au natural

[digbychris]

Hi all,

I've recently started to have an interest in hatching and rebuilding an aging flock of australorps. Last summer, a couple of times I'd catch a hen sitting on eggs. One time I blocked her off in the coop with a nesting box, giving her food and water everyday, and waited.... Another time I removed her and the eggs to a separate coop, again giving her food and water, left her alone, etc. and waited...
Nothing ever came of either time. Its worth noting that these hens and the rooster were well over 3 years old at the time. I didn't candle the eggs or anything, thinking that the less I bothered the eggs and the hen the better. After a month and no hatching I tossed the eggs and let the hen rejoin the flock.
The previous summer I was surprised to find a hatchling in the barnyard where they free range. I'd have loved to have caught the momma and baby but there was no way I was coming near it. Eventually, of course, the chick disappeared. I assume the victim of a hawk or owl, the rooster didn't bother it. But, that was over a year ago.
What sort of info can I gather from this? Am I doing something wrong or not doing something? Can I assume my rooster is shooting blanks? Its rare I catch a hen on a nest, so Id like to act on it when I do.
If it matters, I have 16 hens or so, and now on the other side of 4 years old I get 5-7 eggs a day from them.
Thanks for any help and info!

 

[lilmillefleur]

If you catch a broody you don't want, I recommend a 'broody breaker'. You can look it up here on BYC.

 

[lazy gardener]

Are you checking your eggs for fertility? That would be my first step. See if your roo is getting the job done. Even if the eggs are fertile, they may not be viable due to older age of your flock. You could bring in hatching eggs from an other flock when you have a broody. You might need to resort to hatching in an incubator, AND/OR providing a predator proof enclosure for a broody and chicks until the chicks are of a good size to be less vulnerable to predation.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it was a combination of flock age and too many hens for a single rooster to cover effectively.
Do you have a way to split the flock up and keep the rooster with only about 8 hens?
Have you looked for the blastodisc/blastoderm to see if they're fertile?
Did you open the eggs you tossed to see if there was any development?
Breeder nutrition has a big impact on hatchability. You might try boosting it to enhance the nutrition in the eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Could you explain a bit what you mean by “Last summer, a couple of times I'd catch a hen sitting on eggs.” Do you never gather the eggs and just let them build up? Was it in a hidden nest? I know this is silly but I’m not sure you are talking about a hen that was broody and on the nest at night or you just caught a hen laying an egg. I’m asking how did you know that she was broody? How were you deciding which eggs she should sit on? If you could tell us a bit more about the circumstances and what you are doing it could help me out a bit.

You might look through this thread if you are not aware of how to check for the bull’s eye. Sometimes the spot is on the bottom of the egg when you crack it. I turn it very gently with a spoon to try to find it when it’s hidden like that. If you find that most of your eggs are fertile when you open them then most should be fertile when you set them.

Fertile Egg Photos

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

Just because the egg is fertile does not mean it is hatchable but fertility is an absolute requirement.

Younger roosters are usually better able to cover more hens than an older rooster. When a hen is laying she has a red comb and gives the rooster signs that she is laying. That makes them more likely to be mated. Your rooster isn’t that old but he is not likely to be as active as a younger one might be. With that small number of hens telling him which ones need to be mated as they are laying eggs I’d expect your fertility rate to be pretty good, but some roosters do fire blanks. As they get older some hens egg quality deteriorates. Age could certainly be a factor. But last year when they were three they really were not that old. Dad would often have a three year old rooster free ranging with a flock of 25 or so hens, practically all the eggs were fertile.

It’s possible it has something to do with the rooster. I’d think it is unlikely that it would be something that it would affect all the hens that are laying, even if it did affect some. It could be something to do with how you are storing the eggs or something about the brooding.

It sounds like last year a hen hid a nest on you and went broody and came off with one chick. Did you find that nest, how many unhatched eggs were in it? I’d love to know more about that if you know more. It’s rare that a hen hides a nest and only comes off with one chick, she should have more. I don’t like to draw conclusions from one incident but that bothers me a bit. There are rational reasons something like that could happen, especially in a one-off situation, but it may be a flag that something is wrong with the rooster.

 

[digbychris]

Could you explain a bit what you mean by “Last summer, a couple of times I'd catch a hen sitting on eggs.” Do you never gather the eggs and just let them build up? Was it in a hidden nest? I know this is silly but I’m not sure you are talking about a hen that was broody and on the nest at night or you just caught a hen laying an egg. I’m asking how did you know that she was broody? How were you deciding which eggs she should sit on? If you could tell us a bit more about the circumstances and what you are doing it could help me out a bit.

