Hi,
I do not know if I am posting this in the correct place or not but I am going to try. I am a new member but I have had chickens on and off for over 15 years. We first started with some 4H black sexlinks when my son was in elementary school. If I remember correctly he received 25 or 27 chicks and we lost one. So over the years we have had different batches of chicks ranging from as little as 5 to as many as 15 chicks. Up until this year including the 4H loss we have only lost 1 other baby.
Well this year I decided I wanted some nice LF blue Orpingtons. I went to a local show and purchased a trio of aprrox. 6 week old chicks. These were from prize winning stock as I was told. They were quarantined from our mixed flock and fed medicated chick starter. One of the pullets started acting odd. She was ruffled up and kind of biting at the air. She gradually lost the ability to stand & would not eat. I tried to help her but eventually had my husband cull her.
Thinking this was a fluke I called the breeder to get a couple more pullets. He no longer had any but had some due to hatch. I purchased 5 baby chicks. They stayed in the house for the first 4 weeks and were moved out to a quarantined area. They were fed the same medicated chick starter, draft free, with a heat lamp. Well I lost 2 of these 5 in a similar way. They ruffled up, lost the ability to walk and just did not develope like the others (slow to feather, stayed under lamp more, etc). Again tried to help but ended up culling. The chicks that were eventually culled out of both purchases died before they were 8 weeks old. Also if it makes any difference it was the lighter colored chicks.
As a side note out of 2 broody hens 13 babies were hatched. We lost 2: one because she left the nest & I helped it hatch and the other due to a crossed beak.
This brings me to my question is a 40% loss acceptable? According to the breeder it is. I phoned him and explained what had happened. I did not ask for replacements chicks I just wanted him to know. At first he said he would sell me more at a discount then said he would give me 3 replacements of the same age because I had lost so many. He told me to call today and make arrangements to come out. Well I called and his offer had changed and he actually seemed irritated with me. He now was offering very young chicks or chicks the same age (6-7 weeks) for a discount. I originally agreed to make the trip but called him back and cancelled. I decided I would take my losses and hope for the best with the remaining chicks.
I am not trying to be unreasonable but I have never had this kind of loss. These were not cheap chicks to start with and to have this kind of luck is disheartening. I do not know what happened to these chicks but I am wondering if it was something in his line? I will follow this person to see how his line goes. I have seen him selling in several areas and will be able to track his success or failure. I am hoping it was just my bad luck and not something he is knowingly doing. He also told me he hoped it wasn't Marek's something about a rooster he was using to darken the color in his birds.
So I am crossing my fingers that it was not Marek's because my chicks that hatched are not vaccinated. The older ones were most likely done at the hatchery with the exception of 1 hen.
Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. If there is a section on rants perhaps it belongs there.
I do not know if I am posting this in the correct place or not but I am going to try. I am a new member but I have had chickens on and off for over 15 years. We first started with some 4H black sexlinks when my son was in elementary school. If I remember correctly he received 25 or 27 chicks and we lost one. So over the years we have had different batches of chicks ranging from as little as 5 to as many as 15 chicks. Up until this year including the 4H loss we have only lost 1 other baby.
Well this year I decided I wanted some nice LF blue Orpingtons. I went to a local show and purchased a trio of aprrox. 6 week old chicks. These were from prize winning stock as I was told. They were quarantined from our mixed flock and fed medicated chick starter. One of the pullets started acting odd. She was ruffled up and kind of biting at the air. She gradually lost the ability to stand & would not eat. I tried to help her but eventually had my husband cull her.
Thinking this was a fluke I called the breeder to get a couple more pullets. He no longer had any but had some due to hatch. I purchased 5 baby chicks. They stayed in the house for the first 4 weeks and were moved out to a quarantined area. They were fed the same medicated chick starter, draft free, with a heat lamp. Well I lost 2 of these 5 in a similar way. They ruffled up, lost the ability to walk and just did not develope like the others (slow to feather, stayed under lamp more, etc). Again tried to help but ended up culling. The chicks that were eventually culled out of both purchases died before they were 8 weeks old. Also if it makes any difference it was the lighter colored chicks.
As a side note out of 2 broody hens 13 babies were hatched. We lost 2: one because she left the nest & I helped it hatch and the other due to a crossed beak.
This brings me to my question is a 40% loss acceptable? According to the breeder it is. I phoned him and explained what had happened. I did not ask for replacements chicks I just wanted him to know. At first he said he would sell me more at a discount then said he would give me 3 replacements of the same age because I had lost so many. He told me to call today and make arrangements to come out. Well I called and his offer had changed and he actually seemed irritated with me. He now was offering very young chicks or chicks the same age (6-7 weeks) for a discount. I originally agreed to make the trip but called him back and cancelled. I decided I would take my losses and hope for the best with the remaining chicks.
I am not trying to be unreasonable but I have never had this kind of loss. These were not cheap chicks to start with and to have this kind of luck is disheartening. I do not know what happened to these chicks but I am wondering if it was something in his line? I will follow this person to see how his line goes. I have seen him selling in several areas and will be able to track his success or failure. I am hoping it was just my bad luck and not something he is knowingly doing. He also told me he hoped it wasn't Marek's something about a rooster he was using to darken the color in his birds.
So I am crossing my fingers that it was not Marek's because my chicks that hatched are not vaccinated. The older ones were most likely done at the hatchery with the exception of 1 hen.
Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. If there is a section on rants perhaps it belongs there.
