Genetic problem

[Spanielkiss]

What variety is it? Do you know their background as far as whether they've been line bred for a long time or how closely related the birds producing these chicks are to one another?

I can only go off of my own personal experience with somewhat similar issues. I had a pair of Cochins that had hatched in the same batch of eggs from the same breeder, so likely already at least half-siblings. They either completely lacked fertility or had very, very low fertility whenever I tried to breed them. The few chicks they produced together were smaller and weaker than chicks from other pairings. I never got the chance to try the hen with another rooster, but the rooster produced many healthy, strong chicks when paired with other hens. I suspect the original pair was too closely related to one another, something that chickens are more resilient to than many other species, but not immune to.

That's not quite the same as your situation, of course, but in either case I would not bother with trying to hatch any more out of a pairing that was consistently producing chicks with issues. I agree with NatJ that it's not worth it, at least to me, to adjust their diet and then end up with a whole line of birds with special dietary needs. I'd either invest in unrelated birds of the same variety to breed with these birds or outcross to another variety. Which variety to outcross to would depend on what variety the birds in question are and what you have available to you.

Thank you for the reply . I only have cochin bantams in 3 colours . I have already separated the hens and cockerel in question as I dont want any more of the same issue. I dont know how closely the trio are related and I get the impression any talk of genetic problems is a taboo subject here but Maybe I will get a reply from the breeder in France. Either way this is my problem now unfortunately. I feed a good brand of started and grower food that has an extensive list of added vitamins so I think that I need to do a test hatch from both hens with a different cockerel and a test with the cockerel on a different hen. The hens are so beautiful it is very sad .

 

[Spanielkiss]

It could go either way.

If it caused by a recessive gene, about 2/3 of the normal chicks would carry it, and 1/3 would be free of it. If it is caused by a combination of two or more genes, the numbers are worse (even fewer chicks that are free of all problem genes.)

Oh dear . That sounds worse than i thought .

 

[Spanielkiss]

Oh dear . That sounds worse than i thought .

Just an update

Oh dear . That sounds worse than i thought

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Just an update

?

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Do the sites that test for blue egg genes test for problem genes too? I know tests like that exist for dogs.

 

[Spanielkiss]

?

Sorry i was called away . I have changed the food and given the vitamins suggested and will hatch eggs again soon . In the meantime ive ordered eggs from the Netherlands to bring in new genes .

 

[NatJ]

Do the sites that test for blue egg genes test for problem genes too? I know tests like that exist for dogs.

The one I know of, does not.
It looks like genetic testing for chickens is a rather new thing, and there hasn't been enough demand (yet) for anyone to develop very many tests.

If someone develops a test for one specific trait, using it can be faster and cheaper than doing test-mating for that specific trait. But if you want to test ALL traits from a given hen and rooster, it is likely to be faster & easier to just mate them and hatch several dozen chicks, then raise those chicks to whatever age you need to check all the traits. Within a year or so, you have a very thorough set of results for everything you could think of and also everything you didn't think of.

This works better for chickens than it does for dogs, because chickens can have babies so much faster and those babies grow up faster as well. If any of the offspring have physical problems, they are also easier to solve with chickens (butcher that bird and eat it) than with dogs (there are many places where eating dogs is either socially unacceptable or just plain illegal.) If you produce "too many" chickens when test-mating, they can be eaten too, or the females can be sold to someone who wants egg layers. "Too many" puppies are a more difficult problem, if you expect to find every one of them a good home as someone's pet.

I would also say there are not as many problem genes in chickens as there are in dogs, because people have been breeding to eliminate them for a long time. Being able to produce dozens or hundreds of offspring, then keep the ones with no problems and eat the rest, is a great way to breed out the bad traits. Many of them are genuinely GONE from the chicken population. Most of the ones that remain are ones that people want for one reason or another: frizzle feathers, ear tufts on Araucanas, short legs on Japanese Bantams, extreme weight gain in Cornish Cross chickens, and so forth.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Mark the eggs and keep track of which chicks came from each hen. This will tell you if you have any chance of using these birds for future breeding. For the traits to show up both parents have them. You automatically know you need a new sire. If one of the hens produces none or at least far less of the problem she could be used with another cock.

Recessive issues can take a while to track down. It took me four years to rid side sprigs from my flock. Culling a lot then traced the remaining problem to one hen. I still have her as she is long in tooth and broods every year but I pull her eggs from incubation. I did not have to introduce another line.