Identifying age of adult chickens

[aart]

The biggest question was simply, should we keep these birds and try again next year? And I think the answer is yes, address the known issues, try again next year, and see how that goes before blaming the parent stock.

Sounds logical to me!
The quickest test may be for you to hatch some of her eggs.
Checking for fertility by looking at yolks when making breakfast might be a good first step. Would rule out her cockbird not getting the job done.

 

[BlueShadow]

Sounds logical to me!
The quickest test may be for you to hatch some of her eggs.
Checking for fertility by looking at yolks when making breakfast might be a good first step. Would rule out her cockbird not getting the job done.

Not a bad idea.

We know that fertility has dropped a lot with the summer heat. But she loses a good portion of the fertile eggs also, that's where the concerns come in. Most recently, most of the chicks that hatch have unabsorbed yolk sacs. That's why we are suspicious of diet issues.

 

[aart]

Most recently, most of the chicks that hatch have unabsorbed yolk sacs.

Unabsorbed or external(abdomen not closed)?
I'm guessing the latter.
Not sure what would cause that....parental health or an incubation issue.
Might be able to search for that here on BYC.....
...several very good incubation folks, I am not one of them

 

[BlueShadow]

Unabsorbed or external(abdomen not closed)?
I'm guessing the latter.
Not sure what would cause that....parental health or an incubation issue.
Might be able to search for that here on BYC.....
...several very good incubation folks, I am not one of them

External.

Search didn't really help (didn't find much that was relevant) but I asked and got a wide variety of answers, some of which applied to the situation, some of which didn't, telling me that no one really knows why 6 out of 7 chicks from 2 different hatchings had external yolk sacs. (and the one that was normal was from my flock). We will address the known problems and go from there.

 

[aart]

Yeah, there isn't always a definitive answer...even from the most experienced.
Best of luck to ya!