Brahma Thread

[brahmabreeder]

Cranked up the incubator. I'll set my first eggs Saturday. Buffs and Lights are laying now. Hope to get earlier fertility with the Buffs this year.

Hope you have better luck than I have. Horrible fertility yet great egg laying. I'm waiting a few more days to see if the last batch is fertile

.

 

[dak]

Cranked up the incubator. I'll set my first eggs Saturday. Buffs and Lights are laying now. Hope to get earlier fertility with the Buffs this year.

Hope you have better luck than I have. Horrible fertility yet great egg laying. I'm waiting a few more days to see if the last batch is fertile

.

Hope both of you will have better luck than me. Nada in the fertility dept. so far with the Brahmas.

(The Cochins are near 100%)

 

[Tim63]

Last year I bought a GQF cabinet incubator. Would it be worth while to buy eggs from someone and take the chance on being broken or the shipment being rough or is it just better to buy chicks?

It's better to buy the best adult birds you can afford and hatch their eggs. My opinion.

 

[Tim63]

I typically have great early fertility with the Lights, its the Buffs I have trouble with. I am using an outside male. I hatched him from an egg John sent last Spring. Hope it helps. I am using one of my males in the other buff pen. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Tim

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

It's better to buy the best adult birds you can afford and hatch their eggs. My opinion.

I agree. Or if for some reason this is not an option for you, buy a decent amount of chicks from well known breeders, grow them out, and keep only the best. Then go from there

 

[brahmabreeder]

Hope both of you will have better luck than me. Nada in the fertility dept. so far with the Brahmas.

(The Cochins are near 100%)

Well that makes me feel a little better. I've talked to Kendra Aldrich and she said the same thing. Plus a few other people on the Heritage LF thread said they are having poor fertility this year. I blame the terrible weather we're having. I broke down the other day and put a heat lamp in the breeder coop. That one boy looked miserable out there, couldn't help myself

. I'll be removing it by this weekend since it will be warmed up. Hopefully fertility picks up soon. I'm afraid that this years crop won't be showable by fall

. Guess that just means next year they'll be more developed and I can get show champion

!

 

[bumpercarr]

Well that makes me feel a little better. I've talked to Kendra Aldrich and she said the same thing. Plus a few other people on the Heritage LF thread said they are having poor fertility this year. I blame the terrible weather we're having. I broke down the other day and put a heat lamp in the breeder coop. That one boy looked miserable out there, couldn't help myself

. I'll be removing it by this weekend since it will be warmed up. Hopefully fertility picks up soon. I'm afraid that this years crop won't be showable by fall

. Guess that just means next year they'll be more developed and I can get show champion

!

I'm interested in this topic. My cockerel (6 months old) just started doing the dirty this past week. Our weather isn't particularly cold, highs in the mid 40s right now. So, I'm curious about fertility. I suspect that he's not particularly fertile yet, but I could be wrong. I haven't really been looking at the eggs because I didn't believe my son when he told me he'd started covering his hen. But I saw it with my own eyes yesterday, so now I'm wondering whether anyone thinks he's fertile yet or is he just practicing? Also, for all of you guys that are in the deep cold, do you find that the eggs die before you collect them because they've been in the cold or do they last okay for a few hours? I don't really have to worry about that, although it does sometimes get below freezing at night, but I'm curious all the same.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I'm interested in this topic. My cockerel (6 months old) just started doing the dirty this past week. Our weather isn't particularly cold, highs in the mid 40s right now. So, I'm curious about fertility. I suspect that he's not particularly fertile yet, but I could be wrong. I haven't really been looking at the eggs because I didn't believe my son when he told me he'd started covering his hen. But I saw it with my own eyes yesterday, so now I'm wondering whether anyone thinks he's fertile yet or is he just practicing? Also, for all of you guys that are in the deep cold, do you find that the eggs die before you collect them because they've been in the cold or do they last okay for a few hours? I don't really have to worry about that, although it does sometimes get below freezing at night, but I'm curious all the same.

Well my eggs are currently freezing in a few hours, so those ones are pretty "dead". Maybe if I collected them within and hour of laying. As long as they aren't slushy inside they should be okay.You can hatch eggs that have been refrigerated (I am not referring to store bought eggs), hatch rates aren't usually as high. But I can't really collect them within an hour of being laid, because they lay so sporadic throughout the day I would be going out every hour to check.

 

[Trooper Man]

It's better to buy the best adult birds you can afford and hatch their eggs. My opinion.

I see I found a pair of Dark Brahmas from a man his name is Wil Hanley from NC. He is going to meet me at the Unifour show March 1. He is a member of this site as well.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Well lately I've been getting lucky with my eggs not getting overly cold. Usually I go out right after they should of laid so I try to avoid cold eggs. Plus usually one hen lays and then the other goes to and she keeps the other hens egg warm. Guess I'll find out tomorrow or the day after if they are fertile. With this cold, going out to get the eggs as often as possible is the best thing anyone can do to try and save the eggs. At six months a cockerel could be fertile. I would either try incubating or just check the yolks for bulls eyes.