First time incubating

[Joeboxer]

I am going to try incubating some eggs for the first time. I introduced my Americana Rooster with the Americana hens and my Chanteclair Rooster with Chanteclair hens on Tuesday evening. How long until the eggs get fertile, I tried looking with the light I made, but the Americana egg shells are green, and chanteclairs beige so it makes it really difficult to see. Will cold weather affect it? Since its January and it gets really cold here, but it stays warm inside the coop.

 

[ZakoHero]

Oh your fine but you should give the rooster a bit of time to mate with the hens in around 2 weeks after you get them AND here is how you incubate eggs.https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
Warning:incubating is very obsessive and is almost a disease.Lol
Thank You and wlcome to BYC!

 

[pascopol]

It does not take 2 weeks for a rooster to mate with hens. LOL

If a rooster is active and fertile, eggs should be fertile in few days.

Candling will not detect fertile egg, only an egg starting to develop under incubation.

If you want to sacrifice an egg to check for fertility, break one into a dish, a little "dish" on the surface of yolk is a sign the egg is fertilized.

That's all it is to fertile eggs science.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You cannot tell they are fertile by candling. The evidence is just too small.

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to make its journey through the hen's internal egg making factory. It can only be fertilized during the first 15 minutes of that journey. That means if a mating took place on a Tuesday, Tuesday's egg will not be fertile. Wednesday's egg might or might not, depending on when the mating took place and when the egg started its journey. Since that was Tuesday evening, probably not. Thursday's egg is almost certainly fertile.

Of course this is after a mating, not just an introductory handshake. A rooster does not necessarily mate with every hen in the flock every day. But after a mating the hen is usually fertile for about two weeks.

Some people say their chicken's fertility drops in the winter and others say that don't have a problem with that. From my eggs right now it doesn't seem to be a problem with mine as I can see the bull's eye. I'll start gathering some today to put in the incubator. As long as they don't freeze they should be OK for incubation. Since it is cold you might try collecting a few times a day if your work or lifestyle allows that.

Good luck!

 

[ZakoHero]

It does not take 2 weeks for a rooster to mate with hens. LOL

If a rooster is active and fertile, eggs should be fertile in few days.

Candling will not detect fertile egg, only an egg starting to develop under incubation.

If you want to sacrifice an egg to check for fertility, break one into a dish, a little "dish" on the surface of yolk is a sign the egg is fertilized.

That's all it is to fertile eggs science.

Oh I thought it was 2 weeks because my chickens eggs didn't become fertile until after 2 weeks.LOL!

 

[Joeboxer]

Awesome people, Thanks for the quick replies. I've been watching the Rooster and he is definitly mating, he has been secluded from his hens all this time...lol.

 

[ZakoHero]

So there you have it.All you have left is to incubate the eggs when you compile a lot!Keep us updated!

 

[Joeboxer]

Well my second attemp to incubate is a success thanks to you guy's help. So far 7 out of 11 have hatched and counting. Now very addicted, bought a second incubator.

Thanks for the help