Got 9, hideous chickens today. What's wrong with them?

[mmktdox]

Cornish cross are a hybrid and do not breed true. I have read many posts about people considering breeding them but most of the replies discourage it because of this. You could try keeping a couple of hens and a roo to see what happens. What have you got to lose? I'd clean the rest up, fatten them up a bit and process them. It's disgusting how those large commercial operations treat their birds. Even if you end up processing all of these chickens after you've doctored them up, they're still lucky to have spent their last days/weeks with you!!

 

[LaynaDon95]

Thank you. I bathed them this morning and sprayed them again with permethrin. They are so badly infested! A lot of the mites died in the bath, and since they weren't running around anymore it was easier to see them. There are a lot! I feel so bad for them. I patched up the hen's wing, and doctored all the hens' sores. It looks like we have 1 leghorn out of the group. She's smaller, no breast meat really, yellow legs, and a yellow beak. I have another leghorn hen, and she look the same as her I believe, though I haven't compared them closely.
I'm kinda excited about the challenge to get them well again. I love doing things like this. I can't wait to see what they look like when healthy again.
I kinda hope they did come from a commercial chicken house. I hope it's not a backyard flock owner allowing this. It's really repulsive that humans would look at these birds and think it was okay to leave them this way. I'm glad they're mine now.

 

[Sylvestor12]

They may be jersey giants here's a picture.

 

[ailurophile23]

Good for you for making to effort to make the birds well. Sounds like you are off to a good start already.

P.S. How are Jack and Bean?

 

[LaynaDon95]

They may be jersey giants here's a picture.

No, their legs are a whiter color. What is that called? Slate? Also not the right color for CX... I'm not familiar with meat birds, so I don't know what they are.

 

[LaynaDon95]

Good for you for making to effort to make the birds well. Sounds like you are off to a good start already.

P.S. How are Jack and Bean?

They are fine. Bean is enjoying being outside part time now. Jack is jealous. He's so funny. He comes when he's called. He "killed" some leaves earlier today. I love watching him. XD

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Oh, wow, yeah, that is pretty bad. I wouldn't know how to deal with that. Another good form of parasite control is Sevin 5% (don't get any higher concentrate because it might hurt them if they eat it). I just put it in their pen once a month and it keeps them healthy. As for internal parasites you might want to start de-worming them, and apple cider vinegar in their water works well for pretty much any internal issue.

I would say they are a Cornish but maybe not a Cornish X. I think their legs break from their weight when they are like 18 weeks anyway. I have some Cornish Games that are about 2 and still fine. But they also don't have the right comb, so they are probably a cross of a Cornish (or Cornish X) and something else with a straight comb. It is really common to cross breed them with Plymouth Rocks; and you would still get large brown eggs. However it could be a cross of a Leghorn, but I'm not sure if Large Brown Eggs is a dominate or recessive gene.

I hope you are able to save them.

 

[LaynaDon95]

So far so good. I was on vacation with my cousins for a week and my little sister was left to care for them. I just got back today and they are looking much better. Their feathers are growing back, their scabs are healing, they aren't smelling near so bad, their skin isn't as red and irritated looking. We had 1 die while I was gone, but not from illness. They are using buckets as nesting boxes, and one of them managed to flip the bucket on top of herself and she suffocated. We have secured the buckets better now so hopefully that won't happen again. I'll bathe them again tomorrow. I'm also gonna try to incubate some of their eggs to see if we can get some meat babies.

 

[LaynaDon95]

Well, the living ones are growing their feathers back in, sores are almost completely cleared and their smell has improved greatly. Trouble is, they are starting to die off. I lost 3 just now. I walked out and they were just dead. :\ I have saved their eggs and am going to incubate them either today or tomorrow. I will not be letting their offspring reach this point. I feel bad for them.

 

[Rikki]

The one in front looks like my Zelda, a Rhode Island White. She lays large darker-tan eggs and has a fairly sweet personality (and is taking her current health problems--dog attack this morning--with a stiff upper beak, as your new girls seem to from the pics). They may also be what Dunlap Hatchery calls "Amber Whites," a cross between RI Whites and RI Reds. But I'm no expert, just a worried chicken mama.

But thanks for the info on pumpkins and squash. Never heard that home remedy before. Will have to keep that in mind.