Fertility Rate for Pullets?

[Farmgirl1878]

Hi gang! I (finally) sold some of our eggs - to a young lady who is trying to hatch them. The first 24 eggs she bought from me were refrigerated, so she thought they wouldn’t be viable. But when she candled them this evening, 15 of 22 were starting to develop normally! (Dunno what happened with the other two...)

My girls are very young, seven are ten months old, and the other six are seven months old. The cockerel (who apparently is doing a pretty bang up job, pun intended), is seven months old.

Any idea what the average rate of viability is for eggs from such young pullets?

 

[Notaneggspurt]

Pullet eggs can pretty much be one extreme or another. The biggest factors being over all shell quality and size. Some folks have successfully hatched the very first egg where others may take a month before getting a viable chick. Hoping for the best on the rest I can't find the article right of hand but there is a good one for incubation troubleshooting.

How long have your girls been laying and what breeds?

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Everyone except the EEs started laying by about 18 weeks of age, so they’ve all been laying for at least a couple of months. The older girls have been laying for quite a long time and lay medium to large sized eggs now. Everyone has access to oyster shells and eats all flock feed. I’ve got SLW, GLW, EE, a Salmon Faverolle, a BJG, a blue Cochin, a light Brahma, a RIR, a NHR, and a Speckled Sussex.

The young lady is supposed to send me chick pics if or when anyone hatches out. I can’t wait to see!! If I had more space, I’d let my girls hatch a few out whenever someone gets broody.

 

[Notaneggspurt]

That is going to be quite an adorable mix! I think I've been looking through the hatching forum so much now all the ads are showing incubators

 

[Notaneggspurt]

I am guessing the first two eggs were a delicious meal for someone.

I keep hoping one of the girls goes broody whenever I see a bullseye

 

[BarnGems]

I've been eating all of my eggs so far and have had 3 weeks of 100% fertile. Hens have been laying only since december. How long do you wait before they are no longer pullet eggs? How old does the hen need to be?

 

[BarnGems]

Hi gang! I (finally) sold some of our eggs - to a young lady who is trying to hatch them. The first 24 eggs she bought from me were refrigerated, so she thought they wouldn’t be viable. But when she candled them this evening, 15 of 22 were starting to develop normally! (Dunno what happened with the other two...)

My girls are very young, seven are ten months old, and the other six are seven months old. The cockerel (who apparently is doing a pretty bang up job, pun intended), is seven months old.

Any idea what the average rate of viability is for eggs from such young pullets?

Congrats on the sale

My hens are 7 months old (my rooster is 9 months), i feel a bit silly now didn't realize there was a difference between hens and pullets eggs. Layers are layers is what i thought, omg i feel uninformed now. Does the first year of laying as a pullet count towards the best 2 years of laying?

 

[Notaneggspurt]

@BarnGems hope this makes sense regarding the laying years. Basically the calendar starts from the first egg (regardless of age). So say a pullet is hatched March 1 and lays her first egg in July her first year of laying would be from July to July.

As far as the term "pullet egg" mostly is used for the first few eggs as their bodies are still developing. These tend to be smaller and irregular quality. The length of time from the first egg to the regular size the chicken will lay varies by breed and individual pullet/hen. I guess once they are a consistent size it's just referred to as an egg, regardless if it was from a pullet or a hen.

Hope this helps

ETA I've had a chef insist he could tell the difference between pullet eggs and he would only use eggs from the first month of lay. Insisting they were richer and there was more yolk. Chefs can be weird

 

[BarnGems]

@BarnGems hope this makes sense regarding the laying years. Basically the calendar starts from the first egg (regardless of age). So say a pullet is hatched March 1 and lays her first egg in July her first year of laying would be from July to July.

As far as the term "pullet egg" mostly is used for the first few eggs as their bodies are still developing. These tend to be smaller and irregular quality. The length of time from the first egg to the regular size the chicken will lay varies by breed and individual pullet/hen. I guess once they are a consistent size it's just referred to as an egg, regardless if it was from a pullet or a hen.

Hope this helps

ETA I've had a chef insist he could tell the difference between pullet eggs and he would only use eggs from the first month of lay. Insisting they were richer and there was more yolk. Chefs can be weird

Thanks I appreciate the information.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Me too!