terrible turkey hatch - looking ahead to next year

cathleenc · #1 04/12/10, 08:00 AM

We've got a proven 3 yr tom and 2-2yr proven hens, all midget whites.

The hens started laying very early this year, end of february? We let the first hen start brooding her clutch of 19 eggs - with a hatch date of 4/3. While she was laying we 'stalked' the laying and would try to promptly replace eggs with golf balls as it was still pretty darn cold here. A day after she began to set we replaced the golf balls with eggs.

Last year this hen hatched 100% of her eggs. This year? A really really sad 1/19 eggs. Only one chick. 2 chicks died while trying to hatch and the rest never got going (sounded very liquidy when shook).

Hen#2 is currently setting on her clutch of 16 eggs - I candled them last night, 15/16 are doing great.

So why would one clutch be 95% infertile and the other be 95% fertile?

I know both hens contributed to the first clutch - so my thinking is that the tom had temporary infertility issues due to cold? Could that be it?

And if you were me, what would you do next year to get two good, fertile and early clutches? Clearly I should have candled the first clutch but what should I do above and beyond candling?

thanks,
Cathy

**mygoat** · #2 04/12/10, 08:56 AM

I find that my chickens and ducks (don't have turkeys though) breed LESS in the cold months. Perhaps the tom wasn't covering the hen sufficiently. I would be more prone to thinking it was a poor nest site or they got too cold to be fertile.

Cyngbaeld · #3 04/12/10, 04:25 PM

Lights and heat in the coop should help.

All my early ones were clear this spring. Only one of my hens has been laying up till now. A second just started. The toms are just starting their fighting so time to separate them by breed.

Jennifer L. · #4 04/12/10, 04:28 PM

It's not the cold, it's the amount of light that makes toms fertile. Very early breedings, like late February in your (and my) area, are hit and miss as far as fertility. The tom just won't be "there" yet. If you want to get your earliest poults, you need to light your toms just like you light your laying chickens, although in the toms' cases you start lighting them in January so they are fertile in February when they want to start thinking about breeding. The hens can then come on at their natural pace and be ready for breeding somewhere around the first of March here, to begin laying about two to three weeks later.

You apparently had an eager beaver hen this year and things were just too early to get the tom fertile, while the hen was ahead of schedule.

Nothing was wrong except the hen was able to jump the gun.

Jennifer

cathleenc · #5 04/12/10, 09:26 PM

oh, what new news to me! I had no clue that a tom's fertility waxed and waned with the seasons! thanks so much for sharing that.

next year? that tom is getting some pretty new lights!