamins but the disease relapses and the bird gets worse. Then it looks a little better and then progressively gets worse each time it relapses. Horrible disease to watch a suffering bird. Your Silkie with the twisted neck probably had wry neck - which Silkies seem to get a lot from too much inbreeding. It can be treated with a particular vitamin and selenium I believe - there should be a BYC post regarding wry neck in chicks and most can be nursed back to normal but will need to be watched as a special needs bird. I wouldn't use ACV as there is no scientific evidence it benefits chickens but the other chicken supplements and Poly-Vi-Sol w/o Iron couldn't hurt. I feel your pain!

 

[Sylvester017]

Loving the beautiful pics.

We never seem to get enough - we love pictures too!

 

[Alaskan]

Insane.... Terrible, and I am sorry....but I am no help

Thanks for the reply anyway.. So, this isn't common then? It's not like this breed is extra fragile or anything like that?

I'm really starting to think the hatchery had a batch of "bad ones".

Not common.

I haven't ever had the bantam version... But the standard size are quite robust.

In general though, bantams in general love to die when shipped.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh, one thing, are you possitive that they are eating amd drinking enough?

I sometimes find that shipped chicks have eating issues, and need to be hand fed for a few days to up to a week. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes.

 

[BusyBearMama]

Random question - on a scale from 1-10 how loud typically are your dom cockerels , we just have hens and I'm thinking of starting to set them up in a different way on their own over where they could do more foraging but I want them to have a rooster but I can't get another rooster until I sell my big guy but I would like to know what I'm getting into before I get one... The hens are quite nice looking and very sweet, we just have six of this breed.

 

[Alaskan]

Roosters are roosters, they can crow all day, and sometimes at night.

 

[BusyBearMama]

Yes one of mine loves crowing at night, he's hilarious, I'm just wondering tempewnt wise what people have noticed with this breeds roosters

 

[JulesChicks]

Hi everyone, I don't mean to interrupt this thread, but I could really use some help, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I ordered 5 bantam dominiques and 10 silkies from a hatchery. Because I lost half of my exsisting flock to a very bad strain of Mareks disease, I chose to find a hatchery that uses the best vaccine on the market (there are several kinds and I did some lengthy research).. the closesest hatchery was 2 states away and shipping took 2.5 days and unfortunately there was a cold spell with the weather during that time also. Due to not being able to sell chickens once they are on my property and exposed to the virus, I also had the dominiques sexed.

My problem is that they keep dying. The hatchery sent extras. I've lost 4 out of 6, and one of the 2 left looks like she might not make it either. My friend is raising them for me at her place so they aren't exposed to Mareks until they are older. But one has a limp leg with its toes curled. Going on about 6 days now. I made a splint for the toes, and she wore it for 2 days, and I put a multi vitamin, electrolytes, and probiotics in the water. After day 2 I took the splint (or boot) off and she was doing so much better she was running and jumping! Now this morning all of a sudden her toes started to curl again and she has almost no energy! What happened!?! She looks like she won't make it. All I did was take the tape stuff off her toes when she was doing better, and I backed off on the vitamins. Was it too soon? Does she have multiple issues? I understand it's common to lose chicks, but this many?? Was the sexing and shipping too hard on them, or is it possible there was a batch of weak unhealthy chicks at the hatchery?

Today I am trying poly vi sol, ACV, and a couple drops of poultry pro vita. Can anyone else suggest anything else? I really want to try and save her, our chickens are much loved pets, we don't raise them and eat them, and if I only have one left I don't know what I will do because I think she will be so lonely she will go down hill too.

Side note: I only lost 2 out of 12 silkies one of which had a twisted neck. The dominiques were kept in a separate brooder once they stated passing away.

First of all

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I have several thoughts, but take this with a grain of salt since: I don't have bantams, I haven't received shipped chicks, and I don't vaccinate (anything or anyone). That being said, I have received sick pullets before so I can totally relate there and I fully understand the worry of exposing the rest of your flock. I just hatched chicks last week for the first time, so I'm new at hatching, but I had a few leg problems and did some splinting and hobbling myself. I did give vitamins but I concluded the leg problems mine had were from hatching difficulties. From what you are saying, I am guessing that they may have a Vitamin E or B, or both, deficiency. I would put them back on those asap. The fact that it got better, then worse is what leads me to that conclusion. It could also possibly be a vaccine injury (reaction to vaccine), though I think that is less likely. I would be surprised if a hatchery has deficient breeding stock but it's possible. Maybe the stress of the shipping on top of the vaccine brought it out, who knows. I do not think sexing would have caused this. So, if it were me, I would get them back on the vitamins asap and hobble again if necessary, though the window for that may have passed (bones harden after 48 hours and they are much more difficult to correct). Next, I would definitely contact the hatchery and tell them your experience. Though maybe bantams in general are not as hardy, the Dominique breed is - how else could they have survived as a breed since colonial times? Good luck to you and give us an update when you get a chance please.