Grow Your Own Magazine

hello again can you help me please i have just found out one of my chickens is a cock bird i think the birds are bantams so two questions really do cock batams crow morning and night and will i still be able to eat the eggs that the hens will hopefully start laying[they are only seven weeks old] all help is much appreciated

Once mature cocks will crow from dawn to dusk, they are classed as a noise nusance and if you are in a built up area you may need to either re-home or cull - sorry! You might try going back to the supplier and asking to swap it for a hen.....

As to the eggs - yes you can eat fertile eggs, but should do so fairly soon after they are laid - sounds horrid but you don't want to crack an egg and have something 'other' fall into the pan!

There is no more chance of "something other" coming out of a fertile egg than an infertile one. The sperm on an egg is an all but invisible dot on the yolk and this doesn't develop unless the egg is brooded under a hen (or in an incubator). I run several cocks with my hens and never have any problems.

I understood that on occasion the egg could develop and some people do find the bloodspot unsettling, however, thanks for correcting me - I'll try to remember!

Terry

__________________
The weeks and the years are fine. It's the days I can't cope with!

We used to have a cockerel running with our hens, the only time we didn't eat the eggs was if they were found under a hen that had started to sit. I understood that the eggs had to be kept warm for a while before the embryo chick started to develop.

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk