Why do aruacana have such low hatch rate

[RIR0BCM]

I have a pair of purebred aruacana
and ive I've been trying to hatch eggs with no luck ....
The first time I tried hatching the eggs werent fertile and after doing some research I found out that they weren't breeding successfully because they are rumpless ...i fixed that by cutting some of their feathers ....
Now I have fertile eggs in the incubator and only one hatched so far the others havent even piped yet

I want to add that im not a begginer I've been hatching eggs for 4 years now and I've never had this problem before
They just seem to have low hatch rate...
Is there anything I can do ??

 

[The Moonshiner]

I have a pair of purebred aruacana
and ive I've been trying to hatch eggs with no luck ....
The first time I tried hatching the eggs werent fertile and after doing some research I found out that they weren't breeding successfully because they are rumpless ...i fixed that by cutting some of their feathers ....
Now I have fertile eggs in the incubator and only one hatched so far the others havent even piped yet

I want to add that im not a begginer I've been hatching eggs for 4 years now and I've never had this problem before
They just seem to have low hatch rate...
Is there anything I can do ??

Are you aware of their tuffs being a lethal gene?

 

[RIR0BCM]

Yes but the pair that i have don't have tuffs ...Neither do their parents ...

 

[JedJackson]

Yes but the pair that i have don't have tuffs ...Neither do their parents ...

That doesn't mean that they don't have unexpressed copies of the lethal gene. But beyond that, how old are they? Are they getting the right diet? Is there some hidden disease that could be being passed to the unhatched eggs? Could there be some other genetic abnormality that is causing the low hatch rate? Is your incubator and all its parts working correctly?

There are a lot of variables and possibilities involved, most of which are beyond human control. You could maybe try a different rooster and see if that makes a difference, or a different hen. Or just keep trucking and see if things improve.

 

[The Moonshiner]

That doesn't mean that they don't have unexpressed copies of the lethal gene.

Ya it really does.
No tuffs no lethal gene.
If you're not breeding tufted to tufted you're alright there. Also aware of breeding issues from rumpless but if you're getting fertile eggs that doesn't seem to be the problem.
I'm unaware of other possible issues with the breed.
Sorry wasn't much help.

 

[JedJackson]

Ya it really does.
No tuffs no lethal gene.
If you're not breeding tufted to tufted you're alright there. Also aware of breeding issues from rumpless but if you're getting fertile eggs that doesn't seem to be the problem.
I'm unaware of other possible issues with the breed.
Sorry wasn't much help.

I've heard of many people who've had tufted offspring from non-tufted Araucana parents. The parents could have had internal tufts or unexpressed genes, but in any case it is quite possible. And it is something to look at for a breeder of Araucanas who has a low hatch rate, which was why I mentioned it.

 

[Talithahorse]

I had a similar issue with another breed and I moved my rooster in with my laying pen and my hens with another rooster. I discovered that my rooster was good and it was my hens. Had low laying level and low hatch rate. Sometimes you just have to shift to different stock to achieve your goals. Good luck.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I've heard of many people who've had tufted offspring from non-tufted Araucana parents. The parents could have had internal tufts or unexpressed genes, but in any case it is quite possible. And it is something to look at for a breeder of Araucanas who has a low hatch rate, which was why I mentioned it.

Wouldn't mind hearing that for myself. Any of them on here?
I raised them way back in the day and never seen it or heard of it.
Back then there was confusion about them and maybe things have changed.
When I first got into them it was thought that the rumpless was the lethal gene so we were all breeding rumpless to tailed and soon found out we had it all wrong.

 

[BrindleFinch]

Disclaimer: I know nothing about chickens, only about genetics, but I thought I would offer my input on the situation from that sense. Please correct me if you find something incorrect.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7276512 This page states that the ear tufted gene is autosomal dominant, which means it will present itself differently when two copies are inherited but will still be present even when only one copy is inherited.

This means that one of the parents would have to be a carrier for the gene in order to pass it on to offspring. Tuftedness, according to what I've read, is dominant on its own - it is NOT a recessive gene. It cannot "hide," between generations unless the bird was a very poor example of its phenotype - and I have a hard time believing that happened enough to where three generations of heterozygotes went unnoticed for the gene.

If OP is correct in that both parents of both hen and rooster were tuftless, physically and genetically, there is no way that they could produce tufted offspring.

If OP is incorrect, and the breeder was incorrect, and the roo or hen is Et/xx - a heterozygote - then only 25% of their offspring, statistically speaking, will have the gene and be at risk of failure to develop.

If the OP was incorrect about both roo AND hen and they are both heterozygotes, Et/xx you would see about 25% loss, 50% heterozygotes (which could fail to develop or not), and 25% free of the tufted gene completely.

With such a small sample size, I could definitely see the latter situation ending up with eggs that seem to "never," thrive. However, given that the first and second situation are far more likely, I have a hard time believing that even a hidden tufted gene would be the cause.

If the roo and hens parents never experienced great losses in their hatch rates, it's likely that they are in fact free of the Et gene and something else is the cause.

 

[RIR0BCM]

are small/short tuffs considered as tuffs?