Infertile eggs

[Guest The main Mahon]

I am a new starter and paired my 6 pairs of pigeons on St Valentines day.

 

The pairs have ow all laid out. The quickest after 10 days and the last to lay on the 3rd of March.

 

I have just left the birds to get on withit, but yesterday I cheched the eggs by holding them up to the light and only 3 had turned opaque. The rest were still clear.

 

My question is, how long do the eggs take to become opaque?

 

If it less than a week, that would mean that the remaining nine eggs are infertile.

 

Should I take these infertile eggs away now and let them start again, or wait until they desert the eggs?

 

Hope somebody can help or advise me.

 

Paul.     :-/

[stevebelbin]

You can normally tell after 4 days of the second egg. Hold the egg against a light and you will see red veins. I paired mine the same time as you and you would definately see by now if they are fertile. Ive checked mine and most are full, two are not. If I were you I would split them of for a few days, give them plenty of grit and minerals, and put multi-vits in the water and repair them up. But allow each pair a few hours in a seperate pen, so they dont have any problems mating.

[Guest The main Mahon]

Thanks,

 

I'll give it a go.  

[Diamond dave]

hi Mahon,

Are your birds flying out or are they prisoner stock. I suspect they are prisoners and if so what happens is every time the cock

bird tries to tread the hen the other birds will knock him off (survival of the fittest) and I strongly suspect that the eggs havent been properly fertilised. You need to make sure that the cock can run with the hen without being disturbed by the other birds on as many occasions as possible.

Better luck with your next round mate. If you do as steve suggests you may just still get some younguns that you could get racing.

D.D.

[Guest]

Hi There,

 

you could also try giving brewers yeast and cod liver oil on their corn or via tablet or capsule form. Hormoform and a personal favourite of mine, Moors Gold can also ably assist the cock birds. I always check the eggs at 8-9 days old, if they haven't turned dark by then mate they aren't going too!

 

Hope this assists,

 

With Best Regards,

 

Dave Barkel.

Barkel Bros, Sunderland.

[Guest The main Mahon]

Thanks for the advice.

 

You are correct in thinking that some of the pairs are prisoner stock. I'll try putting them a pair at a time in a spare section.

 

Cheers.

[Guest]

Much the same experience here.  

 

My birds all fly out and did so during the winter. Thought they were bang-on at pairing up on Feb 9th. Most laid quite quickly, but most of the quicker clutches are one egg infertile and one pair (2yo, 5yo) both eggs infertile. 10 pairs, only 5 pairs 100% fertile.

 

Maybe did not let them out of the box often enough as individual pairs, for long enough?

 

 

[stevebelbin]

There does seem to be a lot of people with the same prob of hens not laying and infertile eggs etc. Wonder if the weather has had an effect on them somehow  :-/!!

[Guest cloudview]

my opion  for what  its worth ,   to much   unneccasary  medication  before  pairing

[mookie]

    one reason might be your hens are over weight when i started out i overfed  . if your starting again you might think of spliting the pairs for three or four days give the hens little or nothing to eat if their young and lean they they will be down in no time

[Beanz]

There could be many reasons, hens overweight, cocks being knocked off when treading, depending on where the stock birds came from have they been using antibiotics too much, are they being sat proper which could be mite in the nesting material or mice in the loft disturbing them are but just a few.

 

 

                                                                                     Paul

[Guest Vic]

Can't be the weather! Who's joking?  Something sadly amiss somewhere. 35 parings myself, (all in). two unfilled eggs. (I don't take 'em all by the way). It could be rodents, parasites, lighting or just poor management. I hope you sort it, GOOD LUCK. Vic.  

[jimmy white]

i agree with vic on this one, as through my  own experience , found it to be mice [[never had it since ] ,,,but really could be a few reasons for this , but amongst the worse are mice, these can cause salmonella and render these eggs being infertile ,and make them lift off there eggs during the night[ as off course with parasites,,,,,,,off course thats the worst scenario,,there could very well be a simple reason ,, wish you well next time