Hens fertility

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

How long will a hen remain fertile without a rooster. I want to make sure the offspring are from the rooster I picked and is the one fertilizing the eggs. I tried to do a search but there were to many hits on topics that had nothing to do with the question. Thnaks in advance.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

The hen will most likely lay fertile eggs for about 1-2 weeks after the rooster has mated with her.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

So if I hold off collecting and eggs for 2 weeks, after he is the only rooster in the hen house, I can be relatively sure he is the father.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Yes, if he's the only rooster, he's the only father.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

The reason I asked is because I had this rooster, his brothers and the hens together before I decided that this rooster was the one I wanted to keep for breeding. I couldn't for the life of me remember how long a hen would retain the sperm and remain fertile. They are still laying very small pullet eggs so it will be awhile before I'll be incubating the eggs. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On average a hen will remain fertile about two weeks after a mating. For some it is as little as 9 days or so, for some it can be over three weeks. Many breeders use three weeks as the cut-off date, but there have been several posts on this forum where eggs hatched that were laid three and a half weeks after the rooster was gone. I'd wait at least three weeks and preferably four.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

Thank you so much. I'll wait 4 weeks just to be sure. The eggs aren't big enough to hatch yet anyway. Not all of the hens have started laying. 3 out of 6 have.