You might look through this thread if you are not aware of how to check for the bull’s eye. Sometimes the spot is on the bottom of the egg when you crack it. I turn it very gently with a spoon to try to find it when it’s hidden like that. If you find that most of your eggs are fertile when you open them then most should be fertile when you set them.

Fertile Egg Photos

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

Just because the egg is fertile does not mean it is hatchable but fertility is an absolute requirement.

Younger roosters are usually better able to cover more hens than an older rooster. When a hen is laying she has a red comb and gives the rooster signs that she is laying. That makes them more likely to be mated. Your rooster isn’t that old but he is not likely to be as active as a younger one might be. With that small number of hens telling him which ones need to be mated as they are laying eggs I’d expect your fertility rate to be pretty good, but some roosters do fire blanks. As they get older some hens egg quality deteriorates. Age could certainly be a factor. But last year when they were three they really were not that old. Dad would often have a three year old rooster free ranging with a flock of 25 or so hens, practically all the eggs were fertile.

It’s possible it has something to do with the rooster. I’d think it is unlikely that it would be something that it would affect all the hens that are laying, even if it did affect some. It could be something to do with how you are storing the eggs or something about the brooding.

It sounds like last year a hen hid a nest on you and went broody and came off with one chick. Did you find that nest, how many unhatched eggs were in it? I’d love to know more about that if you know more. It’s rare that a hen hides a nest and only comes off with one chick, she should have more. I don’t like to draw conclusions from one incident but that bothers me a bit. There are rational reasons something like that could happen, especially in a one-off situation, but it may be a flag that something is wrong with the rooster.

Thanks for all the info! I'll try to give you all the information I know. The times I say Id seen a hen being 'broody" I mean that she was sitting on more than one egg, if I remember right the last time it was 4 eggs, so obviously they were not all hers. So do I know that they were fertilized to begin with? No, I don't, but I'd think one or two were. By the time I noticed the chick, it was was several days old already and getting dark feathers. They were free ranging and momma did not come in to roost or bring the chick in for food. She chose natural cover/brush over the coop. I never did find a nest or any other eggs that time. Although, as you know, when hens free range they pick a place themselves. I've often stumbled across a nest of a dozen eggs in some strange place. I have often brought them all in to the coop/run and cooped them up so they get a sense of 'home' and sort of re-train them that this is a place to roost and nest. It was my understanding that if a hen was interested in sitting on/hatching eggs she would determine on her own how long to sit on them, etc, for temperature control and what not. So I was trying to be as natural/hands off as possible and just setting her up with a private place to do her thing with her own feed and water. As for diet they're fed standard laying rations, crumbles and whatever they scratch and forage in the pasture.

I typically gather eggs once a day, and if I ever see a hen sitting I try to leave it alone and watch to see if it goes back to it. If not, the egg(s) are gathered like usual the next day.

I have asked santa for an incubator and candle for Christmas. My hope is to hatch a few and replace my aging flock, and that is the reason for me asking the question and making this post. Up until a couple of years ago I owned a small café/coffeeshop and bought 18 straight run australorps (only one turned out to be a rooster) to help provide eggs, and bought the rest off another farmer. That has since closed and I no longer have a need for so many hens. I'm slowly putting a plucker together to cull off the older. I bought several australorp pullets over a month ago, as my girls had all but stopped laying. I bring the chicks in and BANG, they start laying again. I'm getting 5-7 eggs a day and I know the roosters doing his thing. BTW, the pullets I bought got big enough to escape their separate enclosure and got out in the pasture, got a bit feral and I couldn't get them in. Of the 6, I only have 2 remaining and they ended up being wyandottes.

So I guess I'll wait and see how things turn out with the incubator. It's another level for me in this hobby. I passed on an opportunity to bring in some RIR hens and a rooster, but I don't want 2 roosters. So I'm just getting advice from here on what more knowledgeable folks think I should do/what my next step should be. I'd hate to have to get rid of my old rooster, he's a big, beautiful guy. But, as I discussed in a separate post, I doubt 2 roosters would be a good idea.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My test to see if a hen is broody and worthy of eggs is that she has to stay on the nest two consecutive nights instead of sleeping in her normal place. One night is not enough, it has to be two consecutive nights. A few nights ago I had a hen on the nest at night. I took her out to check for eggs and she acted like a broody, fluffing up and making the right sounds. But she has not been on that nest at night since. She was not worthy of eggs.

When I see a hen going broody I collect all the eggs I want her to hatch and mark them so I can tell which eggs belong and start them all at the same time. Then every day after the others have laid I check under her to see if I need to remove any. You don't want new eggs to stay in there. If they start late they won't hatch before she abandons the nest and if she gets too many some can get pushed out, cool off, and die.