chrisrj02
In the Brooder
- May 7, 2017
- 3
- 0
- 10
First of all, I am new to the forum! Thanks for having me!!
Last spring, I bought 24 chukar eggs and a cheap Styrofoam incubator with little to no knowledge of what I was doing. Out of the 24 eggs I only had 5 hatch. I built a pen about 15 ft x 4 ft and put them in. A few months later I bought some other eggs and hatched out 7 more. I put them in a separate pen. When they got bigger, I tried combining the 7 with the original 5 and they instantly started trying to kill each other, so I separated them again and they've been that way ever since. They all lived all winter long with no issues until 2 weeks ago. I came home 3 consecutive days to find a dead chukar that was a bloody mess in the pen with the original 5, so now there was 2 left. A few days later I had an egg in the pen, and about every other day I have an egg now, (up to 5 eggs now). Now here comes the questions........Since day 1 I have not been able to tell a difference in any of the birds besides one that is clearly much bigger than the rest. None have spurs or even bumps at all. The two biggest birds I have are the only 2 that are left in my original pen, which is where I am getting the eggs. The pen with 7 birds are yet to lay an egg and all the birds look exactly the same size, but I did see two birds mating a few weeks ago.
Do birds have to be a certain age before they develop the spurs that people say they have?
What are the chances I have 7 females in the second pen, and what I saw as far as the mating was a fluke?
Do females have to have a male present to lay eggs or will they lay unfertile eggs with no male present?
Would it be a bad idea to take the male from the one pen and put him in the pen with the other 7 and see if I start getting more eggs?
I do know the eggs I've got are fertile. I put them in the incubator and all but 1 is fertile, so I know I have one male and one female there. How often does that male have to mate the female to keep the eggs fertile? If I take the male away will the eggs keep being fertile??
Sorry this is so long but I want to get this right. I've tried researching and haven't found answers to all my questions. I figured you all would know from experience if you don't mind helping a guy out. Thanks for your time!
Last spring, I bought 24 chukar eggs and a cheap Styrofoam incubator with little to no knowledge of what I was doing. Out of the 24 eggs I only had 5 hatch. I built a pen about 15 ft x 4 ft and put them in. A few months later I bought some other eggs and hatched out 7 more. I put them in a separate pen. When they got bigger, I tried combining the 7 with the original 5 and they instantly started trying to kill each other, so I separated them again and they've been that way ever since. They all lived all winter long with no issues until 2 weeks ago. I came home 3 consecutive days to find a dead chukar that was a bloody mess in the pen with the original 5, so now there was 2 left. A few days later I had an egg in the pen, and about every other day I have an egg now, (up to 5 eggs now). Now here comes the questions........Since day 1 I have not been able to tell a difference in any of the birds besides one that is clearly much bigger than the rest. None have spurs or even bumps at all. The two biggest birds I have are the only 2 that are left in my original pen, which is where I am getting the eggs. The pen with 7 birds are yet to lay an egg and all the birds look exactly the same size, but I did see two birds mating a few weeks ago.
Do birds have to be a certain age before they develop the spurs that people say they have?
What are the chances I have 7 females in the second pen, and what I saw as far as the mating was a fluke?
Do females have to have a male present to lay eggs or will they lay unfertile eggs with no male present?
Would it be a bad idea to take the male from the one pen and put him in the pen with the other 7 and see if I start getting more eggs?
I do know the eggs I've got are fertile. I put them in the incubator and all but 1 is fertile, so I know I have one male and one female there. How often does that male have to mate the female to keep the eggs fertile? If I take the male away will the eggs keep being fertile??
Sorry this is so long but I want to get this right. I've tried researching and haven't found answers to all my questions. I figured you all would know from experience if you don't mind helping a guy out. Thanks for your time!
