Light Brahma's Injury Prone?

[IndianaHomestea]

I started off with 12 RIR's and 13 Light Brahma's. I've raised them from chicks and they're 4.5 months old. As of today I've lost 5 Light Brahma's and only one RIR and the one red was when it was a chick on day two and I culled it to do sprawl leg that I couldn't correct.

All of the Brahma's died due to injury. Or at least that's what they seemed like. Each one happened at different times... maybe a few weeks from one another to a month. None of them seemed ill before I found them either dead or half dead before culling and I check on them every day.

So it seems to me that the Brahma's are somehow getting hurt OR hurting themselves. However, they don't seem aggressive to me unless one is hurt, then he/she gets pecked to death.

Are Brahma's injury prone? It just seems odd that I haven't lost a single RIR (aside from the chick,) while I've lost 5 light Brahma's.

 

[rbaker0345]

Did you get all of your brahmas from the same place?

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Could the RIR be the cause of the injury? Brahmas are large but very docile. They generally do not stand up well in fights with more athletic or agressive types. They are more flight than fight you could say. I even have full grown Brahma hens that are "scared" of my 5 week old production red chicks. ( the reds are packing peanuts so will meet the stew pot eventually)

Also, it could just be the strain of birds that you recieved. They may have a "defect" that makes them more prone to certain types of injury.

 

[IndianaHomestea]

Yes, all of the rir's and brahma's all came from the same hatchery, which is reputable.

Both of the above possibilities are likely. But when I'm out there I never notice any aggressiveness from any other at all unless one is hurt, at which time the hurt chicken will get pecked at.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Are there any outward signs of injury. Like a damaged leg or feather loss or does it seem to be internal? Are they all getting the same injury or is it always something different?

 

[IndianaHomestea]

Nothing outward... all seems to be inward. I gave this last one a good look and nothing... a few of the others I didn't even notice anything until they were smashed on the ground getting trampled on by the rest of the flock and the few that I had to cull were just kind of out of it... half dead. Maybe it is disease, but it's just odd that it happens so fast and it's never more than one at one time.

 

[SD Bird Lady]

That is odd. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in. Other than predators the only Brahma I lost was one who got trampled when it was 105 outside. They were huddling under the coop trying to stay cool. (horrible summer)

Sorry for you losses hope they don't continue.

 

[rbaker0345]

I had a friend who bought a group of chickens from someone who had a very small breeding population and so the birds were very inbred. Every time her dog ran through the barn, one of the chickens would drop dead. This kept happening until they were all gone.

As it turns out, they all had some kind of congenital heart problem and everytime they were startled, one of them would have a heart attack.