Hatchery vs home-bred chickens

[path.otto]

The three paragraphs below are the background for what I would like to discuss.

I just euthanized a 2-year-old chicken. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that there was a soft-shelled egg on the poop board under where she roosted. A few days ago I noticed simultaneously that her poops were very small and that she seemed to have a wider stance than the other chickens.
A light bulb went on that all may not be well with her. She seemed much broader in the back and her belly felt larger than the other hens. I rushed to Gail Damerow's The Chicken Health Handbook where I found little to nothing on the symptoms I was seeing. Searching Dr. Google brought me a few forum postings on BYC, some of which were very similar to my SLW.

I pay attention to my hens, I'm out with them every day, I was distressed that I didn't notice anything sooner. I saw no evidence of her being egg bound, she ranged with the other hens, seemed to be eating and drinking. This past Friday, though, she seemed to be sitting more. This morning when I had made up my mind and went to get her she didn't even try to get away.

Of the 9 chickens I started out with, five were from a well-known, and I believe, respected hatchery in the midwest, three I got from an unknown source in Minnesota, and one was my neighbor's, also from the same hatchery. She is 6 years old and lays 4-5 eggs a week. I've had to euthanize three chickens in the past year, all from the hatchery. Two with laying disorders and one because of an impacted crop that was unable to be resolved. My fault, totally for not understanding what was happening sooner.

I am interested in reading other's opinions on hatchery-raised chickens vs home-bred chickens (by choice I got all five of mine as juveniles) on longevity and vitality?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

From my experiences it doesn't matter. It can matter if a private breeder is picking birds to keep, and breed based on health or longevity. All my private breeder birds have died young. The breeder was selecting birds based on looks as he breeds for 4H kids to show.

To me it seems based more on breed. Heritage breeds live longer than higher production breeds. My hatchery stock lives up to 10 years. I've lost some at a year, most at 4-6, with a few living to 8-10. A few of my private breeder birds are still alive at 8 and 9.

Things like diet, genetics, and amount of exercise are what determines longevity.

 

[Roo5]

Production Slw and Show quality slw are different.Most breeds built for “Great” pruduction don’t live as long and usually are tooken out by egg issues.

 

[path.otto]

Thanks for your opinion, #Roo5, but what exactly is a production SLW? I was under the impression that there are certain breeds (ISA, RED Comet, etc) that were bred for high production laying. Are you saying that any dual-purpose breed that lays 4-5 + eggs a week is considered a "production" breed?

#oldhenlikesdogs, I don't have control of genetics, which I guess is what I was getting at, but I do control feed and exercise. I will certainly look into this more.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thanks for your opinion, #Roo5, but what exactly is a production SLW? I was under the impression that there are certain breeds (ISA, RED Comet, etc) that were bred for high production laying. Are you saying that any dual-purpose breed that lays 4-5 + eggs a week is considered a "production" breed?

#oldhenlikesdogs, I don't have control of genetics, which I guess is what I was getting at, but I do control feed and exercise. I will certainly look into this more.

That's kinda what I was getting at, genetics can be hit or miss based on how a the person or hatchery selects breeder stock. So if you were lucky with private breeder stock it may not be the same for another breeders stock. So if longevity is important to you than questioning a breeder about what they select for when breeding could help you find healthy stock that lives longer.

 

[aart]

From my experiences it doesn't matter.

Ditto Dat^^^

I just euthanized a 2-year-old chicken.

Was her belly swollen?
Did you open her up to take a look?

 

[Trux]

 

[path.otto]

Was her belly swollen?
Did you open her up to take a look?

Hi, aart, yes her belly was swollen, she looked quite broad from above, too. She waddled more like a duck. I can euthanize but I haven't necropsied. I'm taking Eliquis so I try not to play with knives in unfamiliar situations.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll share some of my opinions on this. Certain chickens, like the commercial hybrid egg-laying chickens, are specifically bred to lay a lot of large eggs. They typically have fairly small bodies, like leghorns, so they don't need a lot of food to maintain a large body so they have a great feed to egg conversion rate. They are bred for two seasons of great egg laying and then are expected to be replaced. They are specialists in egg production, just like the Cornish X broilers are specialists in meat production. If you overfeed the broilers they start having heart attacks or they get so big so fast their skeletons break down. If you overfeed the hybrid layers their eggs get so big they can have egg laying issues. Both the broilers and the hybrid egg layers are delicate and tend to have issues anyway. Even if you don't overfeed them the commercial hybrids tend to have issues.

Hatcheries do not breed for longevity. They are in the business of hatching eggs so they manage their chickens to get the most hatching eggs for the least cost they reasonably can. You can get exceptions but typically a hen lays really well her first couple of cycles, then after her second adult molt production drops. They are not going to figure out which hens are still laying well and which are slackers, that's just not practical. When the flock average becomes uneconomical the flock gets replaced. It's not that they are deciding "I'll breed against longevity", the practical effects of staying profitable has that result.

The term "breeder" covers a lot of different people. Some breed for show, some for egg or meat production. Some are trying to develop a new breed or a new variety of an existing breed. Some are just having fun with genetics. Different breeders have different goals and different skill sets. A few breed for longevity. They may only hatch eggs from hens that are laying fairly well at 4 or 5 years old. I don't think many breed for longevity, it takes a lot of patience and some passion for that to be that important to them. But there are all kinds of people in this world with their own goals.

In my opinion it's going to be challenging to get the specialist broilers or commercial egg laying hybrids to live a long productive life, but there can be exceptions to the general rule. If you can find someone that knows what they are doing and are breeding specifically for longevity you might do really well. But for the rest, I consider it luck. If you can avoid predators, parasites, and diseases any bird of any breed can have a long productive life. But many will not.

 

[Frazzemrat1]