Fertility of RIR Roos
- Thread starter JScott
- Start date
Most healthy males of any breed should be fertile from about 6 months old, depending on their ability to woo, balance, and hit the mark.
Fertility can ebb during the winters.
As they age their fertility can drop, but most should stay good for at least 3 years.
Individual birds longevity of fertility may vary depending on overall health or other factors. You'd have to isolate single cocks with same hens/pullets and check yolks for the bullseye to assess individual birds efficacy.
Fertility can ebb during the winters.
As they age their fertility can drop, but most should stay good for at least 3 years.
Individual birds longevity of fertility may vary depending on overall health or other factors. You'd have to isolate single cocks with same hens/pullets and check yolks for the bullseye to assess individual birds efficacy.
Depending upon the strain, many roosters remain fertile throughout their life. With some birds arthritis limits their ability to cover hens.
It's going to vary by the individual, not by the breed. Some individuals shoot blanks regardless of age. Some show a lot more interest than others. Sometimes the hens refuse to cooperate if they don't respect the individual male. The hens have a part to play in this too. There can always be exceptions when you are dealing with individuals.
But in general a younger male is more viral than an older one. Once a cockerel matures enough for the other hens to accept his as a decent father for their chicks, he will keep their eggs fertile. I had a 5-month-old cockerel that could do that once, even the most dominant hen accepted him. That is really rare. I've had a couple that could not do that until they were about a full year old. Most hens would accept them but the dominant hen would not and the dominant hen would knock him off of another hen or pullet it he tried to mate, even when the pullet or hen was cooperating. Typically for me and the way I keep them 7 to 8 months is an average age for the hens to accept them and pretty much all the hens to lay fertile eggs.
When they are pretty young the hormones are strong and they are really active. As they age they mellow out a bit. It's pretty normal for a 3 or 4 year old rooster to be able to keep over 20 hens laying fertile eggs. Some of that is how you manage them.
Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method. They might have 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens. That's where that magic ratio of 10 hens per rooster that you see on here a lot comes from. They have found that in the pen breeding method it generally takes a ratio of about 10 to 1 for full-sized fowl to all lay fertile eggs. In a hatchery that is your goal, fertile eggs. For bantams the magic ratio in a pen breeding situation is usually 12/15 to 1 as bantams are often more active. They monitor fertility and adjust the number of roosters up or down as needed. Another trick is to put in a younger rooster that spurs competition. Their goal is 100% fertile eggs since they are a hatchery but they do not want to feed any more roosters than necessary.
If you are more in a free range situation where each rooster sort of has their own territory and harem it's pretty normal for a rooster 3 or 4 years old to be able to keep over 20 hens fertile. But they do start to slow down. It's also possible that an individual rooster can only keep 3 or 4 hens fertile. As they age some can start to shoot blanks, but they also just lose interest.
I don't know how many you plan to keep or how you plan to manage them, but in general peak fertility for a rooster is from whenever the hens will accept them to three years old. Often at 4 they slow down.
But in general a younger male is more viral than an older one. Once a cockerel matures enough for the other hens to accept his as a decent father for their chicks, he will keep their eggs fertile. I had a 5-month-old cockerel that could do that once, even the most dominant hen accepted him. That is really rare. I've had a couple that could not do that until they were about a full year old. Most hens would accept them but the dominant hen would not and the dominant hen would knock him off of another hen or pullet it he tried to mate, even when the pullet or hen was cooperating. Typically for me and the way I keep them 7 to 8 months is an average age for the hens to accept them and pretty much all the hens to lay fertile eggs.
When they are pretty young the hormones are strong and they are really active. As they age they mellow out a bit. It's pretty normal for a 3 or 4 year old rooster to be able to keep over 20 hens laying fertile eggs. Some of that is how you manage them.
Most hatcheries use the pen breeding method. They might have 20 roosters in a pen with 200 hens. That's where that magic ratio of 10 hens per rooster that you see on here a lot comes from. They have found that in the pen breeding method it generally takes a ratio of about 10 to 1 for full-sized fowl to all lay fertile eggs. In a hatchery that is your goal, fertile eggs. For bantams the magic ratio in a pen breeding situation is usually 12/15 to 1 as bantams are often more active. They monitor fertility and adjust the number of roosters up or down as needed. Another trick is to put in a younger rooster that spurs competition. Their goal is 100% fertile eggs since they are a hatchery but they do not want to feed any more roosters than necessary.
If you are more in a free range situation where each rooster sort of has their own territory and harem it's pretty normal for a rooster 3 or 4 years old to be able to keep over 20 hens fertile. But they do start to slow down. It's also possible that an individual rooster can only keep 3 or 4 hens fertile. As they age some can start to shoot blanks, but they also just lose interest.
I don't know how many you plan to keep or how you plan to manage them, but in general peak fertility for a rooster is from whenever the hens will accept them to three years old. Often at 4 they slow down.
If He's breeding he is ready..They are fertile once sexually mature.
- Thread starter
- #6
Keep track in your kitchen, check your eggs when you cook. Once most of the eggs you are cooking with are fertile, one can assume any eggs set would also be fertile.
Yellow legged roosters will develop a red stripe up the side of the leg "when the sap starts rising in the spring" I was told that is caused by the hormones kicking in for spring.
Mrs K
Yellow legged roosters will develop a red stripe up the side of the leg "when the sap starts rising in the spring" I was told that is caused by the hormones kicking in for spring.
Mrs K
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