Hi from New Zealand

The breeding season is well under way and after such a mild winter, and this continuing into spring it looks like it is going to be a really good breeding season.

First reports in from various breeders is that fertility is reasonably good, but the biggest plus seems to be that the hatchability this year is better than normal. Whether the mild weather is keeping the humidity up and the shells are easier for the chick to get out I am not sure.

From a personal viewpoint apart from a few fertile eggs that have addled I have not had a single dead in shell. From my 15 pairs I have only had one pair with a completely clear first round.

One current year pair, which would have been my best young cock, and a young hen out of a cock which has done real well on the show bench, I thought had clear eggs as she had laid 5 and nothing showing. Then one showed fertile, and she kept laying and the following day there were another 4 fertile, so obviously she had not sat tight until she laid 5 eggs. She finally laid 12 eggs , 11 of which were fertile. With 5 hatching in the first 24 hours I was a bit worried how she would feed but she had no problems at all. I farmed out the oldest chicks on an ongoing basis and the 11 fertile eggs all hatched. One chick died at two days but the other ten are now rung, so it will be interesting to see how they end up.

Keith Flockhart

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