Death of a hen or cock while breeding and rearing young

[frankm]

Hi

I came home yesterday to find one of my breeding cocks dead. He was perfectly healthy yesterday morning. No blood anywhere. His vent was clean as well. He was very busy feeding his two brats.
The two chicks he was feeding are about 4 weeks old and have both been in and out of the box earlierthis week. Hen tends to still retreat to the box and when out seems a bit listless. The chicks have had  a small sprig of millet added to their nest boxeverday since they were 3 1/2 weeks old. The spray millet is usually stripped bare by eithe chicks or mama.

Question Should I just leave them with her (she looks like she is ready to lay an egg - tail bobbing a lot) and hope for the best ? Will she feed them or teach them to eat (usually his job) ? There is lots of seed, water and spray millet on the breeding cage floor.
Should I take them and perhaps other almost weaned chicks them from another nest, put them all in a bay cage with an older male in the hope that he will teach them or they will learn to eat together ?
I have soaked seed that I was going to wash and offer to them when I get home tonight.

Your advice would be appreciated.....
Thanks
Frank
Ottawa Canada

[nat]

I had this happen once where the male had a heart attack during feeding chicks. The hen went very gloomy for a couple of days and didn't feed her young but resumed feeding afterwards. The chicks were a similar age to yours.
The chicks tend to feed each other if given millet spray in the box and you could also add a few seeds into the box as well.
Also if they are leaving the box you can feed sweetcorn nuggets mixed with eggfood and some seeds to them on a shallow bowl on the floor as no dehusking involved :-) You can also buy millet seed already dehusked from most superstores.
One thing to watch out for is dehydration if the hen doesn't feed them for a bit. You might need to dunk their beaks in to let them know where the water is. You may have to take them out of the nestbox and pop them on the floor if they are not coming out willingly to eat and drink.
I think they are a bit young to risk with another cock yet and as long as they are supplied with easy to eat food and given access to it they should be ok with the hen.
Best of luck :-)