1st Timer: Rooster Used for Breeding and Meat?

[sowing.clover]

With spring time fast approaching, I can't help but get excited for hatching. I currently have four healthy hens in my urban backyard: 2 Plymouth (or Barred) Rocks, 1 Americana, and 1 Buckeye. I would like some opinions on the plan I have devised.

We would like to get a rooster to breed with our hens. I was thinking of taking home a rooster, letting him spend a day or two with them so that they mate, and then slaughtering him.

Questions: Does rooster meat get tough once they become fertile? What is the best way to breed our chickens? (It was my hope to get a Plymouth Rock rooster and let him breed with only the P.R. hens, separating out the other two in the mean time.) After breeding, for how many days are the eggs fertile... two or three? How often do roosters crow... all the time? I am very new to this and any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Welcome to BYC!!!!

1st - Plymouth & Barred are two different colors of Rock Chickens

2nd - why do you want a rooster at all? are you going to hatch the eggs? just asking because some people mistakenly think they need to breed their hens to get eggs - you don't need to .

Tough is a subjective term - some peole call it "chewy" and others say "meaty" and it really depends on how you define those terms. Fertile does not have a lot to do with it but age does.

No reason to seperate your other hens, if you don't want the chicks just don't incubate the eggs.

After mating hens can produce fertile eggs for quite some time - up to two weeks is the standard accepted number, but 30 days is not unheard of.

Most Roosters crow ALL THE TIME

 

[sowing.clover]

1. Yes, we want fertile eggs. My hens have been laying for several months, even through the winter (one a day from each hen! I'm so proud!)

2. We wanted to experience what it's like to raise our own chicks from eggs, and also slaughtering. We feel comfortable with our hens and egg laying now, and are ready for something new.

3. We plan to get a Barred Rock Rooster. Would it be alright if he bred with the Americana and the Buckeye? Would we get a mixed breed? This is why I was thinking of separating these two out from the Barred Rock hens.

4. From mating just one or two times, the hens would really be fertile for a few weeks?! Wow!

5. Is this a good idea? I live in a pretty urban neighborhood and if I introduced a rooster into my coop, I'm sure there would be fights and stress. Would they be too stressed out to lay, even after being fertilized?

 

[donrae]

Your BR roo could mate with all the hens. I'm guessing you know which egg your ameraucana lays by color. I don't know what color eggs a buckeye lays. Katy was saying you can just incubate the barred rock eggs and eat the others, if you want pure breds. Personally, I like mixed breeds, but to each his own. That would probably be easier than seperating your hens.

It may take a few days or longer for you hens to accept the roo, so you'd probably need more than a day or two. I'd plan on a week, at least. There may well be fighting, but they'll probably still lay. Or if they stop, they'll start again after you pull the roo out and still have fertile eggs for a week or so, at least. Rule of thumb is hens hold sperm for two weeks on average.