I have 2 young females who are piercing their eggs and then throwing them out of the box. any suggestions as to how I can overcome this problem ? thanks Alex

Are you colony breeding or closed breeding?

 

If you have another hen on a nest you can remove the eggs as they are laid and foster them to another bird. This could mean the two hens are too young as yet to breed, not sure what to do with the eggs or they are laying the eggs before seeing the nest as 'ready'. If you are colony breeding they might be stressing due to other hens near the nest or it could even be another hen trying to take over the boxes as hers.

How old are the hens ? This sounds like the behaviour of a hen too young. But also a pierced egg becomes a non viable egg and the hens know and throw these ones out.

I have 2 young females who are piercing their eggs and then throwing them out of the box. any suggestions as to how I can overcome this problem ? thanks Alex

 

Thank you for your replies and please accept my apologies for not responding sooner, in answer to your queries my birds are housed in individual ( 1 pair per cage )breeding cages which are 600mm wide 400mm deep and 380mm high, all breeding boxes are mounted externally and are constructed from non toxic materials. Yes they are both young birds. Thanks again Alex

Edited August 22, 200718 yr by lucky5547

I have 2 young females who are piercing their eggs and then throwing them out of the box. any suggestions as to how I can overcome this problem ? thanks Alex

 

Thank you for your replies and please accept my apologies for not responding sooner, in answer to your queries my birds are housed in individual ( 1 pair per cage )breeding cages which are 600mm wide 400mm deep and 380mm high, all breeding boxes are mounted externally and are constructed from non toxic materials. Yes they are both young birds. Thanks again Alex

How young Alex ?

I have 2 young females who are piercing their eggs and then throwing them out of the box. any suggestions as to how I can overcome this problem ? thanks Alex

 

Thank you for your replies and please accept my apologies for not responding sooner, in answer to your queries my birds are housed in individual ( 1 pair per cage )breeding cages which are 600mm wide 400mm deep and 380mm high, all breeding boxes are mounted externally and are constructed from non toxic materials. Yes they are both young birds. Thanks again Alex

How young Alex ?

 

Hi Kaz, Hard to tell but we have had them now for about 5 months. They came from the best pet shop in Port Macquarie and I would hazard a guess that they were not long out of the nest. Since this initial post one of them has gone on to produce 7 babies all perfect and 3 of them even had the same crest as mum. The other female is the dominant little girl who now has the wife beater for company so I cant see any breeding going on with her for a while. Thanks again Alex.

Too young a hen is why the eggs were thrown out. Recommended age for breeding hens is 12 months and older up to age of 4 years. I would NOT breed a hen that was 6-7 months as yours seems to be. You seem to have had a good result in the end, this time, but it wouldn't always be the case if you use hens that are far too young. A lot of people think that a hen who has the right coloured cere for breeding condition is ready to breed. But AGE also is important. Hens can have that colour cere at 4-5 months, and act flirty with the cockbirds but still it is too young for breeding.

Lucky, you said some had crests.Could you post photo of them.If they are crests they maybe a small bird anyway.From my experince,crests are good mothers & to hatch 7chicks.not abad effort.

Too young a hen is why the eggs were thrown out. Recommended age for breeding hens is 12 months and older up to age of 4 years. I would NOT breed a hen that was 6-7 months as yours seems to be. You seem to have had a good result in the end, this time, but it wouldn't always be the case if you use hens that are far too young. A lot of people think that a hen who has the right coloured cere for breeding condition is ready to breed. But AGE also is important. Hens can have that colour cere at 4-5 months, and act flirty with the cockbirds but still it is too young for breeding.

Thanks Kaz, point taken I suppose I will have to build an aviary now. Cheers Alex