Breeding pens

[tnmommy]

I have some questions about handling roos and breeding pens.
1) Do you put the rooster in the breeding pen with the best hens and leave them for the entire breeding season? I currently have one rooster and 3 hens but they needed a break. I can't imagine it would be fair to them to stay with a rooster for months.
2) Can you leave the rooster with the breeding hens for a week or two a month to give the girls a break without worrying about fertility? I was thinking of a breeding pen where the hens stay full time but the rooster could be with the entire flock for half the month and with the breeding hens the other half, but the breeding hens stay in their breeding pen full time. I guess the only way to test that fertility would be to break open a few eggs to check for the bull's eye spot.

 

[my sunwolf]

Following, I'm interested in this as well!

 

[jerryse]

I leave them together full time. If you do separate fertility will drop off after 10 days. Best to give the rooster visiting privileges once a week .

 

[LBKS]

I have some questions about handling roos and breeding pens.
1) Do you put the rooster in the breeding pen with the best hens and leave them for the entire breeding season? I currently have one rooster and 3 hens but they needed a break. I can't imagine it would be fair to them to stay with a rooster for months.
2) Can you leave the rooster with the breeding hens for a week or two a month to give the girls a break without worrying about fertility? I was thinking of a breeding pen where the hens stay full time but the rooster could be with the entire flock for half the month and with the breeding hens the other half, but the breeding hens stay in their breeding pen full time. I guess the only way to test that fertility would be to break open a few eggs to check for the bull's eye spot.

For #1 you could alternatively have them in pens where there are enough hens to not be overwhelmed by one rooster. If you don't have enough breeding project hens to fill it out that much, you can always use hens with distinctly different colored eggs (brown/white layers for a blue egg project for example).

 

[tnmommy]

Now why didn't I think of that?? Hens that lay different colored eggs!