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Post by featherfoot on Jun 8, 2014 20:01:23 GMT 8
It's unlikely the fertility will be much good this time of year, best wait a couple of months.
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Breeding
Jun 8, 2014 22:42:13 GMT 8
via mobile
Post by chooky on Jun 8, 2014 22:42:13 GMT 8
Never had fertility issues with roosters this time of the year before. I wonder if the lack of competition has anything role. There is only one rooster with 4 girls.
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Post by cannakid on Jun 9, 2014 9:47:18 GMT 8
is he a short legged one ? he might not be reaching properly , those that are getting eggs from me are around 50% fertility although the very first lot only 1 hatched. I have some indian game X favorelle that I am looking forward to tasting as all the pure Indians died in the summer heat.
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Post by madison on Jun 9, 2014 13:33:13 GMT 8
I had 2 cross bred and 2 Australorp eggs under a broody and 3 weeks ago she hatched all 4 and they're still going strong
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Post by chooky on Jun 9, 2014 15:19:39 GMT 8
The few eggs in the incubator are at day 14 today. I bought a cheapy incubator from ebay, mainly for the auto turner. It is struggling to maintain the temp. My homemade one never had any issues with keeping the temp. I have had to recalibrate the temp 4 times already. I don't have much confidence of getting any chicks. I started with 2 dozen, only 8 left. Even the eight are most lightly from the NH cockerels, not the IG.
The IG is not particularly short legged. I have not seen it mount any of the girls. Not even try. He crows a lot but no action.
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Post by chooky on Jun 9, 2014 15:21:19 GMT 8
Madison, I prefer using broodies but have none at the moment. I find they do a much better job at raising healthy chicks. Never lost a chick to cocci when broody raised.
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Post by cannakid on Jun 9, 2014 15:45:30 GMT 8
I have got 3 broodies 2 australorps and a crossbred hen in the sin bin at the moment and gave away the remaining pekin hens 1 of which was broody too.
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Post by chooky on Jun 9, 2014 16:53:29 GMT 8
CK,
You should not let the broodies go to waste, stick a few eggs under them.
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Post by chooky on Jun 17, 2014 11:35:08 GMT 8
Well my experimental batch with the new incubator finally hatched. 9 out of 11 eggs. Not bad, I thought. The temp was up and down the whole time. I had to help 3 chicks out. They were stuck in the same position after pipping for more than a day and they were all covered with this thick slime, almost like jam, and they really stink. When they are out of the shell, they were all exhausted. Took a long time to recover and fluff up even after I wiped them dry with a paper towel because of the slime. Any ideas of the cause of this slime? Humidity too high? I didn't measure the humidity this time but it has been rather wet outside.
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Post by cannakid on Jun 17, 2014 13:35:06 GMT 8
Does sound like it was too high normally you get stuck sticky chicks than are on the larger side or they pip then die. Not to bad tho 9 out were they before you had a rooster cull? I saw some chicks from where I have been selling eggs the marans are very fertile and a good balance of females to males . I might stick two dozen in on Friday . Oh apparently the blue barnevelders I have been working on are in demand from those that saw my cull pullets.
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Post by chooky on Jun 17, 2014 15:17:44 GMT 8
The eggs were from 1 week after the rooster cull. They are definitely still NH cross chicks. I wasn't expecting that. So you'll need at least 2 weeks to clear out the semen from the rooster. I have another 4 eggs in the incubator, collected 3 weeks after the cull. Will be interesting to see these are IG cross chicks.
Blue barnies? I have never seen these. Only the gold laced and silver laced.
What breeds are you breeding this year?
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Post by cannakid on Jun 17, 2014 16:27:40 GMT 8
Well at the moment just the marans Australorps Ancona and a small pen of RIR are penned need to shift and build but still need to juggle farm work first . I got to make room for the barnevelder silver campine New Hampshire brown leghorn Plymouth Rock blue favorelle and maybe GLW if time. Hopefully I will get some eggs from Gero for the Andalusian and white leghorn.
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Post by chooky on Jun 18, 2014 13:39:44 GMT 8
That is a long list of breeds. Are they earmarked for this year's shows?
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Post by cannakid on Jun 18, 2014 15:46:27 GMT 8
I might put a couple in the local show I have a very good RIR male and a good black Australorp and the new Hampshire girls are OK .
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Post by chooky on Jun 18, 2014 16:46:24 GMT 8
The RIR from your eggs look good but the lacing of the GLW is lacking. May be she needs time to improve.
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