fertility?

[missred871]

I think I might have too many females with one male. I havent gotten any eggs that have survived long enough for me to remove them from the pen yet either. I need to figure out why. I have 8 hens and one male. I bought them from a man who was getting rid of all his exotics because his wife "said so" haha. Anyway he had them in a SMALLER pen than the one I have them in and he said he had no problems in the past and had a lot of eggs from them. Unfortunately I think only one of my girls is laying yet, shes the older bird (you can tell by looking at her) there are about 4 different ages in the females but the male is beautiful. (when arent they? haha) anyways, do I have too many females with one male? It seems like the eggs are getting stepped on not pecked... any advice?

 

[JJMR794]

Ringneck Cocks Can Easily Cover 10+ Hens With Good Fertility. Fertility Doesnt Sound Like The Issue So Much As Surviveability, As In Surviving Your Pen Set Up Long Enough To Be Gathered In Useable Shape. Add Some Brush Piled Up Againast The Wall Over Your Laying Areas As This Will Help Them Not Get Stepped On. Also Be 110% Absolutely Sure You Dont Have An Egg Eater In There, In My Experience Its Rare With Ringnecks But Anything's Possible.

 

[Tony K T]

Well first off we need to know what you have,but ringneck males will service up to 8 or 10 hens.While goldens,amherst,revves and silvers seem to do well with 4 or 5 hens.
If you did find eggs one day and none the next,they may be eating them.Which usually means a calcium deficiency.You need to keep grit in their pen all the time.You can also put apple cider vinegar(just a capful) to their water supply.Try putting some wooden eggs in their pen and watch to see who or how many culprits you have.Also put some branches or if you can find an old x-mas tree in their pen so they can hide their eggs.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[missred871]

Quote:
Sorry Tony, fingured you would know I had ringnecks, since I posted the other thread bout what to feed them.

@ both of you:
I have piles of cypress in the back corners of the pens, but the girls are diggin all over. I didn't know about grit until you told me today, since noone seemed to inform me of that no matter how many times I asked...

anyway I have plenty of oyster shell in there with them now and gave them some lettuce and grapes today, the hens enjoyed playing with and devouring the lettuce lol. I have also got a couple china berry limbs piled up in there too, so plenty of bush piles. It's like this with the eggs, I saw one thursday, it was broken, but like I said it really looked like it was stepped on since they spook so easily and it was very thin shelled, then Friday I went in and found only half an egg..... so i suppose there is a possibility of them eating it. If so then maybe the oyster will knock that off? Also started them in on the layer mixed with game bird and bird seed Friday. Thanks you two for all of your help, I would PM you direct but I think others could benefit from these questions as well.

you two are the experts here on BYC in this section!

 

[JJMR794]

Egg Eating Can Be A Leared Behavior Or A Deficiency. Unfortunately The Only Cure For The Learned Behaior Is Kamp Kenmore. The Egg Eater Test Is Easy... Simply Place A Couple Of Eggs In The Pen And Go Away... If They Are Gone Or Torn Up After A While When You Return Then You Will Know If Anyone Is Eating Them. Try This With A Harder Chicken Egg Or 2 And See If There's Anyway You Can Acertain Which If Any Are The Offenders. Sounds Like You've Corrected Any Possible Deficiencies So In A Week Or So If The Egg Eater Test Comes Up Possitive Then You Have A Serious Behavior Problem... The Big Thing Here Is That Its A Learned Behavior... With Gamebird Hens Its A Monkey See - Monkey Do System And The Offender May Well Have Corrupted The Rest

I Hope I'm Wrong In This Case... But Just Be Aware Of The Type Of Problem You May Be Facing, Good Luck

 

[missred871]

Oh my lord... I hope it isnt the case.

I asked the man i purchased them from about the eggs and he said he got a lot of eggs, so do you think it could be a newer girl who hasnt begun to lay yet eating them because she doesnt realize what they are?

 

[JJMR794]

In All Honesty It Could Be Any One/ All Of Them Including Your Cock Bird... Really Hard To Say For Sure Until You Catch Them In The Act. If The Old Owner Left Eggs Lie In Their Pen That Would Foster The Behavior... Or The Stress Of Being Moved To A New Environment? Or The New Kid? Or The Super Moon

...... Sorry But I Think You Get The Idea, Lol

 

[missred871]

Quote:
Lol funny you should mention that I have been blamin everything on the Super Moon! LOL Yeah I know it could be anything, I kinda sorta wonder if they miss their pen mates, the man I got them from had them with two fan tail pigeons. lol. Oh well, I will give it a few more days, by the way, someone is definately eating them, they got two this morning. so we shall wait a couple days for the oyster shell to kick in and then if it keeps happening I will go to the chicken eggs as you suggested and then to a wooden egg. I sure hope we can kick the habit

 

[Tony K T]

You can also trim the top beak back,just enought to get a trickle of blood.
In N.H.,Tony.