The Wyandotte Thread

[Wyandottes7]

I'm curious, what fertility do most people have with their Wyandottes? I'm trying to find out what normal fertility tends to be with them.

 

[Chick77]

Very cute chicks

 

[DMRippy]

I'm curious, what fertility do most people have with their Wyandottes? I'm trying to find out what normal fertility tends to be with them.

That has many variables. Are they hatchery or high quality breeders? I would think Hatchery would breed easier but then I hatch some from a neighbor and the chicks came out deformed more than any I had ever seen. I now have 2 roos over the SLW to up fertility on the show breeders I have... but they have not laid an egg in about 7 months. The BLRW do better on fertility than the SLW. The Choc have good fertility the whites not so much. You will just have to see what happens with your birds. Shipped eggs tend to not do well with the wyandottes so I don't ship them often.

 

[WickeeChickee]

My one and only Wyandotte, Dottie. I'm assuming she's Patridge? She thinks she owns the world, and turns up her nose (beak) at the advances of her Roo, Rex, who is merely a Wyandotte Cross and therefore far beneath her notice.

 

[Angie16hearts]

Is it common for GLW to go broody? For tge first time ever! I got home from work and found her on 6 warm eggs. We have 9 laying hens. The other 3 eggs are in the box next to her. Some one also moved the golf ball out of the nest she is in. Thanks in advance! I'm not sure how long she's been on the eggs today. All my girls are done laying by 11.
I've never seen her in laying box unless she's laying and she never chirps after. She has avoided those boxes unless it's laying time.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Hello all,

I'm breeding some of my Wyandottes this year. But, so far, I've had trouble with fertility. I recently set 22 Wyandotte eggs (collected from three different females), and none of them were fertile. I'm wondering if any of you have some tips on improving fertility, at least a little!

A little background on the birds and the conditions the eggs were kept in:

The birds are White Wyandotte Bantams. There are two pullets, 11 months old, and one hen (nearly two years old) who I successfully bred last year. They have been laying regularly (every other day, sometimes for two days in a row and then skipping one day) for the past month or so. I started lighting for them in late October and they are getting around 14 hours of light each day.

I have two Wyandotte males. One is a cock from last year (same age as the Wyandotte hen), who I bred to the hen successfully last year (with near 100% fertility). The other is a cockerel, hatched this February. Both are also getting at least 14 hours of light each day and are very ready and willing to breed the hens.

I haven't been keeping the females with the males, as the males are quite vicious when it comes to breeding (and the hens panic when around them). Instead, once or twice a day I've been taking the hens and letting the male mount them. Both males do so quite willingly. I've done this for every female for the last three weeks. The females don't cooperate completely and often start running away after he's mounted them for a few seconds. I thought that he was making contact, but I'm not so sure after having no fertile eggs.

The oldest eggs I set in the incubator were 14 days old. They were stored in an approximately 65 degree room.


So, do any of you have ideas on increasing fertility? I'm not completely sure what the problem is. I mated the cock bird to the hen last year, at this same time, using the same method of bringing the hen to the male, and had near 100% fertility. The males seem quite eager. The hens don't cooperate fully, but I'd think that at least one mating was successful.

Meanwhile, I've trimmed the feathers around the vents of the cock bird and the two pullets. Both pullets are going to be bred, from now on, to the cock, just in case the Wyandotte cockerel was infertile. I've also put the pullets with the male, instead of taking them to him twice a day, just to see if that helps.

But, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I would like to know whether anyone else has had trouble with Wyandottes and their fertility, or if only my birds have this problem.

Update!: I had set 15 Wyandotte eggs, from three different pullets, four days ago. I'm pleased to say that when I candled the eggs today, eight of the fifteen eggs were fertile. Some of the eggs right after I put the breeding pen together weren't fertile, but the latter ones were. I'm going to continue collecting eggs and set some more in a couple of weeks.

However, I noticed that one of the fertile eggs has some small hairline cracks and a tiny dent near the small end. It must have fallen or had something fall on it before I set it. I sealed the cracks with some candle wax and put it back in the incubator. I'll candle again in a couple of days and see how it's coming along.

 

[wny egger]

Is it common for GLW to go broody? For tge first time ever! I got home from work and found her on 6 warm eggs. We have 9 laying hens. The other 3 eggs are in the box next to her. Some one also moved the golf ball out of the nest she is in. Thanks in advance! I'm not sure how long she's been on the eggs today. All my girls are done laying by 11.
I've never seen her in laying box unless she's laying and she never chirps after. She has avoided those boxes unless it's laying time.

my wyandottes all seem to have a broody mentality ..i just go right in and take any eggs they are on ..mine always bite me so i wear a glove ..not sure if i am causing any harm ...they get down out of the nest shortly after taking them ..some of my birds will kick others out of the nest if they are in there to long ..i have 9 nesting boxes but they all tend to use just 4 of them ..i have trouble with them wanting to sleep in the nest at night ..so every night i move them to the roost ..i threw a couple bails of straw in the coop for them and a couple will asleep on them..i dont move those girls tho ..i just dont want to reach in to the nest and grab hold of poop ..or poop covered eggs.lol

wyandottes are a very broody breed in my opinion ..

 

[wny egger]

Update!: I had set 15 Wyandotte eggs, from three different pullets, four days ago. I'm pleased to say that when I candled the eggs today, eight of the fifteen eggs were fertile. Some of the eggs right after I put the breeding pen together weren't fertile, but the latter ones were. I'm going to continue collecting eggs and set some more in a couple of weeks.

However, I noticed that one of the fertile eggs has some small hairline cracks and a tiny dent near the small end. It must have fallen or had something fall on it before I set it. I sealed the cracks with some candle wax and put it back in the incubator. I'll candle again in a couple of days and see how it's coming along.

congrats , sounds like everyones doing their job for ya ..i hope you get a nice bunch of pullets ..

 

[Angie16hearts]

my wyandottes all seem to have a broody mentality ..i just go right in and take any eggs they are on ..mine always bite me so i wear a glove ..not sure if i am causing any harm ...they get down out of the nest shortly after taking them ..some of my birds will kick others out of the nest if they are in there to long ..i have 9 nesting boxes but they all tend to use just 4 of them ..i have trouble with them wanting to sleep in the nest at night ..so every night i move them to the roost ..i threw a couple bails of straw in the coop for them and a couple will asleep on them..i dont move those girls tho ..i just dont want to reach in to the nest and grab hold of poop ..or poop covered eggs.lol

wyandottes are a very broody breed in my opinion ..

Thank you for your reply. Yesterday I pulled the new eggs. And moved golf balls out just to see what she would do. In the dark she managed to get two of the three golf balls back in nest. She sat right back down. Another night on eggs. The thing about her is I have never witnessed her sleep in nest let alone even get close unless she's going to lay. I do have others who are trying to sleep off the roost but not in laying box. So I put them back up once a night. She's one of my Roos favorite so she had the privilege to roost with him. I will be keeping close tabs on her all my eggs are fertile so now (if she does go broody) I need to figure out which I want her to sit on. How many eggs is normal for a GLW to cover? Thank you again !

 

[wny egger]

i am not sure how many they can keep warm ..i have read were some have had alot of eggs and still had pretty good results ..i think its around 8 eggs but dont hold me to that ..lets see who else chimes in here and can give you better info ..