Consolidated Kansas

lizzyGSR said:

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I think sussex in general are a weak breed. Regardless of color or where they came from. I know some of mine were supposed to be show stock and they were the most sickly of all. I've had hatchery birds would seem okay and just drop over dead. But I made a point to keep the especially strong birds and cull the others. There were times I had six or more young cockerels that I grew up just to choose the best ones for breeding. Same with the pullets. I added 6 pullets this spring that were super hearty and did great. They are laying fools too. I am sure that hatcheries could care less about inbreeding for as long as bird will keep laying.
I think hatchery birds in general have problems. First they just breed for quantity not quality. They could care less how they do once they've arrived and a couple days go by. But stress from shipping or worse yet being shipped to a farm store and having tons of people handle them is even worse. It takes about 5 to 10 days for Cocci to develop. So if you have a chick that has been stressed by shipping, about day 5 it will often have pasty butt. This lets the toxins build up in their system and sets them on a roller coaster to poor health. Then because they are weak they are susceptible to cocci and other sickness.
The problem I have with chicks is that I hatch too many and if they aren't picked up or sold then they get overcrowded. That also causes stress on the chicks. I keep saying I will only hatch by order but I tend to load the incubators regardless.
@TeeMom what happened to your sussex that they died? Just curious. Even if it was disease if they were weak for one reason or another, wild birds constantly leave droppings that can make your birds sick.

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lizzyGSR said:

Because of how poorly the Sussex did?

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chicken danz said:

@TeeMom what happened to your sussex that they died? Just curious. Even if it was disease if they were weak for one reason or another, wild birds constantly leave droppings that can make your birds sick.

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TeeMom said:

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So here is some food for thought on some of your birds. Is there a chance they might have lice or mites. You can't normally see them if they do. They can deplete a bird or even kill them. And yes for some reason some breeds seem to be more susceptible to them than others. Also I recently read about a leukosis that is related to a sex link slow feathering gene. Not all birds of all kinds have this particular gene. So I am thinking that perhaps in my case I have chosen breeders over time that don't carry that gene, because I don't use birds that appear unhealthy. It is basically a problem in leghorns to begin with, but if stock was mixed with other breeds for color or sex link attributes it would make sense that some of these birds could still be prone to the leukosis. It is most prominent in white egg layers but again there may have been mixes with those when the original speckled sussex was bred.
Actually this explains a lot of the problems I've had with certain breeds. They become much more susceptible to getting disease that others do not even if they are kept in the same pen. So if those birds had a weak system because of the leukosis it would make sense they would be the ones to succumb to disease.

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chicken danz said:

So here is some food for thought on some of your birds. Is there a chance they might have lice or mites. You can't normally see them if they do. They can deplete a bird or even kill them. And yes for some reason some breeds seem to be more susceptible to them than others. Also I recently read about a leukosis that is related to a sex link slow feathering gene. Not all birds of all kinds have this particular gene. So I am thinking that perhaps in my case I have chosen breeders over time that don't carry that gene, because I don't use birds that appear unhealthy. It is basically a problem in leghorns to begin with, but if stock was mixed with other breeds for color or sex link attributes it would make sense that some of these birds could still be prone to the leukosis. It is most prominent in white egg layers but again there may have been mixes with those when the original speckled sussex was bred.
Actually this explains a lot of the problems I've had with certain breeds. They become much more susceptible to getting disease that others do not even if they are kept in the same pen. So if those birds had a weak system because of the leukosis it would make sense they would be the ones to succumb to disease.

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Trish44 said:

There are certain types of mites that suck the blood on a chicken & eventually they will become unthrifty & die. You can Google chicken mites & see what kind they are. Birds are subject to all kinds of parasites both internal & external. They also are subject to quite a few diseases, some being brought in by wild birds. 

I have never had a lot of luck with the Marans breed for another that seems to be a weaker breed. I don't know if it was just the birds I got, but they were from a breeder, not hatchery. I have had problems with them having heart issues & just getting sick easier than the other breeds. I do have two hens left in my laying flock that seem to be doing fine, so maybe they are the exceptions. I gave up on trying to raise them so now just use the two remaining ones for the dark eggs. I have found that I like the Welsummers better, they're hardier birds & lay pretty speckled dark eggs. They're very good foragers as well for my free range flock. 

I looked up Lymphoid Leukosis of chickens Danz & that liver looks grizzly, yuk! 

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