I'M SCARED WHY IS MY CUCKOO MARAN LAYING LIGHT CREME EGGS INSTEAD OF DARK CHOCOLATE?

[chickadee101]

well i prefer mcmurray for getting chickens because i got some off craigslist unvaccinated, and they brought coryza to my whole old flock, i've never had very sick chickens from mcmurray!

 

[keesmom]

Shame on someone for selling you sick chickens! Or carriers. Not a nice thing to do.

However, just because a bird is "vaccinated" does not mean it is immune to all the poultry illnesses out there. In most cases the chicks have just been vaccinated for Marek's and that's it.

 

[chickadee101]

oh, because my mom used to get chickens and would get them from mcmurray, she said that she never had a REALLY sick chicken!

 

[loveourbirds]

you can get good or sick chicks from any hatchery. my wife and I have gotten chicks from several places and we have found hatchery chicks aren't always as advertised. we are now culling and adding from show lines to increase the quality of the breeds we have.

just keep in mind, when buying chicks watch out for people who aren't NPIP. NPIP is a group of people who have the national poultry association check their chickens for illness (mainly salmonella and e. coli). im not sure about other states, but in ohio you have to be NPIP certified to ship chicks.

to get the best quality, go to a breeder, not a hatchery. a breeder will know the background on most of their birds where a lot of hatcheries buy cull birds from breeders.

our original plans was to open a hatchery, but after a couple of years of learning we have decided to selective breed what we have, to add good quality trio's on breeds we don't have. after a year we can see an improvement in the quality of what we have. we do our selection by sending a local person 40 chicks of the same breed, they get the chicks for free with the oral agreement that in 5 months I will come over and select 1 rooster and 2 hens from their stock, the rest of the birds are theirs. with a little luck, we then have approx. 12 chickens selected from 160. from that point we keep the 2 best roosters and 4 best hens. we find this works well for us, and as an average grower of a few breeds you can do all of this yourself, not having others raise them for you.

 

[EweSheep]

Not all NPIP are created equally. I am non NPIP nor ever want to have the government watching everything you do or track you down. No thank you!

You still can get your birds tested without the NPIP and get a vet's certification that the birds are free from pullorum and typhoid, that is all they really check unless you want more done as in MG/MS, Avian flu, etc. which they will charge you extra to have that done.

I had shipped chickens across the states and had no issues. It is NOT the USPS responsibility to check incoming and outcoming birds coming and going. It is the agricultural inspectors that randomly check animals coming and going in ports, particuarly VA and WA states.

NPIP is somewhat a false security, IMO.

 

[chickadee101]

i've always bought chicks from murray mcmurray, yet this time i bought started ones... and now my entire flock has coryza due to the choice!

 

[loveourbirds]

Not all NPIP are created equally. I am non NPIP nor ever want to have the government watching everything you do or track you down. No thank you!

You still can get your birds tested without the NPIP and get a vet's certification that the birds are free from pullorum and typhoid, that is all they really check unless you want more done as in MG/MS, Avian flu, etc. which they will charge you extra to have that done.

I had shipped chickens across the states and had no issues. It is NOT the USPS responsibility to check incoming and outcoming birds coming and going. It is the agricultural inspectors that randomly check animals coming and going in ports, particuarly VA and WA states.

NPIP is somewhat a false security, IMO.

i do agree that it can be a false since of security, but at least you know that there is some regulation. here in ohio we have to have npip to be able to ship chicks across state lines (if you want to haul them yourself however I don't think you need the npip). I cant remember the laws on everything but I think that after 75 birds its mandatory here in ohio now. I'm well above that so I guess it doesn't matter anyways .
we can thank the people shipping the sick chicks as mentioned above for all these regulations.

on another note, if your raising chickens; sooner or later you will have some sort of illness. you can sterilize cages every day, clean water every day, clean feed every day, wash hands between taking care of each bird, and block all visitors from seeing your birds and you will still get some sort of illness. we have regular vet checks on our farm, we isolate new birds for 1 month, and wash hands between barns and coops. when new birds arrive, we typically give antibiotics just to be on the safe side. (they are usually mixed with birds from other farms) this has helped us a lot, but we still get respiratory infections occasionally (I've found vinegar once a week in the water helps prevent this).

until all birds at swaps and shows are fully tested, all hatcheries are fully tested, and every farm is tested; we will have some types of sickness. and that's why we have the internet, to look up the symptoms and treat our sick birds.

I wish you all the best of luck
brian

 

[golden campine]

MAYBE one of its parents wasnt a cockoo .Because im not a well experineced chicken owner dont listian to me.

 

[TLBPsyD]

Thanks for posting this question. I was wondering why my girls weren't laying dark eggs, and this thread popped up on my google search.

I had my heart set on some dark brown eggs for our basket, but alas, our Cuckoo Marans from McMurrays lay light brown eggs. Our birds are sweet and like to cuddle at night before they roost, so they aren't going anywhere. They are part of the family. Still -- darker colored eggs would have been nice since that is how they were advertised on their web site.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this thread. It was very helpful.

 

[3riverschick]

Not all NPIP are created equally. I am non NPIP nor ever want to have the government watching everything you do or track you down. No thank you!

You still can get your birds tested without the NPIP and get a vet's certification that the birds are free from pullorum and typhoid, that is all they really check unless you want more done as in MG/MS, Avian flu, etc. which they will charge you extra to have that done.

I had shipped chickens across the states and had no issues. It is NOT the USPS responsibility to check incoming and outcoming birds coming and going. It is the agricultural inspectors that randomly check animals coming and going in ports, particuarly VA and WA states.

NPIP is somewhat a false security, IMO.

Hi Ewesheep!
I agree completely! NPIP is a completely voluntary program. It's a good one but not essential for healthy birds. True if you are not NPIP there are some States you cannot ship poultry too. But hey, there are 50 States in this country to el birds too and not all require NPIP. In PA for instance, the Commonwealth has added a lot of extra regulations to the basic NPIP program. So many and such expense that when I inquired to our local NPIP rep, she told me not to bother. Said the expense and paperwork would be so prohibitive that in all her time repping for NPIP in western PA, only 2 people had made it.
For me,( other than standard practices) the most important thing is to get my birds off to a strong start. I have a set protocol for feed, management and supplements to do that. That 1st 2 weeks of life is absolutely crucial to having that chick grow and develop properly. NPIP is not a guarantee of that, dedication is.

I think a lot of people would be helped if they stopped thinking of their chicks as balls of fluff and started thinking of them as walking G.I. tracts. Go ahead and smile, I am absolutely serious. As goes the G.I. tract, so goes the chick's health and development. The growth and development of the gizzard and the rest of the tract. The importance of the health and proper functioning of the G.I. tract to the developing immune system. The importance of the ingredients in supplements and how well they help chicks of different ages. The importance of grit at the different stages of development. The role of amino acids and probiotics in chick development. This all sounds complicated and above the needs of the average chick owner. But it really is not All these questions and needs can be answered by combining products already on the market into a standard protocol. My whole point is, there is a lot more to breeding healthy chicks than pasting an NPIP on your website.
Best,
Karen
Best,
Karen