If it's just one or two babies, it was probably just a bad egg like described before or, for whatever reason, the baby simply was weak in general. If you bred your females out to a wild-caught male, I sincerely doubt you'd have any genetic issues. What you described is pretty much the best genetic outcross you can get, so the birds are probably genetically robust. Not all babies are created equal, and social situations, aka "pecking orders", can affect your females' behavior. If there are dominant birds in your flock, there's a possibility that although you thought adequate food was being provided, that one of your submissive females weren't getting the nutrition they needed to make each egg strong. I don't suppose you know if the babies that died were one of the later eggs laid? Females often put most of their energy into the first few eggs they lay, anything that survives after that is a bonus in nature but is by no means a guaranteed success story.
|