Hi from northwest Florida!

[parkerbenz]

Ive been browing BYC every now and then, and finally decided to make an account.

I currently have two active coops, one at my house and the other on a 10 acre section of land about half an hour away from the house.
Coop at home is a store bought coop from tractor supply currently housing 5 (originally 11 bought in October) rhode island reds.
The other coop is made from 2 10x10 chain link dog cages with chicken wire on the bottom four feet, and a net over the top. This houses 4 white ducks (not sure the breed, purchased from good ole tractor supply as chicks), 3 laying rhode island red laying hens, 1 RIR rooster, 6 laying white hens (also unsure of the breed), and 2 white roosters.

I purchased, carelessly, 10 americauna and 15 barred rock chicks from hoovers hatchery, and vaccinated from the hatchery. They arrived the second week of november and as of january 25th, they have all died. Some were killed by our cat, and some were killed by raccoons, one night it rained heavily which shorted the heat lamp, and that was the night the last three died.

I also purchased 11 from a large fair near me, which were not vaccinated and 5 of those are left. Are these survival rates typical? Please ask me any questions you have or give suggestions!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. From my experience, that's a high mortality rate - particularly if they were not chicks. Guess the only thing, moving forwards, is to either breed from your existing stock or order chicks from a different hatchery (search hatchery reviews for alternatives)

More generally, you may wish to consider joining your state thread as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you

All the best
CT

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I am so sorry for all your losses! Predators can be brutal in certain areas. You may need to keep your birds in a fort knox type coop and run for protection.

As for the health issues, what vaccines are you talking about? There are several used to prevent various things. Mareks is a popular vaccine and a difficult virus to deal with and vaccines will not stop this virus and birds can still contract Mareks, but their chances of survival are much greater having the vaccine.

Definitely follow the link to your state thread that CTKen has left for you. Search for your state there. The members in your state may be able to offer you more help for your area.

Great to have you aboard and welcome to our roost!

 

[drumstick diva]

Did you last batch of birds show any symptoms of disease or ???? before they died?

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, parkerbenz, and

! Happy you joined our but sorry you are having some chicken mortality issues. I tend to agree - the loss rate you are seeing with that second batch seems high, but more information is needed for us to determine what might be happening. Provide a little more info if you can.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under parkerbenz

Welcome!

I am so very sorry to hear of your losses

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends

 

[N F C]

Sorry for your losses, that's a pretty steep rate of loss IMO. You can do a search on the hatchery you purchased to see what other member experiences were (the Search box is in the upper left corner, under the logo). I hope you have better luck with the next birds you get.

 

[CuzChickens]

Howdy, howdy, and welcome to BYC! I am so glad you decided to join the community, please do make yourself at home here! I am sure you will enjoy it, and I hope you love it here as much as I have!

~Cuz