Fertilizing eggs

[Jacqdiva]

If a hen has been spelled from mating,how long till she lays fertile eggs when put with a rooster?

 

[Ridgerunner]

An egg takes about 25 hours, give or take, to go through a hen’s internal egg making factory. That egg can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. If a mating takes place on a Monday, Monday’s egg is not fertile. Tuesday’s egg might or might not be depending on when the mating took place and the egg started its journey. I would not count on it. Wednesday’s egg will be fertile.

This is after a successful mating. A rooster does not always mate with every hen in the flock every day. It just seems like it.

The last part of the mating ritual, after the rooster finishes and hops off, the hen stands up, fluffs up her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container near where the egg starts its internal journey. The sperm can stay viable in that container for anywhere between nine days to more than three weeks. We normally count on the hen laying fertile eggs for two weeks after a successful mating. That two weeks seems to work out pretty well.

 

[Jacqdiva]

Thank you so much for you detailed answer. I really appreciate it.