I'm wondering if it is acceptable to get an extra clutch out of a pair by removing eggs and fostering them to another pair? For example if you had a pair who you wanted to get as many chicks as possible from could you remove their first five eggs and foster them under another hen/s thereby allowing the hen to raise one clutch while the fosterhen raises a second clutch from the other pair? Under these circumstances could you then allow the hen to lay and raise a third clutch?

hmmm... I know what my wife would say... you try pushing out an egg... I would say that a couple of clutches might be okay but a third is probably a bit much...

True Jimmy but we think nothing of removing a clutch of infertile eggs and letting them lay once or twice more...

Most people would let them raise the two clutches and if she laid again at the end, they would foster the third clutch of eggs to another hen. Your method is very much the same thing really. You would just want to be sure she was good with her calcium levels to pump out all those eggs. Its the raising of the chicks thats more stressful and takes its toll on a hen ( and the cock for that matter ). My hen that just laid 12 eggs on second round ( 9 in the first round ) is looking pretty good healthwise, so thats a plus.

Thanks... I'm waiting to see what the result is from my first crested clutch but if they do well and the chicks look like they'll be good then I may do this after she has her second clutch. It will allow me to be more picky with which chicks from the pair I use next year in crested pairs as I want to breed out to some larger birds to increase the size.