Poultry Breeding & Showing Class in Sonoma County CA

[jtaylormade]

We'll I'm as new as it gets, but like everyone here I put a lot blood sweat tears etc into my birds I will always take precautions. As far as losing chicks, its going to happen and the more you hatch/raise the more it will happen. That is just a fact. I think as responsible owners breeders sellers buyers etc, we all need to do our best to learn from it and minimize it when possible.

The stress of travel can indeed reveal underlying issues that the seller may not have known about. I know mycoplasma is like this and is carried by wild birds, knowing that it could be lying dormant in anyone of our flocks even if all of our birds are healthy and do not exhibit signs. Until a stressor is introduced there would be know way to know unless you are testing the blood of your stock. I know Davis will run the tests for free but I am not sure I could afford the blood draws on that one!

 

[jeremy]

MrsMooncat, my remarks about quarantine practices were in no way directed towards you and your husbandry. I'm sorry if I was not clear.

My statement was meant to be a generalization and wasn't necessarily only for those who are new to BYC but who are new to chickens as a hobby.

Again, sorry if there was any confusion.

 

[MrsMoonCat]

The main thing is that we want to know what went wrong for these chicks and what we can do about it. As for the newbie thing, it just gets frustrating when people discredit a person based on their number of posts or the date they joined the forum. It happens a lot unfortunately and I know firsthand it can be very discouraging. Sorry if I jumped on the defensive too quickly.

Have a good one!

edited by staff

 

[fowlman01]

Maybe in the middle of this I can brag, since most people don't think I raise large fowl. Last weekend I had Reserve Champion Large Fowl at the Ventura show. Best trio in the show with white Leghorns and basically all the waterfowl prizes including best and res waterfowl overall (East Indie duck/Egyptian goose)........as I said I am competitive.

Maureen has seen this bird, but not walking around. He is 30" tall now and should be 34" at three years like his father. Judge John Monaco said this bird is the heaviest chicken he has ever judged. His father is much heavier.

Dark Shamo Yearling Cock. I can't get it to imbed for some reason.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/6952075/width/400/flags/LL

Walt

 

[mendocinosunris]

wow - that's a bird with attitude!

Congratulations, Walt - sounds like you cleaned up!

Maybe in the middle of this I can brag, since most people don't think I raise large fowl. Last weekend I had Reserve Champion Large Fowl at the Ventura show. Best trio in the show with white Leghorns and basically all the waterfowl prizes including best and res waterfowl overall (East Indie duck/Egyptian goose)........as I said I am competitive.

Maureen has seen this bird, but not walking around. He is 30" tall now and should be 34" at three years like his father. Judge John Monaco said this bird is the heaviest chicken he has ever judged. His father is much heavier.

Dark Shamo Yearling Cock. I can't get it to imbed for some reason.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/6952075/width/400/flags/LL

Walt

 

[dldolan]

Congratulations! He sounds like a winner!

Maybe in the middle of this I can brag, since most people don't think I raise large fowl. Last weekend I had Reserve Champion Large Fowl at the Ventura show. Best trio in the show with white Leghorns and basically all the waterfowl prizes including best and res waterfowl overall (East Indie duck/Egyptian goose)........as I said I am competitive.

Maureen has seen this bird, but not walking around. He is 30" tall now and should be 34" at three years like his father. Judge John Monaco said this bird is the heaviest chicken he has ever judged. His father is much heavier.

Dark Shamo Yearling Cock. I can't get it to imbed for some reason.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/6952075/width/400/flags/LL

Walt

 

[fowlman01]

On the other subject I will give my opinion. It is EXTREMELY risky to move chicks in anything other than the USPS type containers and without the proper warmth that is generating by many chicks. I don't know why this happens when we try to bring chicks to people in cars, but not only have I seen this same thing happen many times, it has happened to me. I will not bring chicks to anyone if it is more than a couple miles from here. The US Mail shipments go very well, but these small deliveries sometimes work and sometimes don't. It seems as if it accelerates the stress levels of the birds. We delivered 8 white Cornish chicks to Ventura this weekend......but they were in a basket with their mother and even then I though we were going to lose some because they were making so much noise.

