Rooster play date?

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Hatching

Hatching

Songster
6 Years
Jan 2, 2014
335
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I've got a small flock of 7 birds and would like to expand it this spring but don't want to order chicks again, the hassle and everything, I would prefer my Cochin just brood the chicks for me. The problem is I do not own a rooster nor am I allowed to have one. I do however have a friend in town that does have rooster, my question is: if I take a few of my hens over to her place how many days would it take to ensure the rooster has fertilized them. I'm aware that moving the hens may stress them and they may not lay immediately and I've read that fertility will decrease over the next month. I'm not so worried about the drop in fertility as I only want about 3-5 more hens to add. But how long will it take to ensure they've mated?

If it would only take a day or two I might get brave and invite the rooster over instead of taking the girls
 
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If you are not allowed a rooster, what do you plan to do with the cockerels you hatch?

If you really want to put eggs under a broody it would be far easier just to find some local fertile eggs instead.
 
They may not let the rooster anywhere near them. And it's very stressful on them when you change their environment. And you have to know when your hen is going broody, weeks in advance.
It's much easier and less stressful for all involved to wait until one goes broody, buy some fertile hatching eggs, and set them under the hen to hatch.
 
I agree with wait till one goes broody ...

Why not just get eggs from your friend once your sure you have a broody hen (or two!), it would be the same father ...
 
She says she will gladly take my cockerels, for the pot, and as far as waiting until one goes broody I've heard from many people that properly stored eggs can have relatively high fertility for up to three weeks, I was just assuming that three weeks would be enough time to get at least one Cochin broody seeing as one tries to broody like every other week

But I was also wondering if the hens would even LET the rooster mate
 
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Hatching said:
She says she will gladly take my cockerels, for the pot, and as far as waiting until one goes broody I've heard from many people that properly stored eggs can have relatively high fertility for up to three weeks, I was just assuming that three weeks would be enough time to get at least one Cochin broody seeing as one tries to broody like every other week

But I was also wondering if the hens would even LET the rooster mate
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Being moved to a new environment may stress them to the point that they stop laying, thereby defeating the purpose of the visit.
Hatching eggs might hatch after being stored for a month, but it's a big gamble. Viability starts to decline after the first week.
 
When I move hens to different breeding pens (on the same property, usually just a fence over from where they were before), I have very mixed reactions to the new roosters. Some hens are thrilled to let him court her and mate right off. Some square off with the rooster and fight with him for a few days, literally spurring at him and refusing to submit. Of course, some of this depends on the skills of the rooster involved, the mature gentleman gets better response than the randy young wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. But overall, it's a crapshoot of the individual animals involved.

I'd use the opportunity of a broody to diversify my breeds by adding unrelated stock. Or, to simplify things, I'd let her brood on bait eggs for 3 weeks and put day old sexed pullets under her. That way you don't have to worry about cockerels, and you can order a variety of breeds.
 

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