Customers call or start to shop here for chickens and they generally say: ".... I am doing my research on chickens and ..." They feel as though if they read long enough that they will have all the answers.
The poultry industry has been researching poultry by the billions of dollars annually for many decades
AND EVEN POULTRY SCIENTISTS AT UNIVERSITIES DO NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS! So spending a weekend researching information on the Internet may not give you all the answers and could only confuse you more!
Well! I have been doing my research too and raising chickens for longer than 14 years so maybe some of my "eggspert" research can help you.
ALL chickens are "eggsposed" to more diseases ANYWAY. They too are carriers of MG & MS
#3 GENERALLY speaking "biosecurity" is a joke for many backyard owners as well as the hatcheries!
(I have seen customers waiting outside buildings at hatcheries to purchase chicks because of "biosecurity" and not allowed into the hatchery... BUT the mailman and the employees ARE WALKING ON THE SAME SIDEWALK AND INTO THE BUILDING!!!! HA! So much for "bio-security." But good hygiene and good cleanliness is important!
#4 Chickens over time, especially the rare, delicate, or fancy breeds, eventually may get sick, MOST proper antibiotics and good clean dry coops, and of course, plenty of sunshine and a good diet can help some cases of illness.
BUT since chickens are CARRIERS of diseases that they inherit from breeding stock parents when there is STRESS or bad weather some chickens WILL get sick again at one point and time. It's really best to "cull" weak and ill chickens rather than to risk further infections.
The chicken industry is and has been for many years, designing FANCY PET chickens that are carriers of genetic diseases passed on to baby chicks THEN they "eggspect to sell you more chicks" when the chicks/pullets die.
Generally speaking, in most breeds hatchery stock about 80% are just fine and grow well, and the remaining 20% will have symptoms of MG and not be viable egg producers.
Most fancy pet chicken breeds will NOT survive outdoors in very harsh weather conditions and even in coops without developing some kind of disease sooner or later.
My point is nearly ALL chickens are carriers of mycoplasma as well as genetic diseases. This preventable disease is in the breeding stock and passed on from Mother hen to egg. This is in 90% or more of ALL hatcheries.
This is a hereditary disease and hatcheries KNOW IT! This is just the FACTS
Understand this ONE thing. Hatcheries are in business to SELL chicks
If all of your pet hens survived to the actual breeding age and reproduced good quality show quality chickens then that's fewer chicks that would be sold and more competition for the poultry business.
The hatcheries GOAL is NOT to sell chickens that LIVE up to ripe old age! Hatcheries' business is to HATCH EGGS and not sell the best quality breeding stock so that you will stop buying their chicks every spring!
After your chicks arrive in the mail as long as they are alive for 48 hours the hatcheries are off the hook! It does not matter that the chickens they hatch may not be viable for longer than a few months! And most chicks carry genetic diseases too! I have proof! KEEP READING....
THINK! about this!
Have you EVER seen ANY pet chicken large commercial farms that are breeding and that sell egg-producing full-sized laying "Easter Eggers, Buff Orpingtons, Silkys, Silver Laced Wyandottes and other FANCY PET BREEDS......?
Read about common and rare chicken breeds and traits here on the breeds page.
Generally speaking, in most breeds hatchery stock about 80% are just fine and grow well, and the remaining 20% will have symptoms of MG and not be viable egg producers.
The "lame eggcuse" from all the hatcheries about early pullet death is that "some chickens have just failed to thrive" and they have YOU believing it!
Actually, in some cases, the sick chickens are just carriers of genetic diseases! Sold to you from the hatcheries!
What’s the real TRUTH? Of the chicks that you buy *** ALMOST ALL *** are hatchery stock chicks that are carriers of MG mycoplasma and some will not live longer than a few months, or they will not grow normally or develop into hens even if they do. All of the chickens you buy are carriers of these diseases. Most pet chicken breeds do not withstand changing weather conditions either.
Most new chicken hobbyists are unaware of the "show circuit" for professional breeders and show people. You can access LOTS of good information here at Poultry Show Central
Most show people prefer to sell their top breeders and quality poultry line bred show stock to other show people and are not really too "eggcited" to sell the show lines of their best breeds to public newbies.
Add to this fact and the public hatcheries also sell standardized public hatchery breeds (fewer quality standards for the perfection of breed)
One more actual TRUTH about breeds: aside from feather and egg color in different breeds of hatchery stock, most of the chickens' temperaments and "personalities" are really the same. (with a few "eggceptions" most chickens' temperaments are the same but game fowl and broody hens can be VERY aggressive!)
All chickens are really motivated by local conditioning and their environment and they do not really actually have "personalities" by breed and color factors. Rather it's a chicken's size, shape, and environment that really is what determines a chicken's temperament.
FACT: Most hatcheries sell "breeding & show stock" chicks and pullet breeders for other professional breeders and show exhibitors (these are much better quality poultry breeds)
And to the public hatcheries also sell standardized public hatchery breeds (fewer quality standards for the perfection of breed)
*** IT DOES NOT MATTER W-H-A-T you do or how you raise your chicks.
Those chicks that are 70% to 90% carriers of mycoplasma MAY become infected and pass the disease to your other chickens. WHY??? Maybe it’s the constant supply of $$$$$ that you spend raising chickens. Moreover, there is a HUGE market to "save the sick" chickens with medicines, ointments and salves, books, and other chicken treats or toys too! Be aware that the commercial market is WAY different than the pet market.
So WHY am I doing this and telling the TRUTH about the poultry industry?
Because I am a producer of chickens and when you, a small buyer purchases 2 to 6 chicks from a hatchery every spring - YOU may not see the results of genetic problems. When we buy several thousand a year or hatch thousands of chicks each season.
WE NOTICE these problems.
Smaller non-growing poultry are sometimes thought of as "sick" and customers may take these chicks to veterinarians for medications and injections - This smaller chick has inherited disease through breeding and genetics- common in hatcheries
Small undersized chickens like this chick in the photo will not survive to maturity nor be a viable egg producer
In larger farms and commercial businesses these non-producing chickens are removed from the flock and culled to prevent any future illness or problems
The much older farm heritage breeds about 80 years ago were NOT genetically modified, the chickens from the farm were MUCH more able to forage outdoors and could remain stronger. Today many hatchery chickens are bred for feather colors and egg-producing abilities and not viability or immunity from diseases.
Now let me be harsh for a moment: What did your GRANDPARENTS DO? with sick chickens?
Well, they did not take chickens to the vet, nor put diapers on them or dress them up in clothes or put bows in their feathers! (yes there are chicken owners that do this!)
Your farm/agricultural rural Grandparents did not take their chickens to the local veterinarian and pay several hundred dollars to care for a sick chicken!
Our Grandparents were from another time and UNDERSTOOD NATURAL LIFE PRINCIPALS They "culled" any chickens that got sick. PERIOD. Then they hatched more chicks to replace the ones that were killed. It was a way of life.
*** Chickens are agricultural animals and considered disposable. Before people made chickens city pets, chickens were "disposable" to many people. Its a fact. ***