Long term health of hens - hatchery vs. reputable breeder

[CoopDeDoo]

Hello Everyone,

I am on year three of chciken keeping and have a question. Is there a large difference in the long term health of hens from hatcheries vs. reputable breeders?

All of my girls are hatchery born - 7 from Ideal (feed store) and 5 meyers (mail order). My oldest are 2.5 years and we are starting to see some serious reproductive health issues in the GSLs. I know that all sex-links are known to be prone to this and for that reason I will not purchase anymore (escept the the one that just came in my Meyers brown egg layer assortment). However I have also read several posts regarding reproductive health issues in other hatchery birds/breeds.

In your experience, are hens that you have personally hatched or purchased from heritage strains as prone to these medical issues ( I know that it can happen to any hens).

I am trying to plan for my/our future flocks and know I don't want to put any more chickens (or myself) through the stress and heartache of our current situation if it can be helped or chances reduced.

Thanks much for your help and advice!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is it an oviduct health issue or just decreased production? You don't say what the medical issue is.

In general, hatchery birds are fairly good producers for their breed because they normally select for production.
In general, breeder stock is more robust but it depends on what the breeder is selecting for. Production? Size? SOP? Vitality? Disease resistance?

Oviduct and other health issues can be from a range of viral, bacterial, fungal issues but those are normally from environment and management.
For example, the most vibrant stock from a good breeder can't handle poor ventilation.

Egg hybrids will lay well to start and play out sooner.
"Heritage" breeds may less frequently but if well cared for may lay well for many years.

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Hi ChickenCanoe,

I think it is an oviduct issue - currently dealing with horrible vent gleet with 2 of them. Following all of the treatment protocols from the Emergency forum and all of my poultry books ( I have 6 or 7 books on chickens, poultry management and health). No signs of egg binding and keeping a very close eye out for EYP. Honestly it was like the worlds largest case of pasty butt

and of course we were having a large dinner get-together when the clean up needed to happen the first time. Never a dull minute at my dinner parties

These poor girls had been laying non-stop since June 2011. The three of them never molted - until June of this year. In all that time I only had two days with no eggs. Then the laying stopped. Their hatch mate - BR - took time off, had a lovely molt, and just started laying again in May of this year. One has seemed to recover from the molt, no signs of vent gleet or other health issues currently

While we have appreciated the plethora of eggs - it is not worth what it takes out of them in my opinion. We can certainly manage on fewer eggs per day if they had longer, healthier lives.