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[neilthrun]

Hey, I've tried searching around the forums, but its difficult to tell what's current and whats outdated. I understand that egg fertilization is different in the latest version, and my 2 year old unhatched eggs prove it. Can anyone spell out how to get an egg industry going? Or link me to a current discussion? Specific questions:

Do male birds need to be able to reach the eggs to fertilize them?
Should I have an equal number of males and females? More females? More males?
If locking birds in 1x1 rooms and forbiding doors doesn't work. How do I keep my dwarves from harvesting the eggs?
Is egg production and bird breeding actually viable in this version? Or should I just butcher all these turkeys?

[Trappington]

I'm afraid I don't know much about the egg industry, as I haven't had any experience with it prior to my current fort.  All that I can say is that I had some difficulty getting a clutch of blue peahen eggs to hatch, and I went through several batches of eggs before I got it to work.  Have you tried allowing the collection of the eggs currently in your nest boxes and then trying again with a new set of eggs that your turkeys have laid? 

[neilthrun]

I'm afraid I don't know much about the egg industry, as I haven't had any experience with it prior to my current fort.  All that I can say is that I had some difficulty getting a clutch of blue peahen eggs to hatch, and I went through several batches of eggs before I got it to work.  Have you tried allowing the collection of the eggs currently in your nest boxes and then trying again with a new set of eggs that your turkeys have laid?

Yeah, about to do remove the eggs and try again. Piecing together different posts, it looks like my male turkeys need to be able to reach the eggs, and that some males and females are infertile. I've got the traders bringing more male turkeys (i only have one male, six females currently).

ALSO, maybe I put this in the wrong forum. Could a moderator move it to the Fortress Mode or Gameplay forums? Whichever seems more appropriate.

[Zuglarkun]

Do male birds need to be able to reach the eggs to fertilize them?
Should I have an equal number of males and females? More females? More males?
If locking birds in 1x1 rooms and forbiding doors doesn't work. How do I keep my dwarves from harvesting the eggs?
Is egg production and bird breeding actually viable in this version? Or should I just butcher all these turkeys?

1. Yes. But you know that already.

2. Doesn't matter, you just need one pair that is able to breed. A single male can fertilize multiple batches. I seem to recall that some folks remarked that 3 of each sexual orientation give you pretty good chances of landing a breeding pair.

3. Eggs need to incubate, disturbed eggs won't hatch if mother is moved during incubation. You'll want to disable that
specific egg type from your food stockpile and just to be certain, go to the kitchens menu and disable cooking for that specific egg type, so cooks won't run in to the breeding room to grab eggs when they run out of ingredients to cook.

4. Egg production and breeding has been viable since last version and continues to be the same this version as far as I know. Only wrinkle in the process is that the changes to gender states make it more finicky to find a breeding pair (They both need to be heterosexual). Otherwise, everything else is the same.

Other things to note, hatching takes about a season or so, assuming they are fertilized. If they don't hatch for some reason or are unfertilized, you'll want to collect them so that the nest box can be freed for a new batch of eggs.

Overall, breeding animals is improved in my opinion, since you don't need to modify the raws to allow creatures without a [child] token to breed (Notably dragons). Do note that asexual reproduction is not yet enabled. So no Giant snail breeding without some raw modification. Good luck!

[klefenz]

If locking birds in 1x1 rooms and forbiding doors doesn't work. How do I keep my dwarves from harvesting the eggs?

Reproduction via "spores" has been removed. The male needs to get to the female.
Try locking both in a room with nest boxes.

[Niyazov]

If locking birds in 1x1 rooms and forbiding doors doesn't work. How do I keep my dwarves from harvesting the eggs?

Reproduction via "spores" has been removed. The male needs to get to the female.
Try locking both in a room with nest boxes.

As other posters have mentioned, it's likely that a few of your animals will be gay or otherwise unwilling to have sex, so you may need multiple potential studs nearby to ensure fertilization.  Some 3rd-party utilities will reveal livestock sexual orientation. Only in Dwarf Fortress!

[neilthrun]

4. Egg production and breeding has been viable since last version and continues to be the same this version as far as I know. Only wrinkle in the process is that the changes to gender states make it more finicky to find a breeding pair (They both need to be heterosexual). Otherwise, everything else is the same.

COOL. I followed the advice in your post, and now I've got dozens and dozens out turkey poults. I probably didn't need to forbid that many stacks of eggs! haha.

I locked my hens and gobblers in a room with nest boxes. Forbid the doors, forbid the eggs for good measure. It actually doesn't play out too differently than the old methods, but you no longer need the individuals rooms. 50+ turkeys and turkey babies are now pathing around their room, but I haven't seen an FPS drop.

A side problem, the old eggs that didn't hatch went bad I think. My turkey room had a bunch of worms, ticks, lice, slugs, snails, etc. I moved all the turkeys too a new room, but it seems the vermin travelled with them, with no vermin in the old room. I pastured some cats with my turkeys, but I still haven't eliminated the pests. Any advice? Just more cats maybe?

[Zuglarkun]

A side problem, the old eggs that didn't hatch went bad I think. My turkey room had a bunch of worms, ticks, lice, slugs, snails, etc. I moved all the turkeys too a new room, but it seems the vermin travelled with them, with no vermin in the old room. I pastured some cats with my turkeys, but I still haven't eliminated the pests. Any advice? Just more cats maybe?

That is normal behavior in this version. If the eggs did go bad, then their description will label them as rotten eggs, and you'll probably get miasma. But in this case, those birds will "scratch" the ground, for insects to "eat". The vermin follow your birds around because the birds are digging all the vermin out of the ground where ever they happen to be. All the more reason to pasture your birds in their own room I suppose.

[neilthrun]

That is normal behavior in this version. Those birds will root in the "soil" or in most cases, rock, for insects to "eat". The vermin follow your birds around because the birds are digging all the vermin out of the ground where ever they happen to be. All the more reason to pasture your birds in their own room I suppose.

COOL. Good to know, I won't stress about it then.

[TheFlame52]

The females need to be fertilized, not the eggs. When a female is pregnant, she will lay fertilized eggs and no longer be pregnant. Small misconception.