Egg Fertility in Hot Weather

[Chicken Love]

Hi cmom, yes we have a huge willow tree for shade, which also covers the coop, but it did get pretty hot here for a couple of days.
I think I'll take my chances and hope that nuthin got cooked and I'll be posting about hatching chicks in a few weeks' time!
Thanks all!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Um.  I guess I wasn't totally clear.  I'm not worried about the roo, as his job was done.  I understand that hens can hold sperm and have fertile eggs up to 3 weeks after insemination.  It's the hens I'm curious about.  Can an overheated hen -- one that has stopped laying for a couple of days due to heat -- cook the stored semen?
Thanks for any replies

Yes, really hot weather affects the hen's performance as well.

For the hatchability traits, breed has little effect on hatchability of poultry eggs, although light breeds have been reported to have higher fertility and hatchability, according to King'ori. The diet of breeder poultry should be adequate in both quality and quantity to meet the recommended levels set out in the feed standards for the category. The most influential egg parameters that influence hatchability are: weight, shell thickness and porosity, shape index (described as maximum breadth to length ratio) and the consistency of the contents. Heat stress reduces the external and internal egg qualities. Heat stress affects all phases of semen production in breeder cocks. Hatchability for small eggs is lower than medium and large eggs.

It won't eliminate hatchability, all other considerations being equal, but it can negatively affect it.

 

[greymane]

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Hi and from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Good luck.

 

[Chicken Love]

thanks, fellow 4-H'er!