Fertility in Jacobins is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of the breed. I get many phone calls each year from fanciers who are having problems getting their Jacobins to fertilize eggs. Many factors affect fertility in these birds and there are many things you can do to improve the fertility iin your Jacobins.
Start by only breeding from healthy birds. Sick birds or birds which are thin should never be mated. Make sure your Jacobins have lots of room. I allow 6-8 square feet of floor space per pair as well as a large nest box, 3 ft. wide, 2 1/2 ft. deep and 22 inches high. This size of nest box allows for the birds to mate in their nest box without interference from other pairs.
I have 6 pair of breeders to a section. I find that my Jacobins breed better when they are allowed to mix and compete with other Jacobin pairs. Cock birds become more aggressive when they have to compete and fertile better. I have had lazy cockbirds that would not fill eggs when confined to an individual breeding compartment but once made to compete in the open loft started to fertilize eggs. I would also like to say that I know of some fanciers who breed their Jacobins in individual compartments with good success.
Fly pens will also increase fertility. I find that once the weather is good enough that I can let my breeders out in the spring, fertility improves dramatically. My fly pens are walk in in style- 6 ft. high and the same size as my inside compartments for ground space. However any size of fly pen is better than none.
The age of your Jacobins also has a bearing on their ability to fertile.I have had cock birds fertile until they were 8 years old but at this age and older they often become less vigorous and it becomes a hit and miss affair. Hens, if managed properly, will lay until they are 7 or 8 or older. The important thing is not to pump your hens and let them raise a few young each year. Hens which are over-worked or old will start to lay soft, chalky shelled eggs or eggs which are too small or stop laying all together. Sometimes a calcium supplement which must be derived from oyster shell or limestone will help along with a rest.
I find my breeders are most productive in their first 4 years.
Feed is important. I feed lots of wheat and peas as well as fresh greens and a good grit mixture. Supplementing the birds with some form of iodine is also a good idea. However, if your birds are healthy and still not fertilizing, I don’t think changing the feed will make much difference.
Trimming the birds for the breeding season is very important. I do not trim any feathers around the head simply because I do not like to spoil the appearance of my birds for half of the year and these feathers do not effect fertility. I do trim about 2 inches off of the tail and flights of both the hens and cocks. Most importantly I trim the long fluffy feathers around the vent from the legs back and slightly up each side of the tail around the vent. Don’t be afraid to trim close.
I had been trimming my Jacobins like this for 20 years and a couple of years ago I had a pair which I could not get good eggs from. I was frustrated because this should have been a key mating for my program. My good friend, Bill Sacher came out to visit and when I told him my problem, he asked if I would let him trim them for me. He took a pair of scissors and trimmed them very close- closer than I normally did- and sure enough the next round was fertile.
Moving birds to different lofts and into different enviroments and climates can also disrupt their ability to reproduce. This is more so in hens than cocks as hens will often take a year or so to start to lay when they arrive here from a warmer climate. On the other hand, changing lofts can also help. I once bred a yellow cock who was twice CCJC Champion and he only filled one egg each year for 2 years. Another fancier took him to try him and he got 6 youngsters the first year.
Jacobins probably more than any other breed are affected by the weather. When the weather is cold and the day-light hours are short, Jacobins show very little if any interest in mating. Cock birds do not fertile well in cold weather as they just are not interested in mating and it seems artificial heat does not work as well as warm, sunny weather. Jacobins breed best when it is hot and sunny. The problem is this is too late in the season for us to raise youngsters in Canada because they will not mature in time for the shows.
Some breeders have suggested that mating birds that are too closely related will hurt fertility but I linebreed closely and have never found this to be a problem. The important thing is to only breed from healthy, vigorous birds.
In my oppinion the biggest problem today affecting fertility in our Jacobins is the fact that too many breeders have not culled their birds hard enough for this trait.
I breed cattle for a living and the number one factor effecting profitability is not how fast they gain weight or anything at all about how they look or act but rather fertility. Without a live calf on the ground we do not have anything - and so it is with our Jacobins.
Birds which are slow to breed should be culled. Unfortunately, some breeders choose to breed from them or worse - sell them.
I have found that fertility is a highly inherent trait and by culling birds for this trait you can eliminate most of your fertility problems. I bred from 16 pair of Jacobins this past season and these included 8 young cocks and I had fertile eggs from every pair.
In my early years in Jacobins I had a family of really nice Yellows. The breeder I got them from told me he often didn’t even mate the young cocks the first year because they ussually didn’t fill. As it turned out I raised hardly any youngsters, often with less than half of my pairs fertiling. After a few years I disposed of most of them and started over by introducing some new stock. The old family almost went extinct because I was hardly able to raise enough young to replace my old birds, never mind making improvements to the stock that I had.
In the early 90’s I wanted to get started in Almonds and I wanted to start with the best. I purchased the best cock I could find. He had won Champion at a major U.S. show and I paid a lot of money for him. All I needed was this one bird to start this colour family. In the first year he only filled one egg and it hatched. It was an Almond hen. The second year he only filled one egg and it was a cock. At this point I was fed up with the poor fertility so I gave him to a friend and told him to do what he wanted with him. He never filled another egg and my friend culled him. The cock I raised from him never filled a single egg in two years so I culled him. I kept the Almond hen I raised and mated her to a Kite I bred from my Blacks. From them I raised two Almond cocks which I kept. These two cocks only fertiled one egg each late in the season the first year I had them. I loaned the Almond hen and her mate to Gerald Wiebe and he bred an Almond cock from the pair who went on to win Champion Young Jacobin at the Canadian National in 1999. This bird has never fertilized an egg. I then loaned this same pair to Todd Toews and he bred an Almond cock from them that has won Grand Champion Fancy Pigeon at Edmonton Northlands for the past two years in a row. This bird has not yet filled a single egg for Todd.
I know of many other instances of families of Jacobins which have been successful in the shows but have gone on to disappear because they would not reproduce or reproduced too slow to make the genetic improvements necessary to stay competitive.
If possible purchase only proven breeders or take your chances with young birds and cull hard for fertility.
Clint Robertson Email: clint@jacobins.ca
