Fertile chickens

[LABowles]

I'm new at posting but I've been doing chickens for years. I have some heritage chickens that I love but it appears they have an infertility problem. I had 4 fertile eggs out of the last 25 I incubated. Any advice on a diet that I should be giving them. Currently they're on soaked wheat and they free range.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Hello and welcome to BYC! How many roosters do you have and how many hens?

 

[sourland]

Wheat is basically a survival diet even with supplementation from free ranging. I would feed them a commercial laying ration. I always fed game bird breeder to my breeders.

 

[drumstick diva]

I wouldn't blame the hens - maybe the rooster isn't doing his job, or there are to many hens for him to cover.

 

[LABowles]

I have 8 hens and two roosters. From what I understand, that's actually more roosters than I should have for 8 hens. I've felt like it was a fertility problem last year because their egg production decreased on wheat so I added lay mash but my neighbors insisted their chickens were healthier because of the organic wheat we had available. Any suggestions on how long should I feed them on this new diet before I plan on incubating again?

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - you have some great advice already so I'll just say hello!

All the best
CT

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!