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Silvers infertility dilemma...

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Fyremare:
My Silvers are 13 months old, the hens never laid last year. At least one began laying in Feb, and the other not until March sometime. I penned the Silver roo March 2nd in a 10x20 pen, with his two Silver hens and added 4 other hens in hopes that extra girls would spare anyone being featherless. That is working, my puzzle is this... There is some fertility with this rooster with at least one if not both blue hens. I am not getting much fertility with the Speckled Sussex but she is a young hen. The two Silver hens have yet to produce a chick. I am not incubating eggs from the SLWyandotte.
Eggs have been incubated by others for me and are using cheap still air styro bators. So at first I thought it was the incubation. But even with these bators some of the Blue Silvers are hatching. Not at a great rate, but some are hatching.
I was lent a Hovabator and just candled at day 11. Eggs from the bator donator are developing W/BW Ams), my Silvers and Blues are not...
I have a Brinsea Mini Advance that i fired up a couple days ago and am giving that a go.

The weather has sucked, been cold and a really slow spring here in Vermont. I usually collect eggs three times a day, have been keeping them around the 60 degree mark, tilting the eggs twice a day, feeding layer pellet with extra protein treats like sunflower seeds, meal worms, sometimes cat food, occasional scrambled eggs with coconut oil, and kelp. Apple cider vinegar with the mother in it in the water at a rate of 1-2 Tablespoons to a gallon, adding vitamin and electrolytes in water.

Are Silvers really this slow to develop? One is definitely still laying a pullet egg. I have not incubated very many of hers. The rooster is mounting and is not rough on the girls. He is attentive and does his job well.

I am so discouraged that I am considering un-penning them so they can free range again. They all pace the cage. I have eggs in three different bators at the moment. If nothing comes of these hatches are there any suggestions for what I can change? Or do I need to let them age a bit more?

I noticed in another post on infertility that some of you feed a 20% game bird feed or grower? Do you provide crushed shell for calcium since it's not a layer ration? I use Durvet vitamins and electrolytes because it's what is available locally. I use it at half strength because it seems to cause runny poops if full strength. I noticed in the other forum some of you use a supplement I didn't recognize.

Any help is appreciated and am hoping especially breeders of Silvers will share your knowledge and experience with me. THANK YOU!!!

Chris K

greeneggsandham:
I don't have any experience with silvers, but yes, supplement with oyster shell when using grower feed. 
Sometimes hens just don't like the rooster they are with and will not let them breed them.  I had one this year that would not allow herself to be bred(her eggs were candling clear) so I put her with another more aggressive cockeral and finally did get her bred.  That may or may not be your problem.
 I also use supplements in the water but I would not do it daily.  Maybe once a week.  I think you could be over dosing them with the sodium if you give it to them every day.   I also don't know what effect acv would have on the hens if used daily.
I have also read that sometimes there is a little too much fluff around the vents and if you are having trouble with fertility, you could try trimming the feathers around the vent of both the hen and rooster.
That's all I can suggest.

Fyremare:
Thanks Sharon,
They have been penned for two months, I let them out to free range today. They were pretty happy! Had to figure out how to keep the other roosters separated from the breeders. Hopefully that continues to work out.

I did notice today when I checked fertility that the free rangers had a much better color egg. So am hoping letting them out to free range a bit will help them. They may just need time to mature also. Will consider dropping the supplement down and the ACV also.

Next trip to the feed store I will get a higher protein feed also... Gotta keep trying!

Jean:
Some birds just don't click together. 

Did these birds come from the same hatch and if so, how long were they bred together?  There is the possibility of being too closely related.

See if you can find a different source for a cockerel.

Russ:
I have a 20% layer custom milled at my local co-op for roughly $12.50 a 50 lb bag (I buy 1/2 ton at a time) I also include vitamin supplement in the water twice a week. The only time I have had fertility issues is when the cock had a low sperm count. This happened to me 3 years ago when a hawk took my best cock. Then my second best ended up being a dud. Out of 150 or so eggs I was lucky to get 20  or so to hatch, talk about discouraging. I now never let my breeders free range, keep there pens covered with 2x4 welded wire and more importantly keep several cockerels for each variety every year just in case. At 13 months they should definitely be mature enough to breed. Beside your cock having low sperm count you might want to check for parasites, internal and external.

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