The shorter the trip the better, adjust to keep the proper temp for the situation and hope for the best. Chicks that die from stress can act like they are dieing from almost anything. Stress is the biggest killer of birds.

 

[mendocinosunris]

I just wanted to clarify - I got the Marans chicks from Cheryl, not from Dawn. Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my earlier post.


I believe losing the Marans chick really was just one of those things. The chick wasn't sick - it just didn't make it. It had no symptoms of cocci or anything else. I think it just couldn't take the stress of travel. I didn't think to send it in for a necropsy - sorry. It was the only one that had any issues at all. The other four are all fine.
I wouldn't have said anything, but since there had been a question raised, I thought I'd better speak up - just in case.

Cheryl immediately offered to send me money, chicks, or eggs & I let her know that wasn't necessary. Besides, we had agreed on three chicks, I ended up paying for two, and Cheryl gave me five. That's chicken math at its finest.

Cheryl's very devoted to her birds, and it shows. I have every confidence in her honesty & integrity.

Oh, and regarding the comments on quarantine: I want you to know that they're appreciated.
This is the first time I've ever quarantined new birds. I usually just throw 'em together & hope for the best, and it was high time I started being more careful. When I found the dead chick, I immediately thought, "oh, I'm so glad they're quarantined!"

Great, Mendocinosunrise, thanks for letting me know. I'll PM you about a replacment chick or fertile eggs, since we are close by!

Cheryl, the count thus far is that four of us from class have had sick chicks die from those you gave us. You replied to me that you also had had sick chicks, and had contacted everyone (except me, i guess) about this. However, the feedback I am getting is that no one was contacted. Responsible breeding is making sure that this type of information gets diseminated in a professional manner. I am sending birds to Davis and will also post the results. None appear to have had cocci symptoms.

Thanks, all of you, for sharing the information on your sick chicks with me. Let's get the information we need to deal with this or cull. No one has had the chicks improve by treating for cocci, it seems, so that is good information. (Probably many of you have had yours on medicated feed, as I do, so this is less likely. MIne are lethargic, sleepy all the time, not growing, not lively and thriving like the other chicks, which is what most of you have described. No bloody stool.)

On to something more fun. Here are two of my Orps that hatched the day before the class. On the right is a Lemon Cuckoo. Any guesses as to the one on the left? I am clueless. It doesn't match any egg I thought I had gotten! Looks like an Orp, but color??? I had four lemon cuckoo eggs and they all hatched, and all look like the one on the right with little variation. The only other Orp eggs i thought i'd ordered were Lav/Isa/Porcelain...but this doesn't look right to me. Guesses?

Cheers,
Dawn

 

[cherylcohen]

On the other subject I will give my opinion. It is EXTREMELY risky to move chicks in anything other than the USPS type containers and without the proper warmth that is generating by many chicks. I don't know why this happens when we try to bring chicks to people in cars, but not only have I seen this same thing happen many times, it has happened to me. I will not bring chicks to anyone if it is more than a couple miles from here. The US Mail shipments go very well, but these small deliveries sometimes work and sometimes don't. It seems as if it accelerates the stress levels of the birds. We delivered 8 white Cornish chicks to Ventura this weekend......but they were in a basket with their mother and even then I though we were going to lose some because they were making so much noise.

The shorter the trip the better, adjust to keep the proper temp for the situation and hope for the best. Chicks that die from stress can act like they are dieing from almost anything. Stress is the biggest killer of birds.

Agreed Walt, and I take complete responsibility for that. With all the work I had of that day bringing all the older birds for showing, it did not occur to me that that could happen. It turned out to be a very long day, and I hadn't really thought through how long the chicks would be out, even if under a heat lamp, but not at a home in a more controlled environment.

 

[fowlman01]

Agreed Walt, and I take complete responsibility for that. With all the work I had of that day bringing all the older birds for showing, it did not occur to me that that could happen. It turned out to be a very long day, and I hadn't really think through how long the chicks would be out, even if under a heat lamp, but not at a home in a more controlled environment.

I learned the same way Cheryl. They looked fine to me in the beginning and I am a CA Poultry Health Inspector. I would have noticed something when I checked them. Too hot/too cold and stress are the biggest killers of chicks in transit.

quarantine is always a good idea.

Walt