The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: deepinthewoods on August 11, 2011, 08:14:13 pm

Title: blank firing cockerel
Post by: deepinthewoods on August 11, 2011, 08:14:13 pm

ive a cuckoo maran cockerel whos brilliant in every way, looks after his girls, keeps squabbling down to a minimum, is fine with new introductions and isnt at all aggresive to me, but, ive only had 2 fertilised eggs out of about 60.
what can i do to improve his success rate, if anything, i cant bring myself to cull him, hes too handsome, hes about a year old, could his fertility improve with time?
ive a hen whos just gone broody and i know shes sitting on unviable eggs, im gonna replace the eggs with fertilised ones, but im not sure what to do about him, ive got some male chicks im rearing for meat, should i keep one to replace him or are his other qualities worth keeping him for?

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: little blue on August 11, 2011, 08:57:12 pm

how many hens does he have?
You could try introducing another cockerel to, ahem, share the load (!) then you can keep the pretty boy with less concern about fertile eggs, as the other could well be doing a good job
:D

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: deepinthewoods on August 11, 2011, 09:00:02 pm

hes only got 5 at the mo, but another 5 nearly ready to go in, could he have too few?

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: Bioman on August 11, 2011, 09:26:22 pm

It is mid-august and its damn hot; chickens do not like to do the dirty in heat! So no his fertility is probably brilliant, he's just suffering from heat. My cockerel is exactly the same, he just can't be bothered! Dont cull him wait till next year and start incubating eggs late March/ April and then try.

Wait till next year!

Dont worry!

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: little blue on August 11, 2011, 09:28:57 pm

certainly when there's 10 he will struggle to "cover" them all
... perfect excuse to get another (proven if you can) cockerel, to help the pretty fella out :D

It is getting a bit late in the year - think of spring chicks!

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: deepinthewoods on August 11, 2011, 10:01:30 pm

so i should probably dissuade the broody one then? thanks for your help.

Title: Re: blank firing cockerel
Post by: jaykay on August 11, 2011, 10:25:59 pm

I like my chicks to be 6 months old before winter really kicks in (Nov) so don't hatch after May. Depends on your altitude and latitude I suppose  :)

Would second the fact that the cockerels can't be bothered in the heat (well, it's a relative term  :D) my big cockerels are strutting half-heartedly, just enough to keep the youngsters in line, and mainly leaving the girls in peace  :)