Advice on putting a pair of chickens together for breeding, please?

[Puppybirds]

In my flock I have Barred Rocks and various other breeds. I have a really pretty rooster who is a mix Barred Rock and Marans. I wanted to breed him to my black Frizzled Cochin hen. I am not sure how long or often I should put them together, Can anyone give me advice on this? Thanks for your comments.

 

[lazy gardener]

It takes about 2 weeks for the sperm from previous matings to die off. So, you would either have to isolate your desired hen for 2 weeks, then introduce the rooster. Any subsequent eggs will produce his chicks. Otherwise, you could put the 2 birds together and wait 2 weeks before collecting hatching eggs. You can leave them together as long as he is not excessively breeding her. I assume that you have other roosters? You might want to check her current eggs to see if they are fertile. If they are, your breeding plan should move along well. If her eggs are not fertile, you might need to trim her butt feathers to ensure successful breeding. Good luck with your plan.

 

[donrae]

Is he your only rooster? Is she in with him now? Please give us a better idea of how you're keeping everyone now.

 

[Puppybirds]

They are both just under a year old. She had been in with the flock, but she was mated so often that she was loosing her feathers and was getting picked on by the other hens, So I moved her to her own area next to the flock but separate so she can heal. She has grown almost all her feathers back and has been separate for about 2 months. The rooster and his brothers free range but roost inside the barn, while their dad is the flock rooster for 12 hens. The flock free ranges and sleep in their own coop inside the barn. I was thinking that maybe the Cochin hen and the Barred rock/ Marans rooster could breed next year. I live in Michigan

 

[donrae]

So, if she's not been exposed to other roosters, you can simply put them together. Say you put them together on Monday. Her egg Monday won't be fertile, and Tuesday's egg will be iffy. Wednesday's egg will be fertile, and so will each egg from there on out, as long as they're together. This is assuming he mates her the day they're introduced.

As lazygardener said, if she's been exposed to an undesired rooster, you'll have to have her off that rooster at least 2 weeks before you can be sure the chicks are from the desired rooster.

 

[Puppybirds]

Thank you all for your informative comments. I learned a lot and feel confident now about breeding them.