Ameraucana chicks have problems....Is this normal?

[fowlwoman1]

I've been incubating and hatching my Ameraucana eggs for the last few months, and it seems like about 1/3 of the chicks that hatch from green eggs have problems. leg, toe, eating issues and just death in the shell before hatching and immediately after hatching, etc. I was noticing on the special needs chicks thread, there were a few ameraucanas, so I was thinking that maybe that's just how the breed is. I had been considering buying different breeding stock to see if it is my hens' genes causing the problem. the papa roos of these babies aren't ameraucana. the mamas were probably from ideal hatchery.

 

[speckledhen]

If they were from Ideal, you have Easter Eggers, a crossbred bird. Since they are not purebreds, anything could happen. It's hard to pin it down because of that, to give a rule of thumb. True Ameraucanas are extremely fertile and hatch easily, in my personal experience. In fact, they ship much better than my Blue Orp eggs, too.

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
Sounds more like an incubation problem to me than a genetic issue.

 

[coffeemama]

pips&peeps :

Sounds more like an incubation problem to me than a genetic issue.

I agree-have you only been incubating the EEs, or have you ha other breeds in with them as well?​

 

[fowlwoman1]

I have been hatching other mixes as well.

 

[WindyLookout]

I've seen the same issue with my ameraucana eggs I had shipped. I'm on day 24 only 10 out of 40 chicks out. I had to through out 6 eggs cus the development stopped early. Only a few a day hatched. Out of the 10 hatched so far one died from flipping on it's back. Another keeps flipping on it's back but not dead yet. Another has a week leg and keeps hopping around but at least moving. And a 4th chicks seems like it had some circulation cut off in one leg. I know my incubators are working fine as the previous batch of chicks I hatched out before were barnyard mixes and I got 75 % hatch rate and only 1 unexplained death 1 splayed leg and 1 hernia...out of 42 eggs. Also out of my barnyard mixes I've notice that my eggs that came from my own adult ameraucana hens had the best hatch rate of all. Almost guaranteed hatch in those. I don't think I'll be buying from that seller again. Money down the drain let's say.