Fertility

I have been following the conversations, questions, and answers on several poultry web sites almost daily for the last month. I have come to realize that there are a lot of people new to the poultry fancy that need help and there are a lot of very experienced and knowledgeable people who are very willing and able to help the beginners on a daily basis. I see questions like, "do you have to have a rooster in with a hen for the hen to lay eggs." "My pet chicken is losing all of its feathers, what do I do." Now these are questions that many of us know the answers to without blinking an eye, but they continue to be asked on the Internet daily.

I remember when I got started. I'll only share one of my many mistakes, but it should be enough to show just how much I didn't know. I had purchased a Barred Rock Bantam male from a friend that was kind of a mentor and I intended to show the bird. He mentioned to me that the bird was a cockerel. So when I sent in my entry form for the show I entered him as a cockerel. The next year when the show came around again I entered him as a cockerel. When the judging was done, and my male hadn't placed very well, I asked the judge to give me some pointers on the bird. The first thing he said was,

"this bird has pretty long spurs to be a cockerel." I bit the bullet and said, "what is a cockerel." He went ahead, without laughing in my face, and explained the difference between a cockerel and a cock, and a pullet and a hen. I have tried to continue to ask questions. It’s a lot better than learning at the end of a breeding season what a wry tail is after you have used a male with one as your main breeder all year and you can spot his offspring from across the yard.

I have said what I have said so far to make a point. One of the ways that we keep our hobby going is by new blood, or should I say, new 'chicken fever'. We should do all we can to help everyone we can to attain the same knowledge level that we have attained and hopefully surpass us, beating the pants off of us in the show room.

<Referring to Poultry Press>This is why I would like to see more articles in this wonderful publication from more people, sharing their experiences with the poultry fancy. And I hear those excuses, "I can't write." Writing is the same as talking to someone. You just put your words on paper as you speak them instead of just speaking them. Writing is a conversation with other people through the written word. If I were to sit down with many of you in the show room, at the lunch stand, and ask you how you mate your breeders, you would write an article as you tell me why you mate you put the birds together that you do. This male has a small comb, but he has good color, so I mated him with a female that has a larger comb, but poor color. That isn't any different than writing an article.

And if you don't think you can really write send me what you write and I will ghost write an article for you. I really want to see the wealth of information about the many breeds and many varieties out there, put down on paper for all to profit from. I'm serious!

Now what I wanted to cover for this month's article, fertility.There are many reasons why we get infertile eggs. They range from the feed we provide to our bird to the feathers around the vent. Some of us will be putting our breeding pens together pretty soon to get birds out early this year. We are looking ahead to the APA-ABA Nationals at Columbus next fall, so its not too early to talk about fertility. Light is our first issue. Poultry need about 14 hours of light a day to produce eggs. Light is the primary factor to egg production. In commercial poultry farms the time that lights are on is gradually raised to reach the 14-hour mark. Starting out with an hour more than natural light provides, and increasing every week until you reach the 14 hour mark. Remember, natural light doesn't come on suddenly and go off suddenly. Get a good timer that has a dimmer cycle. Light stimulates egg production and stimulates fertility in males. You can have egg production without fertility because you have not properly stimulated the males. Some old cocks may just not be fertile early. There are several things you can do to secure fertility in your males. Until you plan to actually start breeding for fertile eggs, keep the males out of the breeding pens. Keep the males close enough to the females so they can see them. I did an experiment this fall.

I had broken my matings up so the females could molt in peace. Two of my best females began to lay again so I put a male in with them that had been kept by himself for a month or more. I ended up with 12 fertile eggs out of 12 eggs set. That never happened to me before with Japanese Bantams. Introduce the male to the females, "Harriet, this is Bruce, Bruce this is Harriet." Then start collecting eggs. Do a test setting, realizing that the first eggs may not be fertile.

Keep in mind that you should have been preparing all of your breeders several months in advance for the breeding pens. You would do this much like you would condition your birds for a show, only here we would be focusing on feed and supplements. At least a month before you plan to start breeding (this should really be a year round feeding plan), put your males and females on a breeder or at least laying ration. Give them supplements like lettuce and shredded carrots. At least twice a week sprinkle some Red Cell or wheat germ oil over their feed. I mix Red Cell with scratch and feed it in the evening before the birds go to roost. You can also get supplements for the water that contain vitamins and electrolytes. Another trick is weekly empty out all of your feeders into a pail. What you will have is what you would think is dust, but it is really healthy feed. Mix it with warm water and feed in over fresh feed. The birds will love it, and you are conserving feed. With this kind of preparation made you have a lot better chance of fertility when you actually put the birds together.

Maybe we will continue this theme next month. This article is getting a little bit long. Please contact me. -Terry Wible