Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[mountainvieworchards]

Kim

Are you having good hatches with other breeds you are hatching? If so then your incubator and sanitation are probably good.

Other questions I can think of:
How inbred are your lines? Are you doing full sibling breeding?

How many breeders male and female do you have? Is it one rooster and many hens or more than one rooster? If it is one rooster I would try a different one. If it is only one hen I would try a different one.

When things go like that I just keep changing things up until I get it to improve.


My latest... is last week my Johan #1 pen went on strike and not an egg all week. I haven't changed a thing, no molting, weather is perfect, same diet. Only thing that is different is my lead bird got her foot caught in a space in the nest box and twisted it pretty bad. I had to free her in the evening when I found her. She spent two days in a sick bay and is back on her feet. Maybe they are afraid of the nest box. Crazy birds, I don't know why I put up with them sometimes.

 

[pinkchick]

Andy~

I have my original roo......who I got first before I had any hens. He just turned 3 years old.

I have my matriarch hen who came from a later shipment of eggs from Johan (she is 2.5 years old) and I have 3 - F1 daughters from breeding her to my roo.

Then I have another girl that I got from the following years (last year) shipped eggs from Johan. I have one of her eggs that is developing and one of the F1 girls eggs are developing.

I don't have any other roos right now or other hens. Need to get some fresh blood in here I know, but am looking for only pure Johan blood.


All other breeds, Marans, BLRW's and Olive Eggers are hatching out great. No complaints there.

 

[Meg2000000]

Andy~

I have my original roo......who I got first before I had any hens. He just turned 3 years old.

I have my matriarch hen who came from a later shipment of eggs from Johan (she is 2.5 years old) and I have 3 - F1 daughters from breeding her to my roo.

Then I have another girl that I got from the following years (last year) shipped eggs from Johan. I have one of her eggs that is developing and one of the F1 girls eggs are developing.

I don't have any other roos right now or other hens. Need to get some fresh blood in here I know, but am looking for only pure Johan blood.


All other breeds, Marans, BLRW's and Olive Eggers are hatching out great. No complaints there.

Hi Pinkchick,

I'm sorry you're having trouble! I have a 3 week old Barnevelder roo that needs a new home. Are you interested? I could keep him for you until he's about two months old. I have a call in to the local Barnevelder guy to see where he got his eggs from originally. I'll let you know!

 

[Meg2000000]

Pinkchick - I just spoke with him (he's quick to respond!) My Barnvelders were his eggs. His rooster is from Johan and the hens are from KC & Christina Ledford.

 

[bstarr20]

I only had 1 out of 10 eggs hatch

What do you guys think? I"m thinking a little roo

 

[Meg2000000]

I only had 1 out of 10 eggs hatch  What do you guys think? I"m thinking a little roo

Look at that bright white chest! I'm thinking it's a roo for sure!

 

[tls_ranch]

Andy~

I have my original roo......who I got first before I had any hens. He just turned 3 years old.

I have my matriarch hen who came from a later shipment of eggs from Johan (she is 2.5 years old) and I have 3 - F1 daughters from breeding her to my roo.

Then I have another girl that I got from the following years (last year) shipped eggs from Johan. I have one of her eggs that is developing and one of the F1 girls eggs are developing.

I don't have any other roos right now or other hens. Need to get some fresh blood in here I know, but am looking for only pure Johan blood.


All other breeds, Marans, BLRW's and Olive Eggers are hatching out great. No complaints there.

Are the eggs not fertile (tons of clears) or do the start developing then quit? I would first think about switching roos especially if many of the eggs are not developing. Or keep a son,

hopefully one of 2 eggs hatches a decent boy. Fresh blood would be a good option too.

I would think that if the problem was anything else like sanitation/incubator issues, feed or even illness you would see it effecting your other breed's hatch rates too. You could try taking a barnie hen or two that's laying and putting them in with one of your other roos (breed doesn't matter) and see if the eggs hatch better.

Trisha

 

[Happy Chooks]

Trisha - they are fertile. Kim sent me a bunch and I incubated them. All of my other eggs did fine in the incubator. The eggs Kim sent me were "clears" when I candled, but when I opened them up, the fertile disc had widened like the beginning of incubation but didn't develop past that.

 

[Meg2000000]

Hey All!

I thought I'd share the following info with you all about sending in your chickens for Necropsy to UC Davis. I sent my dead chick in last week for a Necropsy. I used the Postal Service's Express Overnight mail. The package was received on Friday AM so I thought all was fine. Today I came to find out that any USPS mail gets sent to the main UC Davis building and the lab only picks up those animal packages every Tuesday and Thursday. They do not refrigerate anything at the main building so your chicken(s) will just sit there. If you send in your animals for Necropsy you can use their FedEx account info. and get up to 70% off! UC Davis will bill you for the shipment costs after (or when) you get your final report. Also, FedEx and UPS deliver directly to the lab Monday-Friday. Hope you never have to send your chickens in for a Necropsy but if you do at least it'll be a smoother (and cheaper) process!

UC Davis FedEx Acct #: 364343981

 

[AyaBlodgett]

Hi Pinkchick! I have had a similar experience. I had 14 Johan eggs, and 3 hatched. The 4-H Poultry leader suggested it might be too much inbreeding that caused the low hatch rate. Aya