I have a flock of four bantam pekin/cochin hens and one rooster. They're a fluffy breed. A Christmas present from my grandparents from two years ago. Three of them just went through being broody and sat for two months before they kicked out all their eggs and I bathed them to get them off the brood.
I really wanted to breed them though, and I thought there would be chicks after this broody period. But our attempts failed. All the eggs are infertile. My grandma told me that the guy who sold the chickens to them said to trim the chickens' feathers if we wanted to breed them. I've trimmed the feathers around their vent to stop their back ends from getting too messy, and I thought that was what the guy meant.
So has anyone successfully bred chickens of this breed? What feathers are you supposed to trim to allow the rooster to properly mate and fertilize the eggs? Are you supposed to give these chickens a trim all over every now and then?
I really wanted to breed them though, and I thought there would be chicks after this broody period. But our attempts failed. All the eggs are infertile. My grandma told me that the guy who sold the chickens to them said to trim the chickens' feathers if we wanted to breed them. I've trimmed the feathers around their vent to stop their back ends from getting too messy, and I thought that was what the guy meant.
So has anyone successfully bred chickens of this breed? What feathers are you supposed to trim to allow the rooster to properly mate and fertilize the eggs? Are you supposed to give these chickens a trim all over every now and then?