The IMPORTED ENGLISH Orpington Thread

[rockinpaints]

Ok. Ill give a short version of the history. I was interested in getting a variety of chicken breeds and breeding on small scale because i love chickens. I care for my chickens as best i can and spent a lot of time researching breeds, incubation, diet requirements and illnesses. I plan on showing poultry next year, and buy only from well known and respected nreeders in South Africa that sell exibition quality birds. I currently have 10 breeds ofd chickens. Some of the breeds I own we habe less than 12 in the country. Keep in mind that south agrica doesnt have the vatiety or the numbers that tou guys may have. Its very common for our birds to gey sick. My goal is to take these rare birds and vaccinate and cull selectively to get healthy stock. I vaccinate because when you show poultry they get ill. I realise vaccination doesnt treat illnesses. But i try to vaccinate to get a clean start in offspring. My birds get the following treatment: they get a quality feed together with fresh lucern daily. I give probiotics once a week. They gey garlic in their feed. The get vitamins in their water 5 days a week. Cages are sprayed two times a week with virukill. Cages are cleaned daily. The do freeramge when possible
under supervision we have predators around. Sick birds and new birds are kept seperate and medicated. All birds are vaccinated whem healthy. Babies are kept seperate and vaccinated. They also get cooked eggs onve a week. And a cooked lentil amd brown rice mixture twice a week. They also get organic minved game meat or fish onve a week. I deworm new birds and i dewor! Roitinely onve every three months. I also spray cages once a month for lice and mites. I also then put karba dust on the chickens. I dont allow visitors in my cages they are only allowed in the feced hallway to view chickens. I keep this hallway clean by using virukill and bleach daily. We dont have a vet that is willing to help witjh chickens. I can only give you the symptoms and the symptoms for the birds are not the same since i got different birds from different breeders. The reason for this is like i said i am trying to start up with different breeds and breed healthy stock. Ymptoms of sickness a: sussex en leghorn chicks had sneezing, nasal discharge amd twisting of the neck, these birds were culled. Symptoms of sickness 2: combs turining dark purple gaping for air and sneezing. These birds were culled. Symptoms of sickness 3: one eye swollen shut. Sneezing, shaking of the head. These birds were extreely rare and they were medicated. The symptoms are gone. Sickness 4: wheezy breathing and coughing. These are rare breeds and the were medicates. Sickness 5, orpingtons. Gaping for air and coughin.

HI there, I am really sorry to hear about the issues with your birds. Upper respiratory is one of the most common health ( and life threatening) issues with poultry. Chickens have a very small trachea (windpipe) which makes an upper respiratory more life threatening if not treated right away (if it is bacterial). Which brings me to my next point. Upper respiratories can be viral or bacterial. This is a list of some of the more common and how long the bacteria/virus can survive in the environment:

• Avian influenza – Viral Days to months
• Coryza Viral Hours to days
• Newcastle Disease Viral Days to months
• Mycoplasmosis Bacterial Hours to days
• Infectious Laryngotracheitis (Ilt, Laryngo) –Viral
• Infectious Bronchitis Viral

Most common being Larango (viral) and Mycoplasmosis (bacterial)

Even with your clean environment that you have made for your birds, viruses and bacteria can find their way in, some are airborne and can travel a good ways. They can also be transmitted by rodents and wild birds. It takes a whole country of participants to eradicate those diseases. I can't imagine what it is costing you to try to produce healthy birds.

I am so sorry, it sounds like you really care a lot for them. But as hard as you may try, unhealthy birds will not produce favorably, some may survive but will not thrive due to their weakened system.

Without knowing what you are treating I don't know that you will be able to get ahead of it. You can't successfully treat a viral infection with an antibiotic. Without proper diagnosis the question arises as to how long should you treat with antibiotics? And if the bird does get better should it be put back with the general population, as in some conditions even if they recover they will be carriers for life (Mycoplasmosis) . And not being able to acquire healthy vaccinated birds has already given you a huge disadvantage.

Are you able to bring in healthy vaccinated birds from another country? Is there anyone who can test your birds to see what all you may be dealing with? Again I am really sorry, it must be incredibly heartbreaking. I wish there was something we could do to help you.

 

[rockinpaints]

How do all of you feel about Mereks vaccinations? Do you feel it has worked. The last 100 chicks I purchased with Mareks vaccines. I have my home bred stock that is NOT vaccinated and I have never had mareks. After the birds were here a few month one of them got some leg symptoms attributed to Mareks, but never got sick. She has not really thrived and has a stiff leg, but I have kept her.

