Sudden Death in Broiler Chicks

[Evangelina]

I was quoting from another post, but i cant find that post, but thanks for the much needed info. I was going to try it on my cornish crosses that i will be getting next week, but now im skeptical, to use the aspirin.

 

[SmokinChick]

The whole purpose of raising our own birds is for none dopped meat. I can't see giving birds that will only achieve 8 weeks of age medicine. When do you start meds? 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks?
No thanks, I'll restrict food and take a 10% loss.

 

[Wasson6Pack]

I am seriously wondering if you got a 'lemon' batch of chicks. The first ever chicks I raised were CX and out of 51 birds, we lost only 1 at brooder age. I think he was slept on. I am wondering if one of the parents to the X's were not well. I would try a different hatchery next time and see if that makes a difference.

I ordered mine from Murray McMurray and I am in Iowa. They are prone to growing way too fast, but I always feed a 4' feeder full of Broiler feed mixed with a couple cups of cracked corn. That is all they get each day. That way they can not over eat. The rest of their food is foraged for.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Mine were Meyer (I came back and edited this post because it was brought to my attention that I was in error). It was my first time ordering from them but as I stated earlier, 9 of 18 arrived dead or dying and I lost 3 of the remaining 9 within the first few weeks. I figure they wouldn't be able to stay in business if that were a typical and am willing to blame the weather and the altitude...combined with the heart issues common to this type of chicken. I haven't had losses ahything near this with Freedom Rangers, Red Rangers or the many varieties of heritage layer I've raised.

 

[Black wallnut]

I ordered them from Meyer Hatchery.

Mine were Murray McMurray too.

Hummingbird Hollow which were they? It is really bad form to be wrong about where your birds came from if you are going to name a hatchery.

FWIW week of October 6 I received 27 CX chicks plus another rare breed. Two died in the first or second week. One died at about week 4. Thursday after work I found two dead. We have a vet in our community that does chicken autopsies and he reports that the last two died of congestive heart failure. Today I processed 10, tomorrow I'll process the rest. I don't have a scale but these are big! I keep feed available at all times, same with water. Perhaps the extreme cold had something to do with them expiring. I'm not sure if I'll raise these again, will see how good they taste. However they are large yet seem to be lean with large well developed legs and thighs. Big hearts and livers, although some of the gizzards seemed small.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Hummingbird Hollow which were they? It is really bad form to be wrong about where your birds came from if you are going to name a hatchery.

You are correct and I'm really sorry. I did order a bunch of Red Rangers from McMurray earlier in the summer as well as some layer chicks from My Pet Chicken but the Jumbo Cornish were indeed from Meyer. I should have double checked before I hit "submit". My appologies to McMurray. I'll go back and edit the earlier post. Again, I was not trying to suggest that the fault was with the hatchery but maybe with a fluke in the weather and perhaps the high altitude.