Hey everyone--
Back in at the of March we took possession of our 6 beautiful lavender opringtons. They were bred locally and we were super excited to add these to our flock and continue fwd with them as breeding stock for our own.
However, within the first two weeks we lost a peep-- which happens. However, several weeks later we had one go lame-- could stand and would fall fwd if she tried to walk. She showed signs of stabilizing but she would never walk and so I made the hard choice and culled her. It was the humane thing to do.
During this time I contacted the seller and she nicely talked me through some things she's done in the past with her flock in general and I followed her advice; however, during this time another lav orp went lame. I found a mass under his left wing and within days he was found dead-- I didn't even have the chance to humanely put him down.
I called the breeder again and NO response.
And then, just two weeks ago another lav orp has gone lame and he shows signs of worsening-- I suspect I'll cull him this week when my 7 y/o is at a practice so she doesn't have to keep witnessing these chickens dying!
Today we came home from a camping trip to find yet another that has gone lame.
At this point you might suspect something is crazy wrong with my set up or my coop, or food etc. However, I have 12 other chickens, half are varieties of orps, all thriving, including yearly white orps that really are doing well.
The only common thread is this breeder and the lav orps.
I posted this in this forum because clearly something is wrong with these birds but it doesn't seem to be communicative in so far as I can tell considering the rest of the flock, including this year's other peeps, are doing very well.
I'm not even asking that people help me diagnose because, well, the chickens are basically all dead now. Instead, I'm seeking advice on what to do next.
If the breeder (who I don't believe has any ill-intent) doesn't know of a potential genetic issue, she should be told, no? Or at least that there is a consistent issue with her birds. Or if she does know then she should know that people know of this issue and frankly she should be ashamed of selling ill birds. She's not hear to comfort my kid when another one of her birds dies. Makes me kinda angry.
However, I'm assuming no ill-intent.
What would you do??
Moderators-- if this should be in another forum then please move it. Thank you.
Back in at the of March we took possession of our 6 beautiful lavender opringtons. They were bred locally and we were super excited to add these to our flock and continue fwd with them as breeding stock for our own.
However, within the first two weeks we lost a peep-- which happens. However, several weeks later we had one go lame-- could stand and would fall fwd if she tried to walk. She showed signs of stabilizing but she would never walk and so I made the hard choice and culled her. It was the humane thing to do.
During this time I contacted the seller and she nicely talked me through some things she's done in the past with her flock in general and I followed her advice; however, during this time another lav orp went lame. I found a mass under his left wing and within days he was found dead-- I didn't even have the chance to humanely put him down.
I called the breeder again and NO response.
And then, just two weeks ago another lav orp has gone lame and he shows signs of worsening-- I suspect I'll cull him this week when my 7 y/o is at a practice so she doesn't have to keep witnessing these chickens dying!
Today we came home from a camping trip to find yet another that has gone lame.
At this point you might suspect something is crazy wrong with my set up or my coop, or food etc. However, I have 12 other chickens, half are varieties of orps, all thriving, including yearly white orps that really are doing well.
The only common thread is this breeder and the lav orps.
I posted this in this forum because clearly something is wrong with these birds but it doesn't seem to be communicative in so far as I can tell considering the rest of the flock, including this year's other peeps, are doing very well.
I'm not even asking that people help me diagnose because, well, the chickens are basically all dead now. Instead, I'm seeking advice on what to do next.
If the breeder (who I don't believe has any ill-intent) doesn't know of a potential genetic issue, she should be told, no? Or at least that there is a consistent issue with her birds. Or if she does know then she should know that people know of this issue and frankly she should be ashamed of selling ill birds. She's not hear to comfort my kid when another one of her birds dies. Makes me kinda angry.
However, I'm assuming no ill-intent.
What would you do??
Moderators-- if this should be in another forum then please move it. Thank you.
