Fertile egg issue

[megshenhut]

Last year I only had one hen and two toms. I set my eggs and out of the whole bunch only one was not fertile. I added four more hens to my flock last summer. I now have eggs in the incubator and by just a quick check on day 11, I'd say that over half are not fertile. I'm obviously not happy about that. Any ideas as to why the toms aren't servicing all the hens? I assume it is the new hens that are being left alone, because I've seen my top tom servicing the original hen. I was hoping for more fertile eggs this year since I have more hens. The original three were hatched in 2009 and the four newer ones last spring. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[sheltonrea]

I have the same problem.. if you get some answer can u please PM me?>

Anyone who can help I would really appreciate it!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Did you set the first eggs layed? Very often the first eggs layed aren't fertile especially in younger hens on the their first laying cycle.

Steve

 

[megshenhut]

Steve, yes I did set the first eggs I got. Last year that worked great, not so this year it appears. How long do you wait until you set eggs? Obviously, I will be waiting a while now because I only have one incubator. If I set another batch in mid-March, will that tend to be better odds?

 

[ColbyNTX]

Yes, just what Steve said and you should have better luck later on.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We just crack the eggs until we get the "bullseye" before we start to incubate, it works very well to see the fertility. Our dogs love early laying season and their coats are nice and shiny from the eggs.

Steve