HELP! Newbie here!

[getfresh]

Hi All! I've just joined BYC and am very excited. we've had chickens for 3 years now and finally bought an incubator. the first batch we tried did not do anything and now we are wondering if there is some kind of trick to ensuring that the eggs we choose are fertilized. what we did was separate 12 hens and threw a rooster in with them. we left them together for 1 day and began gathering their eggs the second day. can anyone tell me what we did wrong? do they need to be together longer ? would it help to put both of our roosters in with the hens and for how long? we are stressed about this as we are weeks behind in the breeding process and it takes at least 21 days to hatch the chicks as it is. can anyone advise?

 

[happyhens1972]

I would reduce the amount of hens....although a cockerel can cover a dozen girls, you will get better fertility with fewer hens or more cockerels.

Then leave them together at least seven days before starting to collect your eggs. Then candle your eggs to make sure the eggs you choose for setting have good, well formed shells and are not porous (porous shells looks mottled under the candler). Pick nicely shaped eggs of similar size and weight and discard any dirty eggs. Store your eggs while you are collecting in a cool place and turn at least two or three times a day.

Set all chosen eggs on the same day.

 

[getfresh]

thank you so much! I was hoping it would be just that simple, I'm eager to try!

 

[happyhens1972]

It's not complicated but if you take these simple steps now, especially checking the quality of the eggs you set in the first place, you will get a better success rate. You are better waiting another day for better eggs than being impatient and setting poor quality or dirty eggs that will likely die anyway.