Sick Chick's and egg questions

[New2chickensnky]

Hello. As my screen name states, I am new to chickens here . I have a few questions.. First , we had 2 chickens, a hen and a roo that just dropped dead for no reason. They were fine one hour , and dead the next. At first when it was just the hen , it did not seem strange to us because things happen, than , 4 days later , our roo was out in the pen doing great and when we went out to feed a hour or so later , he was laying in the middle on the ground dead. He had not been dead long as he was not stiff yet. The others in the pen look great , act great , and are still laying eggs everyday. Does anyone knowwhat this could have been? We had a bit of corn that went bad and we did feed them some before we knew it , but when they died , we went and looked at all the possiabilities, we are no longer feeding them that batch of corn. We also had them on vitiams from the hachery company, but have stopped that for the time being . Any and all information would be great..

Now my next question. We wanted to hatch some eggs out , and since the roo died, we were wondering how long does it actually take for an egg to be fertile. I understand there is a chance that not every egg will be fertile , but he died 6 days ago and we were wondering if the eggs we collect today will be ok? We have since replaced the roo , got a new one this past Friday, and was wondering how long it takes for them to make a fertile egg?? Sounds odd I know , but we know very little about chickens right now . In case you need to know , these are red star chickens. Thanks to each and evey one of you who try to help me... Thanks again , Robyn

 

[silkiechicken]

How old were your chickens? That can play a role. Was there no injury at all, anything around to spook them? Could have been the corn combo or long term effects of old feed? What are you feeding them? Just corn or free choice layer pellet? Do they free range, could these two have gotten into something bad? I really don't know what could have killed your birds. A necropsy may be able to get more info on it.

As for fertile eggs, the past roo would keep the girls fertilized for up to about 3 weeks tops. The new roo should get everyone fertilized in a few days if he's all about being a roo. I usually figure 3 weeks to rid of "old" rooster and about a week to make sure offspring will be from new rooster. It will be a mix if you set eggs you collect for the next two weeks. For good fertility, a roo hen ratio of 1:10 would be ideal.

Good luck

 

[New2chickensnky]

Thanks for your post.. It took me a while to figuare out how to find it to see if anyone answered. The roo was about 4 years old which we did not know till yesterday. We were told at first that he was a young roo and had plenty of spark left in him. We are thinking that age is what got him. There was no injury to him or the hen at all, that we know of . I thought at first that this pesky beagle that don't belong here may have got the hen because we had them out that morning to free range and I ran him off and left about a hour later and they were not ready to go back to the pen so I counted and was 1 less, we are not sure on her age.. I don 't think that there was anything they could have got into , we have kids so we are kid and chicken safe around here.. Layena(spelling?? ) is what we feed and we were giving vitiams from Murry McMurry called Avia Charge 2000 but I told the hubby not to give anymore tillw e could figuare this out. Thanks for the information you gave me./.



We have the eggs in an incubator , they should hatch out the 13th of March, and I was wondering if there was any special care I need to do for them? How do I insure they are warm enough , a draft from the wind, the sugar water they need, etc. I have read a bit in the hatchery book , but want to see if I can find out mroe before they arrive.. Thanks again , Robyn