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Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 05 7:33 pm Post subject:

DarrenG wrote:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Duck eggs are always fertile I think, not sure about geese and other birds.

duck are not allways fertile, you do need a drake

I was told (well my parents when we kept ducks were told) that ducks will not lay without a drake. If that's the case then I would have thought there would be a reasonable chance of the eggs being fertile. If that's not the case then I've learnt something though I think more people keep ducks and drakes than hens and cockerals together.

alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 05 10:05 pm Post subject:
You don't need a drake to get duck eggs. We only have females, 21 at the moment and on average 16 eggs a day from them.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 05 10:11 pm Post subject:
Well that's good to know. What type are they? We had Aylesbury ducks, three females to a drake. As the drakes are far quieter than cockerals perhaps they are just more commonly kept.

alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 05 11:14 pm Post subject:
All bar three are kharkis, the three are Aylesburys.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 05 11:55 pm Post subject:
Alison, what on earth do you do with so many eggs?

alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 05 9:18 am Post subject:
Sell them We have 350 chickens as well. We are on the main road out of Ilfracombe and we could sell twice as many, if I had the hens or inclination.

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 12:24 am Post subject:

Gertie wrote:

Had a debate at work today - do hens lay better if there is a cockerel kept with them - I said I didn't think so, they will lay them anyway. My friend says I talk sh*t. Do I or don't I.

We keep 3 hens and NO cock, and we are drowning in eggs, even at this time of year, as we are currently providing our hens with extra light during the Winter, (see my post on the 'Letting Hens Out in the Morning' thread).

I have been keeping laying records, and though I haven't done the sums yet, I think they are doing even better than we have been led to believe they would. This is probably because we only have a very small number and they have minimal pressure on them from other flock members.

As someone else said, keeping a cockerel helps to reduce the number of disputes among the hens, and probably helps the hens feel more secure and content, which may in turn make them lay a few more eggs. I don't think this is anything to do with the fact the hens are being fertilized, though.

It is interesting that having no cockerel around, Bermuda, our current head-honcho hen, has gradually become more and more aggressive to outsiders, ie. we humans, and now regularly attacks hands, trousers and ankles when we are in the garden.

I've read that this happens sometimes, and that if you introduce a cockerel into the flock, she will revert back to her normal behaviour.

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