inbred ? (graphic photo attached)

[Wisher1000]

I'm really glad the parents were not your chickens! It could have been a problem encountered in shipping. I would def notify the seller and see if there are any other people who had problems (if they will tell you.) They may "make it right," and they may not. At any rate, I would not buy from them again.

 

[EmAbTo48]

I haven't read everyone's comments just thought I would share a quick story.

When I was a child my parents sold eggs for incubating- mainly to our local schools for science classes and what not. We had a pair of RIR's my mom named Lola and Otis (her favorite to chickens t) that most of the eggs came from. My mom was so happy to be giving the eggs to teach kids how to hatch, and what not (she was a big time naturalist hehe) Well one year out of all the batches she sold to our local schools (4) all but one batch made it and the rest were seriously deformed it was horrible. I remember my mom getting phone calls and even one of the teachers she was friends with brought one of the dead chicks to our house and it had 3 eyes, big red bumps all over it was HORRIBLE! My mom felt terrible since the kids were so excited to watch these babies hatch

She gave all the schools more eggs from our Buffs and they hatched wonderfully for the classes. My moms pair of RIR's eggs were never hatched again, we ate the eggs just fine, but she refused to allow them to be hatched, because she knew something was wrong genetically with one of the parents. Our Lola, and Otis were the sweetest birds we had, they acted normal, looked normal but obviously either the hen or roo or both had some genes that were causing problems.

So I truly doubt this is your incubator or inbreeding at all ... BUT its more likely their are genetic deformities by either the Mom or Dad.

We never tested to see what would happen if we allowed the Otis to mate with another hen or Lola another roo and hatch out the chicks to see which one was causing issues, my mom was pretty disgusted by the chicks and felt terrible for them. These 2 became her house birds and just pets and lived out there life's being spoiled rotten haha! I am glad she didn't just kill them because still today none of my birds are as friendly as Lola and Otis were.

Honestly if I was you I would recontact the person you bought the eggs off ebay and let them know what has happened send the pictures to them. If I was the seller I would want to know this happened. Most people on ebay that are selling eggs want to be known as a good source to buy from not one that is causing genetic issues.

 

[KWAK]

Could you post a pic of the live deformed chick? I have no idea what happened but just want to see what it looks like. sorry about the chicks though