Fertility Question

[chrishel]

I was counting my eggs before the chicks are even adults and I was wondering how long a female will lay fertile eggs after the male is withdrawn.

I have a bunch of different colors (again, this is more hypothetical dreaming since I have not idea what sex each is) of coturnix and I was thinking about all the possible crosses that I could do. So a bunch of questions came up in my mind:

1. If a male and female mate, how many fertile eggs can she lay from that one mating? In one post, I think I saw JJ say a couple of weeks.
2. If I have a male and female cross and I want to mate the female to a new male, should I let her rest and let her lay until she's cleaned out, so to speak, before crossing her to the next male?

And much harder/weirder, 3. If I switch males right away, would it be possible for a hen to lay an egg fertilized by male 1 today, male 2 tomorrow, male 1 the next day, etc. until the sperm from male 1 is consumed and or expires (if you get what I mean)?

Yes, these are the things I think about when I'm watching the chicks poop and eat, poop and eat...

 

[shelleyd2008]

1. If a male and female mate, how many fertile eggs can she lay from that one mating? In one post, I think I saw JJ say a couple of weeks.
2. If I have a male and female cross and I want to mate the female to a new male, should I let her rest and let her lay until she's cleaned out, so to speak, before crossing her to the next male?
3. If I switch males right away, would it be possible for a hen to lay an egg fertilized by male 1 today, male 2 tomorrow, male 1 the next day, etc. until the sperm from male 1 is consumed and or expires (if you get what I mean)?

1. It should be definitely for at least 7 days and possibly for up to 3-4 weeks. I don't know if there's a set 'number' of eggs.
2. You can put her directly with the new male, but you would have to wait 3-4 weeks before the eggs would definitely be only from the 'new' male. I've been told that it only takes 4-5 days to 'guarantee' pures when you switch males but general consensus says 3-4 weeks.
3. Not weird, and yes, it would be possible.​

 

[chrishel]

Thank you, Shelley! I appreciate the information. I know those questions were a little different from the others that are on this board.

This board has a lot of good information and a lot of good support.