The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching

Infertility question

(1/4) > >>

Sharon Yorks:
I have one particular hen whose eggs are never fertile. I first thought that she was denying the cockerel access, but in the last couple of weeks I\'ve seen that isn\'t the problem. None of her eggs show anything when candled, nor have anything in them if left the full 21 days. She is an F1, so too much line breeding is not the problem and her two hatch mates aren\'t having any trouble what so ever. All three are laying 5 eggs a week, have not been sick, nor have been under any stress at all.

Are some hens just like that, like women who can\'t have babies? Any thoughts on anything I could try? I don\'t want to keep wasting good eggs I could be eating, but I\'d really like to have some chicks out of her, so I can\'t help wanting to put them in my incubator.

Sharon

Mike Gilbert:
Sharon, in my experience infertility in hens is fairly common in this breed.   It seems to occur with some of the very best layers.   I raise mostly bantams, so really cannot say much about the large fowl.  My large brown reds have been really good for fertility.  

bryngyld:
Someone once told me to trim the feathers around the vent - that sometimes the feathers are just too thick and fluffy.

jeeperspeepers-r4us:
I solved that problem by triming both hen & rooster.

Mike Gilbert:
If excess fluff is the problem, they are perhaps being bred with too much loose feathering.  Ameraucana feathering should be more on the order of Plymouth Rocks, not Cochins or Orpingtons.   Medium is the best word for almost any attribute you can think of.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page