I’ve hatched a lot of chicks the last couple of years. The percentage of fertile eggs is 90-100%, and I usually lose only a few chicks during incubation or hatching (and they tend to die very early or on day 20-21).
One of my hens, a lavender European araucana, has never laid eggs with viable chicks. The eggs are fertile, and I can see veins and movement at day 3 and 6, but the chicks are always dead when I candle the eggs at day 10-12. What are the most likely reasons?
The hen’s toes are crooked and she looks a bit scrawny (I guess it’s because her lavender genes?), and her eggs are a bit smaller than the viable eggs from her sister.
Could it be inbreeding? My roosters are ayam cemani and silkie, so they are not related, but I suspect the breeder I got her from may have line bred for some generations.
One of my hens, a lavender European araucana, has never laid eggs with viable chicks. The eggs are fertile, and I can see veins and movement at day 3 and 6, but the chicks are always dead when I candle the eggs at day 10-12. What are the most likely reasons?
The hen’s toes are crooked and she looks a bit scrawny (I guess it’s because her lavender genes?), and her eggs are a bit smaller than the viable eggs from her sister.
Could it be inbreeding? My roosters are ayam cemani and silkie, so they are not related, but I suspect the breeder I got her from may have line bred for some generations.
