Expiry date on hatchery birds?

Seems like they don't last past 3 ish years.... I lost all my 3 year old ameraucana from the same hatchery over the last winter, and now I'm starting to lose my now 3 year old's from a hatchery. Sigh. I have the adults housed together, no one else is sick. With the hatchery bird deaths I find them dead, they don't look sick up to death, or have any symptoms. Today's almost-casualty I found on her side barely breathing at bed time so I brought her in and put her by the woodstove, at least she can be warm when she dies. Everyone else is fine.

Sigh.

I'm so sorry for your loss. You have such a kind heart, your gal is lucky to have you as her guardian.

That is an interesting observation Briarwood. I look forward to hearing what others with hatchery birds have to say.
Has it been a certain breed, or a number of different ones?

Were these from Rochester Hatchery? The last of the Buff Brahmas I got from them in 2010 expired this fall. Buff Brahmas obtained the same year from McMurray are fine.

Note correction - got the shipment in June 2010.

maybe its from to much inbreeding? thats weird...

I have a buff cochin bantam from Rochester, 2004, who hatches out babies for me every year. I have many other hatchery birds who have also survived well past three years.

It's only silkies that do that for me - hatchery or not they never seem to last beyond 2 years. But inbreeding was my first thought too...

They have mostly been from rochester, last night's loss was a silver laced wyandotte though I'm not sure which hatchery she came from, and previously ameraucana (about 5 of them), and some ISA Brown hens when we had them. Come to think of it, the only thing that's made it past 3 is the buff brahma hen. She is still going strong, although aside from coloring is nothing what a buff brahma should be! LOL Little 4 pound waif of a thing, never gone broody, not very friendly, etc.

I have ameraucana from local breeders that are going on about 5 years now and they are doing great, still lay eggs, but the others don't seem to last too long. Poor things.

Back in 2004, we bought a few of Rochester's breeder birds. I'm not sure how many were theirs or from breeders they dealt with?
I still have 2 of them: One is a blue cochin hen and the other a bufflace polish hen. The cochin has not laid an egg in years and is still pretty healthy. I have always had issues with the buff polish as she is extremely incositent with her eggs laying and getting egg bound. However, I have heard that may be more a problem of the breed than anything.

This is what happened to the other breeders I got from Rochesters:
Sultan hen: died within 1 month.
Houdan hen: died at 6 months likely cause was flip-over.
Sultan rooster: died at 2 years. Respiratory issue.
Cochin hen: died at 3 likely cause was flip over.
Silkie hen: died at 4.
Silkie hen: died at 6.

I still have 3 or 4 bantams I got from Rochester 6 years ago. They are still laying and invaluable as broody hens. They will just about try to hatch goose eggs - so determined!

We had Wyandottes and Light Brahmas from McMurrays that lasted about 5 years. The CWs were culled at that age because the rooster did not seem very productive and the egg quality was poor. The GLW hens were still going strong but the rooster we had died the first year. We bought a new and then culled the whole bunch at 5 years and kept the pullets which we have now. We couldn't find a White Wytandotte rooster and culled the pullets. The WW rooster was culled the first year because of a crossed beak. We sold within two years the SLWs for temperment reasons. The McMurray BLRWs were sold and we hatched some replacements from Pretty Feathers. They are doing well but we lost a black hen to an egg problem. We bought 5 Black Cochins from a well known source this summer and have lost all but 1 of the pullets. One pullet died from a broken leg and one was just found dead for unknown reasons in the run.

Strange that you should mention this ? I have noticed the same thing with Rochester"s birds ! I have four left of there RIR's and these are now three years old .We'll see what happens to them , the last 24 died off one at a time ?? Shame to see , but nothing you can do about it

Planned obsolescence? Maybe they find most people don't keep chickens more than a few years and those that do will have to buy more when they die?

I actually don't think they plan that, but it can't be bad for business as long as customers don't mind.

That just means that the modern chickens fit in with all the modern appliances, used to last 20 years, now you're lucky to see them get past 5 without trouble.

I really liked Rochester's Americanas. Were/ are a pretty bunch. "George Bush" must be 4 or 5 years old and still going strong. Had a couple of near misses when "Andrea" the Broad Breasted Bronze turkey hen took a dislike to him and nearly killed him. He got his spur caught in her saddle and it was a good thing I was nearby. Another time I found him hanging upside down by a spur caught in the fence.

Have you opened any of them up to see if you see anything out of the ordinary?

How many others do this? I did this year and was surprised by what I found. I still have to follow up before selling any more birds but if I didn't open up I would have no idea what happened.

Hopefully it's just that...that they "expired". Too bad though. I was just perusing my binder and was surprised how old some of my birds are, lol!

I haven't bothered opening them up. I don't see much point if they seem normal to begin with, and I've found them ? hours after they've died. A lot of cellular changes happen after death (lungs fill with fluid, tissue color changes, blood becomes darker, etc) and unless there was an obvious tumour, it wouldn't reveal too much. I have participated in a lot of necropsies at the vet clinic, most of which (when performed by vets) still leave cause unknown. If I was really concerned I'd send them to Vancouver, BUT, it's only hatchery birds, and only after their 3rd summer - winter seems to be too much. This past hen was a bit thin, other then that she was clean, shiney feathers, bright comb, just finished her moult a couple weeks prior, she wasn't egg bound or showing any obvious signs of anything.. They are fed 18% crumble, oyster shells, veggie scraps, hen scratch. There is 3 roosters to about 45 hens so they aren't harassed.

Just wondered if anyone else had noticed that their hatchery birds didn't last as long.