Meat birds oddly dieing

[kassy68]

I bought the cornish cross' or white mountain hubbard. they will be 5 weeks old Monday. We started with 24% feed for the first 4 weeks and then dropped them down to 20% for the remaining 4 weeks (per the hatcheries instructions). They are never without water but have their food taken out a 7 pm every night and put back in the coop in the morning. I did loose 11 in the first couple weeks.. started with loosing 2 a day for the first 4 days.. they had the vitamins in the water and were kept in the same brooder as my 26 pullets from the same hatchery.. Never lost one of the pullets.. still doing great.

Last week I had a cockerel just sit and stare when I put the feed in.. I thought maybe he got chilled the night before so I brought him in , gave him some water with a syringe and a little yogurt.. Put him on a heating pad where he died. He looked normal until he went to get up, he acted dizzy, then he got weak to where he couldnt sit well either.. came back about 3 hours later and dead..

Today is yet another one who didn't run at me for feed... Again its the smallest roo in the coop out of 40. I stood him up, he walked a few drunken steps and sat back down. He's sleeping or he watches the other birds..

I noticed both their crops had food in it still from the day before.. not hard, not impacted I don't think.. just not empty like the others are.. which would make sense to me if the body is shutting down the day before,

I wanna think due to the size difference that it may be genetic.. and am now thinking of keeping a healthier roo and making my own meatie mixed from this cornish cross and my barred rocks and other dual purpose birds next spring.. If I can keep this active roo in the bunch.

 

[sjh]

I would butcher that bird ASAP. He is probaly going to have a heart attach. On average you will loose 10% of your birds to death. Lots of other members here have tried the breeding thing with little success. They say the roosters body is odly shaped to perform the right act.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Cornish X are notortious for having heart and respitory problems, and it sounds like that is what is happening with your meaties. Since they are 5 weeks, I would start processing the ones that are acting like they are on their last limbs and try keeping the others until they get a bit bigger.

 

[GrandmaCluck]

You might want to check the amount of electrolytes/vitamins you are putting in the water. 1/4 tsp to a gallon of water is what I used. A friend of mine mis-figured the amount and was over-dosing his birds - they acted like they were drunk and then fell over dead. Cornish x need this in their water daily. I bought 20 and lost 1 - didn't know I was supposed to keep the electro/vits in the water all the time. 1 was near-death - couldn't stand on her legs - separated her from the rest of the flock as she was getting trampled - got her going on the elec/vit water and continuous feed. By the 3rd day she was good as new. So I learned to always put the elec/vitamins in the water, and I removed the feed by 7pm (12 hours on/12 off). Didn't have any more problems.

 

[jaku]

It seems like you are doing everything right- I also use Townline, and have been VERY happy with them. Sometimes you just get bad batches of birds.

 

[kassy68]

Quote:
I know my local feed store had a few calls into townline because experienced chicken people were loosing more then the normal.. I figured as much (bad batches)

As to the vitamins/elec. I used it for the first week, then quit.. I will start using again tomorrow.. The one I thought was gonna die when I did this post is still here.. He is smaller and is kinda still acting daze and gets off balance quit easily.
I did not know how much vita/elec to add to the water so I was guessing on the pack makes 128 gallons.. LOL
I will use the 1/4tsp from now on to the gallon.

I will be glad to see 8 weeks.. I have a huge guy that could probably go in this Monday (6 week mark).. Hubby says he's only making one trip.. but I guess I should call the butcher were using and see if they need some notice up or just that morning.. THanks for the advice all..

 

[jaku]

What kind of vitamins are you using? Broiler booster?