Next year as I am selling chicks nation wide I will be vaccinating for those who want it.

So what are your thoughts PERSONALLY (as I know vaccines are sometimes a heated discussion. Do you vaccinate and has it worked?

There are a lot of pros and cons on the Marek's vaccine. Unfortunately if your birds are on the ground they have been exposed. Some breeders bred for resistance which is a good idea but so is vaccinating. Some birds are naturally immune, and some are more susceptible than others like Silkies. Chicks generally build up immunity by the time they are 5 months old even if they have not been vaccinated. There are exceptions to the rule of course. Sadly the vaccine is not effective against the ocular form or leg/wing paralysis. The vaccine does state that if there is an outbreak among vaccinated birds it does help to reduce the shedding of the virus.

Marek's vaccine is a cancer vaccine (the first cancer vaccine actually) and only offers protection against the malignant tumors that Marek's causes. The malignant tumors will eventually kill the bird, however, if they get the ocular or paralysis form, even after being vaccinate, they should be put down. They will continue to shed the virus even if they survive, and the ocular form is generally not life threatening. So all forms of Marek's, vaccinated or not, in a sense is life threatening. I know a couple people who do not vaccinate and never see a case of Marek's.

The gal where we have our birds butchered

(yes we eat our extra roosters) was telling me that some of the birds they process for customers are full of tumors inside. I asked her if she routinely tells people what their chickens look like inside and she said no, not unless they ask. I asked her if she ever sees anything that doesn't look quite right in my birds (like tumors) to let me know and so far no tumors (or anything else out of the ordinary) - kind of like getting a free necrospy. Many times birds that have not been vaccinated that do not thrive and die suddenly "for no apparent reason" between 1-2 years of age can be attributed to cancer from Marek's. Unless you do your own necropsys you would not likely know why they died.


Even with all the information and knowing that they can get the ocular or paralysis form after being vaccinate (and will be put down) I do still vaccinate. I will say though, in 25 years of having poultry I only started vaccinating about 5 years ago by popular request of customers, as it is just as easy to do all baby chicks in one hatch since I have to vaccinate anyway. I really did not see anymore cases in the years that we raised unvaccinated birds.

I think if you are raising birds for your own personal use -( in which case I would not vaccinate, I would breed for resistance) or if you are breeding birds to sell to the public, in which case I would do what the buyer wants. We have some customers who request that their birds not vaccinated, some who don't have a clue about vaccines, and some who want them vaccinated. We provide information on our website so they can make a somewhat informed decision and we offer the vaccine free. We were paying $20 a bottle and I would split the bottle much like KittyDoc. Then I found it for $5.00 a bottle and did not split the bottles anymore. We are now paying $10 but that is not too bad either although I hate wasting so much vaccine.

I am sorry, I know this is not the forum to discuss this but thought it was a good topic, especially if it helps raise healthy Orpingtons

. Hope the information everyone left is helpful and GOOD LUCK with your decision!

 

[robgray]

Wow lots of great advice on this board. My 3 English orps are separate from my flock but they do free range in the same area at different times. This morning I noticed their poop is like mustard. Hope I don't gross anyone out but here is a pic....any advice on how to treat and what it could be

 

[Heron's Nest Farm]

Great thoughts Rockpaints. I will be vaccinating my birds and offering as i know some folks want them I appreciate you sharing of knowledge and experience.

I would just watch the poop. I see it light colored poop from time to time.

 

[rockinpaints]

Wow lots of great advice on this board. My 3 English orps are separate from my flock but they do free range in the same area at different times. This morning I noticed their poop is like mustard. Hope I don't gross anyone out but here is a pic....any advice on how to treat and what it could be

Normal morning poop

 

[Natalierose]

4 Month old Spash English Orpington- Thoughts on if I have a hen or a roo?

 

[rockinpaints]

4 Month old Spash English Orpington- Thoughts on if I have a hen or a roo?

I think boy

 

[robgray]

I think boy

Roo

 

[crazyhen]

The light colored and fouler than normal odor is the cecal poop and is normal once a day.

 

[danotoyou2]

Hi everyone!

I have a dozen Orpington chicks that have hatched out in the incubator, from hatching eggs I purchased. They could be black, blue, chocolate, mauve and cuckoo of any of those colors. How can I tell what their colors will be from day olds?

I'm excited to be entering the world of English Orpingtons.