Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

Its easy to have faith in the good times, but having faith when things are going all wrong is quite another matter. YOu've been keepin' the faith.....

Thanking God for blessings can only lead to more, I'm thinking! Congrats on getting to enjoy the fruits of your labors.....I've enjoyed hearing about all the ins and outs of your poultry business and I can't even imagine keeping up with it all!

Aly, got a question for you.....very few of my flock's eggs seem to be fertile. I have two roos, one old and one young, for 26 gals. I know they freerange and are harder to breed this way, but I see them getting tagged all the time!

My first broody only hatched 4 out of 8, the second 3 out of 9, the last one....none! All were duds!

Now I have another broody but I hesitate to bother if she will set an infertile batch of eggs. I have trouble candling these brown eggs and can't see a thing, try as I might. I can see the air cell size and that's about it. This last batch, I put all the ones in the nest with a good dime-sized air cell, which is about as big as mine get.

Tell me what I'm doing wrong here?
 
To be honest, Bee, I'm not sure you are doing anything wrong. I've read of recommendations of 1 roo per 12 hens, but I prefer a 1:6 ratio (1 roo to 6 hens) to ensure fertility.

How old is your old roo? He may no longer be fertile, and that could account for dud eggs.

What about your young roo? Is he an eager beaver and maybe missing the mark in his over zealous approach to tagging as many as he can???

Not that I don't believe you when you say your hens are being tagged, but maybe the boys aren't hitting the mark, or your old one may not be fertile if he's really old...and are you sure the young guy is old enough?
 
I have also heard that chickens that have had frost bite may have lessened fertility. I think it should only be a temporary state (stress related), but it is a suggestion.

I would try putting about 5 or 6 of your best hens in with each rooster for a bit. Each boy in his own little "walk" (That is the old term for small breeding run and why people refer to "cock of the walk") That way you could pencil label each boy's eggs and check for fertility problems with more specific results. They would only need to be penned for a short time until you collected enough eggs for a hatch.
 
FF, I'm not really set up for any separate penning right now....this coop and the yard are set up a little funny and don't allow for fencing right off the coop.

The old guy may be shooting blanks but the younger will be a year in July and seems to be doing the deed just fine. I guess I'll just let the broody lay her own clutch this time instead of loading her up and just see how nature does its thing. I bet it will turn out better if I don't mess with things. :P
 
You know, I've been having a hard time with fertility this year as well...but my roos did get frostbite, so that coul;d contribute. I had 3 hens sitting on 30 eggs and ended up with only 9 chicks...and a whoe bunch of smelly runny rotton eggs when I checked the ones that didn't hatch out. Very poor fertility. Not sure what the matter is here either...
 
Farmfresh said:
I have also heard that chickens that have had frost bite may have lessened fertility. I think it should only be a temporary state (stress related), but it is a suggestion.

I would try putting about 5 or 6 of your best hens in with each rooster for a bit. Each boy in his own little "walk" (That is the old term for small breeding run and why people refer to "cock of the walk") That way you could pencil label each boy's eggs and check for fertility problems with more specific results. They would only need to be penned for a short time until you collected enough eggs for a hatch.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea! I hadn't even thought of something like that.

I am pretty sure I read somewhere that frostbite roos are infertile until they are completely healed from the frostbite, or have their combs dubbed. I will have to see if I can find where I read that, because I don't want to be giving out misinformation.

Now my geese, they set their own nest and we are going to have to break it up, because as much as they were mating, there are NO eggs hatching, and it's been 30 days, but there is a horrible rotted smell coming from their shed....I'm kind of waiting until after we leave Meyers on Tuesday before I break up the nest, because if I can find a couple goslings there (they sell Embdens for pickup at Meyers) then I might pick up two and see if I can sneak them under Mama after dark like you would a chicken with chicks..... :hu

In other Farm News: My other buff doe had her kits last night/early this morning! She had five! 3 that are solid pink right now, and I suspect they will either grow white or buff hair, but I am not seeing anything suggesting the white more than buff, 1 pink with a grey head, and one grey and pink!

All of my Light Brahmas left the farm yesteray. :ya I have two Cochin Crosses to go to the auction tomorrow, and then I should have just my breeding stocks and the chicks coming up.

Out of the chicks coming up, I'll be choosing the ones I feel are the best ones for my breeding projects, and the rest of those will go to auction, too.

I still have my Welsummer/Blue/Black/Splash/Barred Rock crosses that I hatched on February 15. They are mostly blue with a few dark red feathers here and there. I think I ended up with 4 hens and 2 roos. I'll be breeding the hens back to my Welsummer roo to see what I get. Of the two roos, I will pick the one I feel is the best and the other one will be sold.
 
Oh I hope they have baby goslings for you. That way mommy and daddy goose can have some babies. :fl
 
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