I think many are having that same problem here at the end of this hard winter...heard discussion on this on two different breeder threads. Could be why my young rooster is breeding, has red comb and wattles aflyin', but it's just not cutting it. Maybe later when it gets consistently warmer we'll have some fertility? Could this winter have literally frozen their nads off?
Yep...that's what I said. Of course it hurts...killing something isn't supposed to feel good or keep one from hurting. Sometimes that's just the way life is and it's a large part of keeping animals that produce food. It's what sets them apart from pets. The chickens ovulate and there is no lovely menopause...they just keep producing, on and off again, until they usually wind up with an egg tumor,internal laying, egg bound, egg peritonitis, etc.
It's germane to this thread because any time someone proposes to incubate a life into existence, it's your responsibility....this is not a play dolly or a "baby", it's a chick and it has a life to consider. At the end of that life is also a death to consider and anyone hatching a chick needs to get that through their woolly heads...it's our responsibility.
BTW...I love you guys too!It's a good feeling to know there are so many people out there who take good stewardship seriously and place the animal's welfare over that of your own emotions.
Yes, I'm having trouble too this year with the roo's, the ones who are actually performing the act seem to be alright, but the 2 that I want to breed from seem to get on infrequently, and when I have observed them, they are not completing the act, they just get on and get off....strange....none of them were doing that last summer!! Maybe I just need to wait awhile longer, or maybe I need to just break down and buy some eggs from someone else...? But I was really looking forward to incubating my OWN eggs this year!!
Oh Lord do I hear you on the 'stuff'. Once upon a time I had two suitcases to my name. One with books, one with clothes. Nothing gives stress relief like not owning 'stuff'.
The imagination required to see other uses in items is a fantastic skill to have
I was with you on the "don't spend on the hatching", my silly brain didn't think past that. Brooding, duh, part of the plan!
Once this method proves to work (I know it will, it just requires time and tweaking), I hope this group can work on a non-electric version... I always fear our dependence of electricity is going to bite us in the butt one day.
