A Breeding Question

[imprimis]

I am not quite sure if this question belongs here though it does deal with the fertilization of hatching eggs.

If a rooster does his job with a hen on day 1, about how many days will her eggs be fertile? I think I've have read here somewhere that it is multiple days. Now, if you have a second rooster of a different breed than the first and he does his job on say day 2, which rooster will have an affect on the fertile egg?

Sorry for the confusing question.

Eric

 

[L*A*G*]

hmmmmm... that is a questoin u got there.
i'm not much help but when my rooster started to breed all my eggs has been fertile every since.

 

[Teach97]

Rooster one can last weeks not just days...as for lineage with a second rooster on day 2...that would be a toss of the dice either could be the daddy and the next egg could be from a different father

 

[patandchickens]

They usually say you should wait several weeks, possibly as much as a month, after 'changing roosters' if you want to be certain of the parentage of the chicks.

Fertility is fairly high for as much as 4-5 days after mating, but takes a good while to drop to zero, you know?

HTH,

Pat

 

[imprimis]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

14 days is the rule used if doing AI so I would think the same would apply for live cover.

 

[Ryu]

We have gotten fertile eggs from hens removed from the rooster for 3.5 weeks. I haven't gone any further out than that.

 

[DTchickens]

toss of dice is correct, a hen can stay "fertile" off one mating session for up to 4 weeks, However if you let another rooster breed her after 2 weeks. the eggs will be off of him.... We used to switch our chickens a lot (like say... we have 1 rhode island red hen.. and 1 rooster, but we want to breed her to a....White leghorn too. we would put the rhode island red in there... few days take him out.. wait 2 weeks. put the white leghorn in there)

 

[Tailfeathers]

Here's a suggestion:

Put your rooster over your hen for 2 days then pull him out. Test for fertility with the next few eggs. As soon as you get a fertile egg, collect eggs for two weeks.

Then the beginning of the third week, put your second rooster on your hen but wait 7-10 days before collecting eggs. After the 7-10 days waiting period, test for fertility. You can start collecting eggs for those from the second rooster as soon as you get fertility again.

That shortens the lag time between matings and gets you into production for fertilized eggs again without any confusion as to who the father is.

God Bless,