how long will it take for the hens eggs to be fertilised after I introduce my new rooster

[Anastasia76]

Hi guys, if I introduce a rooster to my hens today, how long will it take for the hens eggs to be fertilised? Thats if he is mounting them of course

 

[Mrs. K]

Well there are several eggs at various stages of development all in the tube at once so to speak.

And the egg must be fertilized before the shell..... so I wouldn't start looking for fertilized eggs for a couple of days, but then, if there are not too many hens, and the roo is fertile, you should be getting fertilized eggs.

However, I would not set eggs, until I saw fertilization in a high percentage of the daily collection.

Mrs K

 

[Anastasia76]

Thank you for your reply, I have 6 hens, so maybe wait a couple of weeks you think?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Gotta give the old boy a chance to make his rounds, you know.

Yeah, I'd suspect a couple of weeks would do the trick. That's about right, With six hens, he should do them all, but there will always be his favorites and those that he rejects. Also, a hen has the ability to reject him too. She just spits it out

OK, it's altogether too close to dinner time. LOL

 

[Anastasia76]

ha ha lol, ok, I think I got it. I had to re-home my previous rooster, he really, really disliked my daughter unfortunately. He managed to fertilise all of the 6 hens eggs. This new boy is a friends and has always been child friendly-I hope he stays that way!

 

[Mrs. K]

In that case I would definitely wait 3 weeks, to make sure you are not getting any chicks from the mean rooster

 

[Anastasia76]

I picked him up this morning (here in Australia), hes utterly gorgeous, went to sleep in my arms when I was talking to my friend. I put him in with the 6 girls and he went and sat in the corner of the yard for 2 hours. He has since made his way into the run and the girls are following him around, he keeps on walking away, they keep following........

Its all very friendly though.
.