Annabel Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I have a cockerel in with my hens but only ever see him mate one hen (the other is not in lay at 21weeks and the other is a 2.5 year ex-caged hen). this morning I cracked the ex-caged hens eggs from 6/12 and today’s to look at the difference in yolk colour since they’ve been confined and wondered if this mornings one (paler one at the bottom) was fertile? what do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted December 23, 2020 Share Posted December 23, 2020 From what I googled, it could be. But maybe @The Dogmother or @Lewis can tell you for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 Thank you Cat Tails, I googled it too and it does appear to be. Since then I have actually seen this hen mated by the cockerel so I am guessing all these eggs will now be fertile! Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 18 hours ago, Annabel said: Thank you Cat Tails, I googled it too and it does appear to be. Since then I have actually seen this hen mated by the cockerel so I am guessing all these eggs will now be fertile! Thanks for your help. Are you going to hatch them ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 On 12/23/2020 at 9:22 AM, Cat tails said: From what I googled, it could be. But maybe @The Dogmother or @Lewis can tell you for sure. Yep, that's fertilised... note the distinction.. all eggs are fertile, or more correctly the term should refer to the bird which is producing them. This one however has been fertilised Please have a good think if you are contemplating hatching though - you need a separate broody coop, and it's too early in the year to be setting eggs under a broody.... then there's the resulting males to deal with; a friend hatched this earlier year, et 7 eggs; 6 hatched and 4 were cocks. Thankfully, she lives rurally and could bring them on for the pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 23 hours ago, Luvachicken said: Are you going to hatch them ? I am not sure at the moment as I only have 3 hens having lost a couple to old age recently so would like some more, but I like to have homes lined for potential cockerels and haven't looked into it yet. I was also lucky enough in the summer to have a hen go broody (two infact) and do not have an incubator so would be relying on the same luck again! My cockerel is an Olive Egger so I have worked out the eggs from breeding with the cream legbar should produce dull spearment, breeding from the other easter egger would give any array of colours including pink/white/darker green/brown/blue etc (bit of a surprise) and from the ex-caged hen - some other khaki coloured egg. I find all this very exciting! But the cockerels are the problem... wish there was a way to tell if an egg was male before incubating! Don't we all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annabel Posted December 25, 2020 Author Share Posted December 25, 2020 8 hours ago, The Dogmother said: Yep, that's fertilised... note the distinction.. all eggs are fertile, or more correctly the term should refer to the bird which is producing them. This one however has been fertilised Please have a good think if you are contemplating hatching though - you need a separate broody coop, and it's too early in the year to be setting eggs under a broody.... then there's the resulting males to deal with; a friend hatched this earlier year, et 7 eggs; 6 hatched and 4 were cocks. Thankfully, she lives rurally and could bring them on for the pot. Yes I recently purchased a seperate broody coop (Englu Go with run). I hatched out in the summer 3 eggs, having lined up three cockerel homes and had a male and a female chick (I think you may have helped me when one was ill). Anyway, we decided to keep him nonetheless. So yes, I would always line up homes if we decided to do this again and never more eggs than homes secured as I have heard of one lady who hatched 6 and all were cocks! 8 hours ago, The Dogmother said: Yep, that's fertilised... note the distinction.. all eggs are fertile, or more correctly the term should refer to the bird which is producing them. This one however has been fertilised Please have a good think if you are contemplating hatching though - you need a separate broody coop, and it's too early in the year to be setting eggs under a broody.... then there's the resulting males to deal with; a friend hatched this earlier year, et 7 eggs; 6 hatched and 4 were cocks. Thankfully, she lives rurally and could bring them on for the pot. and thanks for your advice and confirmation on the egg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 That's all good then - I'd wait for the spring and better fertility and egg quality before setting any - but I expect that you have got that covered. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
