How Long Before Hen Lays Eggs Fertilized by new Roo?

[Araucana Nest]

I've read a hen can retain sperm from a rooster for up to 3 months Is that right?

Does anyone know the amount of time a hen (2 year old Crested Legbar) that has been running with a roo (3 year old Cinnamon Queen- amazing, amazing roo) and has been laying eggs fertilized by him, will take for her eggs to be fertilized by her new roo (5 month CL)?

Will she be laying eggs that have been fertilized by both roos for a while?

When is it safe to assume the eggs are fertilized by the CL and can be incubated? I'd rather wait than hatch out mixes.

 

[chickenlittle21]

It takes at least 7- 10 days

 

[featheredplanets]

I’ve never heard it be 3 months. It’s 3-4 weeks.

If she’s been kept with another rooster, you’ll need to wait at least 4 weeks before she’s laying empty eggs, 5 weeks is better if you’re wanting to breed her though. Then put her with your other roo and wait 2-3 days before collecting eggs.

 

[Araucana Nest]

I’ve never heard it be 3 months. It’s 3-4 weeks.

If she’s been kept with another rooster, you’ll need to wait at least 4 weeks before she’s laying empty eggs, 5 weeks is better if you’re wanting to breed her though. Then put her with your other roo and wait 2-3 days before collecting eggs.

Thank you . I read that here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944358/
"...once ejaculated sperm have entered the female reproductive tract, they can survive up to 2–15 weeks in domestic birds, including chickens, turkeys, quails and ducks, depending on the species..."

 

[Ridgerunner]

See if this helps you. It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through a hen's internal egg making factory from when the yolk is released to start that process. That egg can only be fertilized in the first few minutes of that journey. That means if a mating takes place on a Thursday, Thursday's egg will not be fertilized from that mating. Friday's egg might or might not be depending on timing, don't count on it. Saturday's egg will be fertilized by that mating.

A rooster does not necessarily mate with every hen in the flock every day, but he doesn't have to. In the last part of the mating act the rooster hops off, the hen stands up, fluffs her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into special containers near where the egg starts its internal journey. That sperm remains viable for a period of time, maybe 9 days to over three weeks. So that introduces some unknowns. Two weeks is certainly not enough to be sure. Many people wait three weeks and are pretty successful. To be as sure as you can wait four weeks.

I did a little reading in the link provided and found this quote.

the differences in the duration of fertility between domestic fowl (2 to 3 weeks) and turkeys (10 to 15 weeks) are, in part, related to their respective numbers of SSTs (the mean numbers of SSTs for chickens and turkeys are 4,893 and 30,566, respectively)

If you read these quotes carefully, AF's quote says depending on the species. The one I quoted says chickens are different from turkeys. So for turkeys, 3 to 4 months. (Thanks for that @Awakening Forest , I did not know that.) But that leaves chickens at 2 to 3 weeks. So 3 weeks to be pretty sure 4 weeks to be really sure with chickens.

 

[Araucana Nest]

So 3 weeks to be pretty sure 4 weeks to be really sure with chickens.

Thanks I'll wait a month. She wasn't Hamilton's preferred hen and she wasn't crazy about him either. Hopefully she will love her new roo.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

As for how long after inteoducing the gal to the male, it depends on the rooster. I have one male that will mount anything new immediately whether you're watching or not and one that apparently is a gentleman and doesn't kiss and tell. The others vary between the two

 

[Araucana Nest]

As for how long after inteoducing the gal to the male, it depends on the rooster. I have one male that will mount anything new immediately whether you're watching or not and one that apparently is a gentleman and doesn't kiss and tell. The others vary between the two

Thanks It's taken me a long time to find the right CL roo. Hoping he is a good roo to my hens.

 

[poultryprofessor]

General rule of thumb is hens retain sperm for 2-3 weeks. I would recommend waiting a month after the old rooster was removed before you collect eggs to hatch to ensure his sperm is cleared out.

When introducing a new rooster, it may take him some time to actually mate the hens. I woulf recommend waiting until the desired rooster has been with the hen at least 1 week before you start collecting eggs. Longer if you can.

 

[Araucana Nest]

General rule of thumb is hens retain sperm for 2-3 weeks. I would recommend waiting a month after the old rooster was removed before you collect eggs to hatch to ensure his sperm is cleared out.

When introducing a new rooster, it may take him some time to actually mate the hens. I woulf recommend waiting until the desired rooster has been with the hen at least 1 week before you start collecting eggs. Longer if you can.

Thank you. He is a young CL roo. Has found his voice but not his purpose yet. It has been a successfully calm introduction in a new pen. They are together one week after separating her from the other roo. Now just waiting.