Hello, Newbie here! Been raising chicks/chickens for about 1.5 years and about 2 weeks ago we found 1 dead in the run. My husband said its neck appeared broken and I read that sometimes they can get spooked and fly around into the walls. Has anyone else had this happen? Second, we have 4 leghorn hens but I am suspicious of 1 of them. It's comb is much larger and flips to the side and its wattles are longer than the rest. I wasn't sure if perhaps she was a rooster? Any other rooster characteristics I should look for? I cracked an egg this morning and it had blood inside, more than I have seen and wondered if my suspicions were correct and it was a baby chick starting?? Thanks for you help and advice!!
Yes, they can break their neck that way, sadly. A rooster will develop special long, thinner feathers from around his "shoulders" and in his tail They are called hackle and saddle feathers. They generally have a more upright stance and thicker legs. They often feather in more slowly than the pullets. There are certainly other differences. But there can be a lot of variation in individuals of the same sex. If it is the same age as the others and they are laying, you may find it's just a female with a large comb and wattles. When I had leghorns, only one had a comb large enough to fall to the side -- it was definitely a she. No, the blood has nothing to do with being fertile. It's a "hiccup" in the egg laying process, something you shouldn't see very often, but we've probably all seen it occasionally. The way to tell whether an egg is fertile is by a small white dot on the yolk. A solid dot is infertile, a white ring is fertile. It's not the easiest thing to see. Here are some great pics to show you what to look for: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures/0_20
