Hello! I have bred silkie chickens for a few years and this month decided to hatch my first batch of polish eggs. Eggs were shipped from a breeder in Florida (I’m in NY). Eggs began hatching yesterday morning and finished up overnight last night. I had 3 in the brooder last night and they seemed to be doing great and then 1 just laid down and died within minutes, right in front of my eyes. Today all chicks were in the brooder and appeared to all be behaving normal. The same thing happened again with 2 more chicks dying right in front of me. They fall over, close their eyes, and take their last breaths. All died within 24 hours of hatching. Prior to dying the were acting normal. I’ve never had this happen and I’ve hatched hundreds of Silkie chicks. Is there anything with the polish I should be aware of? Are they more fragile as hatchlings? Something genetic? I’m not used to chicks dying on my watch so this is really troubling me. I put electrolytes in water in the brooder, hatch went normal, even better then normal for shipped eggs. I just don’t get it. I move my chicks from incubator to brooder usually 8-10 hours after they hatch. (Just trying to give as much info as possible!, thanks in advance)
