Whats going wrong?

[roitelet]

Last year I gave a Cock to a friend in exchange for eggs for hatching. So far from 18 eggs we only have had 3 hatch all the others were infertile.

The cock is running with 7 hens which are of unknown breed. The eggs were fresh so there should be no problem there. Is the cock duff or could it be the hens which came from a farm and are reared for egg production and in bred. His hens have shown no sigh of going broody.

Any ideas anyone?

[RichmondHens]

Even if he's managed to father just three then he's not infertile. There are all sorts of reasons why eggs don't hatch and it's impossible to say for sure what the exact reason is in every case. Sometimes you can pin it on the hen not sitting tightly enough or incubator blips, all sorts of things really. General health of parent stock is important and as I'm sure you know, any little disturbance to the egg prior to setting can have an effect, even if it is just a short car journey. I presume you hatched them in an incubator as 18 eggs is rather too many to give to a hen. Some people say don't try to hatch really fresh eggs, ie ones laid that day, they should normally have a period of about day to sit and settle, but I have hatched very fresh eggs before now with no problems.

I think the only answer is to try again. By now fertility levels will be at their peak and so, assuming he is actually treading all 7 hens (sometimes they only tread their favourites - you can usually tell the ones as they lose their back feathers rather quickly - so obviously only these ones will be laying fertile eggs) then set another batch and see what happens.

Hope you have better luck next time.

[roitelet]

Thanks I will have another go.

They were 'hatched' under 3 different broodys so when I get another I will put another 6 day old eggs under her. I am just a bit dubious about the health of the hens as my friend has just lost 2. Don't quite know why but he did say that they were bloated and sick. He is not very happy with them although they do lay well and is talking about getting some different ones.

[RichmondHens]

Hmm, it does rather sound then as if the hens' health is questionable. A sick hen will not be producing hatching quality eggs and should not be bred from. I would be inclined to wait until he has replaced his hens with something healthier and then try again.

I presume he is keeping them in reasonable conditions and they are not falling sick due to poor husbandry? It's very easy to blame the hens themselves but if the problem is one of chicken sick land (overused and parasite ridden) then just replacing with new stock will not solve the problem - the new hens will eventually fall sick too.

[roitelet]

He is wondering that too. The hens are not on chicken sick land and are well looked after. I just wanted to get some new blood into the flock so think I will look somewhere else for eggs to hatch.