Egg laying Question

[EastTexasChick]

Hello everybody, I have a couple chicken questions about egg laying (Im really new to chickens, only had them about 3 months now)... I was just wondering (this is gonna sound so stupid I know) when a roo tops a hen will her next egg have a chick in it or does it take a couple of eggs later ? Also will she just have one chick or will she lay several eggs with chicks from the same roo (I always see a hen with several chicks in pictures so wasnt sure about this lol)... I know I have awhile before mine start to lay but I have a chicken and roo I want to breed and was just wondering about all this.. Thanks for any and all help...

 

[Ridgerunner]

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through the hen's internal egg factory. It can only be fertilized during the first 15 minutes of that process. Say a rooster mates with a hen on Monday. Monday's egg will definitely not be fertile from that mating. (They may have previously mated so it might be fertile) Tuesday's egg might be fertile or might not. It depends on what time the mating occurred on Monday and whether Tuesday's egg had started its way through the egg laying factory. Wednesday's egg will most likely be fertile.

A hen usually lays fertile eggs for an average of about 2 weeks after a successful mating. (You'll notice I'm using a lot of weasel words like usually, average, and about. It is not a definite) Some go longer, some less, but two weeks is pretty safe.

 

[EastTexasChick]

Thanks for answering my question... I had asked my husband about it last night (he use to have chickens a long time ago) and he just gave me a puzzled look and told me to ask some one on the fourms lol...

 

[gritsar]

Ridge answered your first question well. As to the second question, none of the eggs will have baby chicks in them, even if fertilized, unless a. a hen goes broody and decides to set or b. you put them in an incubator. The eggs have to be maintained at a certain temperature, via the broody or the bator, before an embryo will start to develop.
ETA: We eat all the fertile eggs in this household. My hens can't be bothered with going broody and I can't be bothered with the incubator right now.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

Some basics I know. After a hen and rooster mate, her eggs will be fertile for ABOUT 10-12 days. In the natural state, she will lay from 20-30 eggs before becoming "broody". Then begin to sit on them. It takes 21 days of her boy warmth for the embryos to develop into chicks. By waiting to lay all her eggs before sitting on them, she has them hatching all within a day or two. Hope that helps.

 

[Rennie]

Quote:
Does this work the same if i was to incubate too ?.. I mean if i leave the eggs in the nest to collect 3 (may take 5 days) would they all be ok to go into incubator at the same time, Or would you personally recommend putting them in the incubator as i get them .. but then have different lock down days ?

 

[feathersnuggles]

Quote:
I have never hatched eggs, however I think you collect some over a period of time (not too long) and then incubate them at the same time.

The best & clearest explanation I've read, about how to collect & store fertile eggs for hatching, was from this BYC post. Pertains to a broody hatch, but would apply equally to an incubator.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4357010#p4357010

 

[Rennie]

Quote:
I have never hatched eggs, however I think you collect some over a period of time (not too long) and then incubate them at the same time.

The best & clearest explanation I've read, about how to collect & store fertile eggs for hatching, was from this BYC post. Pertains to a broody hatch, but would apply equally to an incubator.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4357010#p4357010

Thanks for that ..Just what i need

.. Might even try to make a hen broody too

 

[EastTexasChick]

thanks for all the answers everybody!!! Makes much more sense now...