Hi, me again.... Does anyone have a good site on the reproduction of a chicken, Can you run them together and wait for them to come into "season" to seperate? How does that work? Hopefully this info will help me figure out how I need to seperate or not all the different breeds we have on our list. It sure would help if there weren't so many gorgeous ones!!! Thanks in advance!!! Take care all, Angela
The rooster 'services' the hen. She stores up the semen for up to 3 weeks or so and produces fertile eggs. Hens are constantly fertile - they don't have a 'heat' cycle per-se like a mammal, although they do slack off egg production in the winter when there is less daylight, or in periods of stress like moult or relocation. If you want pure bred chickens, pen up your roo and hen(s) together and eat the eggs for the first 3 weeks. By the 4th week her eggs will be fertile from the roo she is with and not some other roo. Is that what you were asking?? Other little known fact...unlike in mammals (like humans) it's not the rooster that determines the gender of the chick, but the hen.
Darn birds and their W's and Y's!! My darn silkie girl throws all boys!!!! Arlee's right bout how to get specific breeds. I have a separate coop where I can lock up the lucky guy with his girls when I want fertile eggs that are of a specific mix.
Thats great information, thanks very much! I wonder how they determine the sex, would different feeds do something or just the way they are genetically? Interesting. Thanks to you all I've learned my one something new today, well, maybe more like 10+ things, anyway....
Feed and genetics have nothing to do with the sex of the chicks. It is a 50/50 chance but not always a 50/50 result. A couple of years ago I hatched 32 chicks and 22 were roosters....