how long ??????????

[catschwegel]

i have a hen that is the sister to my prize roo that was killed..i have a roo that is kin to my roo that died..i was wondering how long it takes to be fertile from my roo when she has been in the yard with another roo...how long before I know the eggs will be fertile from the roo I now have her caged with?

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you not want to hatch any chicks sired by the old roo? If that's the case, you would need to wait a minimum of 2 weeks, some folks say to be absolutely certain, a total of 4 weeks. However, if the roo she is currently with is doing his job well, she should be laying fertile eggs within 2 days of being mated by him. The likelihood of the chicks being sired by the new roo becomes more and more likely with the passing of time during that 28 day period. Have I made it as clear as mud for you???

 

[catschwegel]

thank you...and yes, clear as mud...that's what I want..chicks from this new roo, not the one she has been in the yard with, today was the first time he(my new roo) ever had a hen, and yes he is doing the job...almost scared he may hurt her...he is 7 months old and has never been around a hen...he is VERY excited, thank you so much for your advice...with any luck will have solid white long tail breed ...I will share photos when I do

 

[Ridgerunner]

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through the hen’s internal egg making factory. The egg can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. That means if a mating takes place on a Monday, Monday’s egg is certainly not fertile. It started its journey on Sunday. Tuesday’s egg might or might not be fertile. That depends on the time of mating and the time the egg started its journey. I would not count on it. Wednesday’s egg will be fertile. That’s the easy part.

The last part of the mating ritual is that right after the rooster hops off, the hen fluffs up her feathers and shakes. That fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts it journey. The sperm will fertilize the egg yolk as it passes that container. The sperm will remain viable for quite a while. We normally count on the hen staying fertile about two weeks after a mating. It might be a day or two less or it might be quite a bit longer. There have been cases where the eggs were fertile more than three weeks after a mating. So, yes, to be absolutely safe you need to wait about four weeks.

Now I’ll complicate it. That sperm container operates on a last in – first out basis. That means the last rooster to mate with the hen should be the father of the chick. A university professor of poultry science was very sure of that. If you trust him you can start saving eggs for the incubator a couple of days after the mating. Or you can be very safe and wait as much as four weeks.

Yep, clear as mud.

 

[catschwegel]

thank you..its very important to me to get it right, so to be sure...sure,sure...I'm gonna wait the 4 wks...I have more time than anything else,again...thank you for your advice! I truly appreciate it!