That is terrible news. A similar thing happened to me years ago. I had bought a trio of very expensive birds an hatched 13 chicks. The chicks were over half grown when I went out one morning and all 16 were dead. It's heart breaking and so frustrating!
I sympathize with the difficulty getting good pictures. I don't make pets of my birds so generally they just ignore me when I'm in the chicken yard. However, when I have a phone or camera in hand they go wild! These pictures are much better than any I'm able to get.
THANKS FOR THE SUGGESTION! I've seen several comments praising the Nurture Right 360. Due to this I did a bit of research and that's the one I intend to purchase.
Congratulations on the good hatch. My last hatch was my worst yet. I got 17 chicks out of 36 eggs. The majority of the non-hatches were fully developed. A few pipped but died. The others just died. I won't incubate again until I have a reliable incubator. However, the good news is I did get 17...
Great pictures. Good looking chicks. I have 11 survivors from my last hatch. There are currently 36 eggs in my incubator which were set 1 week ago. I'm hopeful of a good hatch as the incubator has kept a much more stable temp and humidity this time around.
These are descendants, a few generations removed from the first rooster. This is after I added buff orpington. I am currently breeding him to a flock of 4 hens (all look like the hen with him). My first hatch, from these was 13 babies, all with the barred feather pattern.
To be honest I wouldn't have either if I could have found a breed that suited me. The project has been a lot of work and a not inconsiderable amount of frustration. I call them "Spangled Sardonyx". I haven't taken any recent pictures but I'll get some and post them.
Have any of you attempted to develop your own breed of chickens? My family had chickens when I was a child. I've had chickens for 20+ years. My search for the ideal dual purpose bird failed. Different ones I've tried include, but not limited to, games, barred rock, orpington, blue andalusian...