Auracana chickens dying off
| Thu, Oct 28 2010 09:42am BST 1 |
birdboy
11 Posts
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On June 20, I was over the moon as 10 out of eleven Auracana eggs
hatched and all seemed to be doing well. Since then, on a fairly
regular basis, most of them have died. I am left with the last one
who seems to be healthy and lively. None of my other chickens have
been affected by whatever it is that afflicts the Auracana, even
though they are running together in a largish aviary. The run of
events seems to follow this sequence. One day the birds will all be
lively and sprightly, no fighting among them just the usual minor
squabbles. On the following day, one of the Auracana will be in a
corner looking really listless and huddled up and the next morning
it would be dead?I check for blood in droppings every time I enter
the aviary and so far, none has been seen. On checking the body of
the dead bird no blood, cuts or scratches are visible. I am stumped
up to now and wonder if there is something in the genes of the
Auracana that make them susceptible to dying off like this. Any
advice, hints or tips will be greatly appreciated as I would like
to get to the bottom of this and save the rest of my
chickens.
Regards
Ken
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| Thu, Oct 28 2010 12:32pm BST 2 |
animartco
11 Posts
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Hi Ken. It's probably inbreeding. I had an araucana cock (the only
one from a mixed batch of breed eggs)suddenly die on me last year.
They must be prone to it? They are a breed that is show bred to an
extreme, rumpless and with huge outstanding hackle, but the more
traditional blue ones have probably had little attention from good
breeders. What sort was yours?
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| Thu, Oct 28 2010 02:41pm BST 3 |
birdboy
11 Posts
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Hi animartco,
thanks for your reply. With such a small gene pool available here
in Malta, I am wondering if inbreeding could be the problem with my
birds dying off. I got the eggs from an old farmer who has a few
chickens of most breeds and quite possibly, he is not too careful
with his mating. Family to family, as even though he has the space
to keep separate groups of chickens, he is more concerned with
quantity of different ones. Not long ago he went on holiday and I
looked after his flock ( a few days old up through elderly birds)
and I noticed quite a few of his birds practically on a daily basis
would die. When I mentioned this to him he just said it was
normal.
With Malta being such a small place, it isn't possible to guarantee
that you are getting unrelated birds even if you buy from two
different breeders. The chicken club here is a very close knit
community and it is only now becoming popular again. In my case I
keep them on my roof, and as I don't have too much space tend to go
for the smaller breeds. Last year I hatched out a Serama cockerel
that I need to try and get a hen for, and just recently I bought
two pairs of Japanese. They are young birds but the hens are
already laying so perhaps early next year I can put the pairs
together to see if I get any viable eggs from them.
I will keep you posted as to how my remaining Auracana gets on, and
whether I have any more suggestions as to why they died.
Regards
Ken
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| Tue, Jun 28 2011 02:44am BST 4 |
Momma Hen
51 Posts
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Hi,
They are exceptionally difficult to breed because the
tufted gene can cause a high percentage of the chicks to die in
their shells, so if infact you have gotten birds that are related
even different generations, It would seem to me that already
having the gene problem, imbreeding is most likely the cause of
your birds dieing off on a daily basis!
Is their any way you can order chicks or hatching eggs
from and outside source, that way you can breed the birds you
have without having this problem or them just up and dieing on
you!
I don't know of any that specialize in breeding where you
live but you most likely bet is to bring in birds from and
outside source so that you can gaurantee that they aren't imbred,
as for the ones you still have remaining, i don't know what to
tell ya!
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