How long Until the eggs are fertile?

[sepaditty1]

We had the rooster seperated from his girls. Now, we're getting ready to incubate some eggs. How long after "spending time" with his girls before the eggs are fertile?

 

[forgetful]

As soon as he does his job, the eggs should be fertile two or three days from then. Since eggs are continuously being made in the hen, the egg for that day will either be laid or already made, and the egg for the next day will be too far along in the process to be fertilized. Depending on when he gets to her, it will either be two or three days. Just make sure he gets to all of them. Roosters won't mate every hen every day, so depending on how many hens you have, it may be a full week before everyone is fertilized.

 

[Fred's Hens]

On the flip side of this question, if you pull a male out, the females MAY remain fertile for up to two weeks, if he has made his rounds with each of them, which there is no way of knowing. For that reason, it is best not to expect good, wide spread fertility after two weeks of pulling the male out. Even after 10-12 days, broad fertility may start to fall off.


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[sepaditty1]

On the flip side of this question, if you pull a male out, the females MAY remain fertile for up to two weeks, if he has made his rounds with each of them, which there is no way of knowing.  For that reason, it is best not to expect good, wide spread fertility after two weeks of pulling the male out.   Even after 10-12 days, broad fertility may start to fall off.

I had heard this. So I thought that by the same logic it could take a couple of weeks to get started again. I'm glad to hear that it should be just a few days. He seems to be working pretty hard to make sure he gets everybody.


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