The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching
Artificial light and male fertility
Don:
The "game bird" folks add lots of extra treats to help their males for breeding, extra hormone tablets, cod liver oil and cock booster feeds supposedly to help them stay extra active for breeding. The old folks (older than me) will tell you to add red pepper to the feed, add apple vinegar or oak leaf tannins to the water to help the males. All this together and a little time will usually make things happen. But I've often thought that the time was more important, and with time practice. So if you can keep the extra males in with hens (even if just layer hens) it will keep them in practice. They will fight more but they will be ready when you want them to visit the breeding pens.
I once had a LF pullet who had sores on her back from the males feet/spurs. I kept her separate and allowed her visits for a couple of hours per week. They were already acquainted so I hatched her eggs most of the season. You can actually use your show birds as breeders with a similar arrangement.
Schroeder:
As it turns out, 4 of the 18 were fertile, which I confirmed via candling at 8 days. Three of the four hatched. I gasped a bit when I first saw them, not remembering their legs start out yellow. I have another 18 eggs ready to go in the bator tomorrow (I need a bigger incubator. My Brinsea can only handle 18 at a time, and my Little Giant is very unreliable.)
The cockerel has been with the 3 hens 24/7 for a couple of weeks now. I've observed him regularly taking care of business, so I am confident of fertility this time around.
(For those of you who haven't yet fired up your incubators, I apologize for the picture. Don't hurt yourself running to get yours out of the closet!) ;)
Duane
Mike Gilbert:
Well, that is a start Duane. I candled the eggs I set on January 1st a second time yesterday. Taking into account both candlings, the Ameraucanas were 100% fertile, and the Chanteclers 87.5% fertile. For the second batch set January 8th and candled one time, the Ameraucana eggs are at 72.2% fertile and the Chanteclers 94.4%. The decline in Ameraucana fertility is attributable to one bantam pullet that started laying - I don't think she and the rooster like each other very well, as none of her eggs were good. I plan to set another 90-or-so eggs tonight. My breeders get nothing but game bird breeder pellets and free choice grit and oyster shell. They also get a vitamin & electrolyte supplement in their drinking water about three times per week. When the weather warms up the latter will be discontinued. Temp inside the coop gets below freezing sometimes, so I collect eggs fairly often.
Tailfeathers:
I am soooooooooo jealous!!
I've had 9 W & BW hens in a pen for months and I've not gotten a single egg from them yet. I've got two gals in the upper coop with a bunch of other birds (I hadn't planned on breeding these two) and they are giving me about 3 eggs a piece per week. I've got a 75 watt bulb shining on the pen from about 20-25 feet away and am guessing it's not giving the hens enough light. So I'll try to figure something out there because I am REALLY wanting to get the incubator going!
On the subject of supplemental light, I've often read that 14 hours is what's needed as well. I have my lights come on about 0200-0300 in the morning. I use those cheap $6 Timers from Wal-Mart and the lights go off about 0800 or so. So I keep my birds on 15 hours of light.
Having said that, before I bought the timers, the lights were on 24/7. I personally don't believe it hurts the birds at all. Ever seen a bird in the middle of summer on the roost or out in the yard with its head tucked under its wing? When they want to nap, they will.
So anyways, how many others with W & BW's have noticed that their birds don't produce will well? Four to six months without any eggs is just not gonna cut it with me. I know I had some productivity problems in the past and I thought it was getting better but this is ridiculous. I haven't gotten an egg from these gals since they started to molt. If it's not the light issue, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
God Bless,
Mike Gilbert:
If they are getting enough light, all I can suggest is make sure they are getting a proper, balanced laying ration, make sure they are free of internal and external parasites, and make sure they have a clean pen. Fresh shavings do make a difference. If after doing all this you still don't get eggs, maybe try switching them to a different clean pen. Maybe the one where you are now getting eggs? I'm not sure that will make a difference, but you never know.
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