How Do I Go About Chicken Mating.

[FrizzleFrenzy2004]

Hi everyone
I have a question about chicken mating.
I have 3 hens, 2 are about a year old and one is about 3 years old.
One of the younger girls is broody and i have been wanting to get a temporary rooster to mate with her so her eggs will be fertilised. But I'm not sure how to go about this as i have never had chickens before.
Will she leave the nest to mate with the roo?
Will she get hurt in the mating process?
How do i introduce the rooster?
Does he need to fertilise each egg?
Will he only mate with a broody chicken?
Do chickens even mate when broody?
If you have any answers or any other helpful info please let me know.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Might be too late at this point... Her eggs are not fertile right now.
Do you know anyone with a rooster?

Also, introducing a strange chicken to your flock carries bio-safety issues. Quarantine would be wise. Also, a week or two of see-but-don't-touch introduction/integration.

After that, when the rooster mates with the hen it can take 7-14 days for his sperm to have fertilized the eggs being actively laid by the hen. Also, the sperm is only good for 7-14 days so you would need the rooster to mate with the hens at least 1-2 times a week for a few weeks before you could be getting a decent amount of fertile eggs.
Good luck with your birds maybe you could try the artificial insemination route but that would be for those much braver than I.

Edited to add: I've never dealt with a broody but I have a hard time picturing one letting a rooster get jiggy with her. Also mating shouldn't hurt anyone but could ruffle some feathers. Roosters with long spurs can cut or scratch a hen under her wings when he is balancing on her back. I have read that roosters will mate mostly with hens that are actively laying.

 

[kesrchicky16]

Broody hens don't lay but the eggs don't need to be hers for her to hatch them. You can but fertile eggs or slip day old chicks under her from behind while she sleeps. No need for you to get a roo if all you want are babies.

 

[kesrchicky16]

One other thing either give her eggs from behind or pick her up, place the eggs, and let her back to the nest. I tried to add to a broody nest and she pecked the egg trying to defend her clutch.

 

[kesrchicky16]

Sorry about the multiple replies I should be sleeping. A true broody hen will run straight back to the nest when you move her. I have PIA chickens that make a terrible fuss but wonder off to eat when I push them out of the nest. My broody drew blood, pecked an egg, and ran back to her old nest when my DH tried to separate her for her own good by moving her and her eggs. She did a stellar job and hatched 2 of 6 (3 had 0 development and 1 died halfway through according to eggtopsy.) 1 of the chicks was definitely not hers as it was an green egg and she is buff Orpington.

 

[rebrascora]

When a hen goes broody she stops laying eggs to start the incubation process, so getting a rooster for her would be pointless. As others have said, if you want her to raise chicks, you could buy some fertile hatching eggs, mark them with a pencil line around the middle so that you can easily identify them and remove any others that your hens might lay and put the fertile eggs in her nest. It takes 21 days for chicken eggs to hatch.
That said, if you are in the northern hemisphere and it is approaching winter, then it is not a good time to buy hatching eggs as fertility is usually low at this time of year and also not a good time to hatch chicks because they can easily get chilled and die. Spring and summer are the natural seasons for raising chicks with a broody hen.
Before you decide to hatch chicks you should also give consideration to what you will do with the 50% cockerels that will almost certainly result from any hatch.... a member of this forum recently found out that 100% of his chicks that hatched 7 weeks ago are cockerels.... 6 out of 6 little boys.... how is that for bad luck! Are you prepared to butcher the excess boys for meat or give them away to someone else who will probably eat them? If not, do you have the room to build a bachelor pad (coop and run) specially for them?
Watching a broody hen raise chicks is one of the most wonderful chickeneering experiences you can witness, but it usually comes with some heartache and difficult decisions, so not a course of action to be taken without due consideration.

 

[Snoozeys]

It is too late now .. a plan like this needs to be planned months in advance ... the hen and rooster needs to be isolated for at least 4 weeks and another 2 weeks of testing fertility !!!
None of the above is guaranteed if she takes a disliking to him !!

 

[kesrchicky16]

It is too late now .. a plan like this needs to be planned months in advance ... the hen and rooster needs to be isolated for at least 4 weeks and another 2 weeks of testing fertility !!!
None of the above is guaranteed if she takes a disliking to him !!

Why do they need to be isolated? She has 3 hens. A breeding set is 6 hens 1 rooster. Also after quarantine as soon as introductions are made I guarantee he will get straight down to business. That means fertile eggs immidatly. So why the 6 weeks before she can set a clutch? I don't understand. Besides the roo is irrelevant if she buys fertile eggs or day olds.

 

[sourland]

Broody hens stop laying so whether or not they mate is irrelevant.
After a successful mating a hen's eggs show high fertility for 2 weeks, moderate fertility up to 3 weeks, and occasional fertility longer than that.
Bottom line is that your best options are to get some fertile eggs or foster day old chicks to the hen once she has set for a minimum of 14 days.
Understand that unless you buy sexed chicks (and even then to a certain degree) you will have cockerels to deal with.

 

[Snoozeys]

The way i read the question the OP was trying to get fertile eggs from a particular hen therefore ... how long it was take for the roo to get down to business is not black and white and differs depending on how accepting the hen or hens are of the rooster ... if she decides to get day olds or fertile eggs then the rooster becomes irrelevant as you said !!!