theycallmechickmagnet
Songster
Hi we have been dealing with mycoplasma in our flock for quite a while. However some of our chickens have showed no signs or symptoms at all. Most of which being silkie. Once upon a time we bought 5 baby silkies from this random breeder in Florida. They were clearly inbred because one roo had a curved beak and the other had crossbeak and a lopsided face. The hens looked fine but obviously they were inbred too since they came from the same guy. So they all had babies with our other chickens when they grew up. Here's a few combos:
1. Silkie hen + EE Ameracauna rooster
2. Silkie roo + Silver Sebright hen (2 different hens)
3. Silkie roo + EE RIR (or EE Ameracauna) hen
We've since then sold the silkies but we still have their kids.
Each combo had a few babies. Combo 1 had a perfect living rate after hatch (2 of 2). Combo 2 had an awful living rate after hatch (6 of 25). Combo 3 had a perfect living rate after hatch (2 of 2)
So now, about 8 months after that, mycoplasma is in the flock. We don't want to cull them because they are our pets, so we gave them meds. Everyone got over it but it flares up sometimes. I actually did a bit of a study of which breeds are the strongest and weakest to the disease (I'll be making a post about that in the future) but at the top of the list was those inbred silkie monsters. Idk if their genetics made them immune to mycoplasma or what. They never showed any signs or symptoms at all and lived (and still live) fine. Seems like our ones that are less than ½ inbred-silkie, have the least immunity to it.
Our silver sebrights seemed to get it the worst, which really surprised me because their mixed silkie kids are fine. The other breeds (not EE RIR however) that mated with the silkies had gotten it and had symptoms, but the offspring between the two did not.
This all is just very interesting to me. But I'm glad most of my chickens do not have to suffer. When the mycoplasma flares up, we just treat them and the most symptoms we will get out of the weaker-immunity breeds is a couple of sneezes or a slightly bubbly eye for a few days, but nothing horrible like the beginning.
BTW THIS POST WAS NOT INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE ANYONE TO INBREED SILKIES. THE EFFECTS OF INBREEDING ARE VERY BAD. READ BELOW TO SEE WHY:
One of ours, the worst one with the crossbeak, had so many issues.
•He had very bad stress issues and would scream hysterically at the slightest of things that spooked him
•He was very slow and had trouble doing many things
•As said before, his face was lopsided- one eye was bigger than the other and almost touched his beak
•His cross beak was severe so we had to trim it often just so he could eat and drink
•He did not know how to bathe himself so he was always dirty with mites (we would treat him for them and they would be back right away)
•He could not mate at all because he couldn't figure it out
•He ended up dying at an early age because he could not properly eat (sadly we didn't catch that he was getting skinny because he was so fluffy. our chickens are free range)
The other ones weren't even close to that severity of inbreeding, but it was clear they had some problems, like the hens were slow and the roo had a curved beak. Some of the offspring carried a couple of traits, such as slight slowness and slightly curved beak (only one got that and it was surprisingly born from the silkie hen). But those things are not bad enough to effect their lives, even in the slightest. I wish that guy would stop breeding his silkies like that however. It makes me sad to think how many have probably ended up like my roo that died. And how others could possibly be worst than that. People just probably end up culling them or have to go through the hell I did with my roo (I loved that roo too) I forgot where the place was, but it's just one of those backyard breeders who have no idea what they're doing, except making money.
Below, I attached images of the true horrors of inbreeding. This was my baby boy
(last image was before his haircut)
1. Silkie hen + EE Ameracauna rooster
2. Silkie roo + Silver Sebright hen (2 different hens)
3. Silkie roo + EE RIR (or EE Ameracauna) hen
We've since then sold the silkies but we still have their kids.
Each combo had a few babies. Combo 1 had a perfect living rate after hatch (2 of 2). Combo 2 had an awful living rate after hatch (6 of 25). Combo 3 had a perfect living rate after hatch (2 of 2)
So now, about 8 months after that, mycoplasma is in the flock. We don't want to cull them because they are our pets, so we gave them meds. Everyone got over it but it flares up sometimes. I actually did a bit of a study of which breeds are the strongest and weakest to the disease (I'll be making a post about that in the future) but at the top of the list was those inbred silkie monsters. Idk if their genetics made them immune to mycoplasma or what. They never showed any signs or symptoms at all and lived (and still live) fine. Seems like our ones that are less than ½ inbred-silkie, have the least immunity to it.
Our silver sebrights seemed to get it the worst, which really surprised me because their mixed silkie kids are fine. The other breeds (not EE RIR however) that mated with the silkies had gotten it and had symptoms, but the offspring between the two did not.
This all is just very interesting to me. But I'm glad most of my chickens do not have to suffer. When the mycoplasma flares up, we just treat them and the most symptoms we will get out of the weaker-immunity breeds is a couple of sneezes or a slightly bubbly eye for a few days, but nothing horrible like the beginning.
BTW THIS POST WAS NOT INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE ANYONE TO INBREED SILKIES. THE EFFECTS OF INBREEDING ARE VERY BAD. READ BELOW TO SEE WHY:
One of ours, the worst one with the crossbeak, had so many issues.
•He had very bad stress issues and would scream hysterically at the slightest of things that spooked him
•He was very slow and had trouble doing many things
•As said before, his face was lopsided- one eye was bigger than the other and almost touched his beak
•His cross beak was severe so we had to trim it often just so he could eat and drink
•He did not know how to bathe himself so he was always dirty with mites (we would treat him for them and they would be back right away)
•He could not mate at all because he couldn't figure it out
•He ended up dying at an early age because he could not properly eat (sadly we didn't catch that he was getting skinny because he was so fluffy. our chickens are free range)
The other ones weren't even close to that severity of inbreeding, but it was clear they had some problems, like the hens were slow and the roo had a curved beak. Some of the offspring carried a couple of traits, such as slight slowness and slightly curved beak (only one got that and it was surprisingly born from the silkie hen). But those things are not bad enough to effect their lives, even in the slightest. I wish that guy would stop breeding his silkies like that however. It makes me sad to think how many have probably ended up like my roo that died. And how others could possibly be worst than that. People just probably end up culling them or have to go through the hell I did with my roo (I loved that roo too) I forgot where the place was, but it's just one of those backyard breeders who have no idea what they're doing, except making money.
Below, I attached images of the true horrors of inbreeding. This was my baby boy
(last image was before his haircut)
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