Well, in my opinion it is a problem with feed so yes, it would effect all breeds of chicks.
I love talking to the old timers about their birds....I could care less if they are raising Silkies, fighting Game, or Cornish, they can teach you something. Well, I know a gentlemen who raises the Meat birds for a large distributor. He has four houses that hold 26,000 chicks at any given time. He started explaining to me that he had a huge loss (thousands) of chicks that were only a few days old. They where fine and then they were floundering around and within hours they were dead. He had a necropsy performed and the University concluded that it was vitamin deficency. The distibutor of his feed had failed to add the needed vitamins in the chicks feed. To me, he was discribing what I was seeing occationally in my chicks. It wasn't a consistant problem, but one that I was looking for answers to!
Honestly, the Manna-Pro chick feed that I use is very expensive so I could see where many people would not chose that product. But, the vitamin drops are less than $2.00 at Wal-Mart....and better than nothing.
Sometimes there are just internal problems that are the factor of death.
Silkies are such a great little breed....fun for the kids. (and the chickie mommas too) Good luck with the remainder and keep up updated!
Claudia
I love talking to the old timers about their birds....I could care less if they are raising Silkies, fighting Game, or Cornish, they can teach you something. Well, I know a gentlemen who raises the Meat birds for a large distributor. He has four houses that hold 26,000 chicks at any given time. He started explaining to me that he had a huge loss (thousands) of chicks that were only a few days old. They where fine and then they were floundering around and within hours they were dead. He had a necropsy performed and the University concluded that it was vitamin deficency. The distibutor of his feed had failed to add the needed vitamins in the chicks feed. To me, he was discribing what I was seeing occationally in my chicks. It wasn't a consistant problem, but one that I was looking for answers to!
Honestly, the Manna-Pro chick feed that I use is very expensive so I could see where many people would not chose that product. But, the vitamin drops are less than $2.00 at Wal-Mart....and better than nothing.
Sometimes there are just internal problems that are the factor of death.
Silkies are such a great little breed....fun for the kids. (and the chickie mommas too) Good luck with the remainder and keep up updated!
Claudia
