How long before a hen's eggs aren't fertilized?

[Lilorp14]

Hi,
I was wondering how long I need to "quarantine" a hen before her eggs are not fertilized. I have lots of hens and roosters of various breeds in one large holding coop, and in the past when I've wanted to boost my population I'd just incubate whatever eggs I collected. Now I want some purebred chicks of one of my breeds. I've got some hens and a rooster of that breed so it's not a problem, but my hens probably have sperms from other roosters in their systems and I don't want that. How long should they be seperate from the other roosters before their eggs are purely fertilized by the rooster I want and I can incubate them?

Thanks,

-T

 

[AlleysChicks]

Are they in all female pens? It takes about a month. Mine had fertile eggs still after 4 weeks of no rooster. I would keep them locked up and then crack some eggs open to see if they are fertile after 4 weeks.

 

[Lilorp14]

Are they in all female pens? It takes about a month. Mine had fertile eggs still after 4 weeks of no rooster. I would keep them locked up and then crack some eggs open to see if they are fertile after 4 weeks.

Well the hens I want to breed are still in the big holding pen. I'm going to separate them out once I have everything ready for them. And how do you tell if their fertile? Isn't the blastoderm there weather the egg is fertilized or not?

 

[chickens really]

Separate 3 weeks ... Put your Rooster of choice in but don't incubate for 3 weeks..