Dominique Thread!

[THeelChickinKY]

I loved this picture I got of our alpha roo today as he was standing guard. They are SO happy winter has finally packed up!

 

[Alaskan]

I loved this picture I got of our alpha roo today as he was standing guard. They are SO happy winter has finally packed up!

Wow! I really like him! very nice.

 

[centrarchid]

I loved this picture I got of our alpha roo today as he was standing guard. They are SO happy winter has finally packed up!

He looks solid with good feather. If male offspring to be kept, then favor those with tighter more entire comb. He is clearly a bird in good health.

 

[THeelChickinKY]

Thanks, and he's a sweetheart, too. His comb/wattles looked better before the cold snap we had in February - he lost at least a third of his wattles. On the bright side, at least the loss was symmetrical, though, so they're still the same length!

 

[centrarchid]

Frostbite for me has been a major issue on those dainty rose-combs. Even when keeping birds out of direct wind with little or no draft the birds loose that rear point. I can beat it only by keeping the birds on relative warm and straw covered ground.

 

[centrarchid]

I am seeing a potential problem developing. Only older hens are getting passed to the breeding pens this year. Ages range three to five years. Eggs from the majority of these older hens are about 1/3 larger than those produced by hens only one to two years old. The larger eggs are also nearly round making is difficult to determine which is the big end for proper orientation within the egg holders of the incubator. Hens currently producing almost egg per hen per day while temperatures are neutral although this will drop off when is warms a little more. I busted about a dozen to check for double yolks and found none. Hopefully hatch rates will be OK. Otherwise selection will also need to take into account very rapid decline in fertility of older hens.

 

[Alaskan]

I am seeing a potential problem developing. Only older hens are getting passed to the breeding pens this year. Ages range three to five years. Eggs from the majority of these older hens are about 1/3 larger than those produced by hens only one to two years old. The larger eggs are also nearly round making is difficult to determine which is the big end for proper orientation within the egg holders of the incubator. Hens currently producing almost egg per hen per day while temperatures are neutral although this will drop off when is warms a little more. I busted about a dozen to check for double yolks and found none. Hopefully hatch rates will be OK. Otherwise selection will also need to take into account very rapid decline in fertility of older hens.

it will be interesting to hear the result.

 

[centrarchid]

I am loading up the incubator now. Once incubator saturated then about 1/2 dozen broody gamehens will be put to task. I am planning on some pretty crappy hatch rates. Broody hens should do better but eggs will be candled to prevent good eggs from being poisoned by egg-bombs.

 

[Sylvester017]

I am seeing a potential problem developing. Only older hens are getting passed to the breeding pens this year. Ages range three to five years. Eggs from the majority of these older hens are about 1/3 larger than those produced by hens only one to two years old. The larger eggs are also nearly round making is difficult to determine which is the big end for proper orientation within the egg holders of the incubator. Hens currently producing almost egg per hen per day while temperatures are neutral although this will drop off when is warms a little more. I busted about a dozen to check for double yolks and found none. Hopefully hatch rates will be OK. Otherwise selection will also need to take into account very rapid decline in fertility of older hens.

How interesting that your larger eggs are nearly round. I always thought it was a problem with our Cuckoo Marans laying almost perfectly round 2.25-oz eggs to where I didn't know which end to leave up. A Marans breeder told me it was a normal desirable trait in Marans. Perhaps the round Dom eggs is also desirable since they are also larger if you ever figure out which end goes up!

 

[centrarchid]

Which end goes up may be important in the incubator with respect to how the air-space operates. Failure to orient eggs properly may be detrimental to hatch rate when the incubator provides so little rotation. The gamehens will be better at rolling those eggs about more.