how many hens per rooster for fertile eggs?

[davony's chicks]

Pretty new to chickens here and BYC has been a HUGE help!

I have 10 Black Autralorp Hens and 1 rooster, should I have more Roosters if my goal is to have fertile eggs?

 

[2txmedics]

that is a good count you have...other ways they will fight...I had more roos had to get rid of them, they were tearing my hens up. and the roos mature and fight for hens

 

[chickenlittle32]

Yeah they should be fertile. The ratio is usually 1 roo per 8-10 hens.

 

[davony's chicks]

Thank you.. I thought maybe the ratio was like 1 to 4... LOL I really would have been killing those poor girls!

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Your fine with your ratio. After a week or two just crack open a few eggs into a dish and look for the fertility. That will let you know for sure he is covering all or most of the hens.

 

[ilovebuffs]

"After a week or two just crack open a few eggs into a dish and look for the fertility"

I'm kind of new to this chicken thing. My girls just started laying. So, what do you look for to know if the egg is fertilized?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
This is what you are looking for.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[ilovebuffs]

Wow! That is an awesome post...Thank you so much Tuffoldhen! Now if I could figure out how to save a post so it's easy to go back to it when I need it Thank you so much.

 

[Paganbird]

That post is a "sticky post." It's at the top of the list of the hatching threads. It's title is in black. It stays at the top all the time, so you can check it as you need to.
ETA: I keep a list of posts I find helpful in a word document. I cut & paste them to the document with a short description. Then I can refer to the document when I need to.

 

[Mitchell Farm]

While your one rooster will eventually get to your 10 hens, I would not be comforatable with your ratio if I were selling the eggs as fertilized eggs to a buyer. A ratio of 1 roo to 5 hens would better assure you that the eggs will be fertile. You can use the one rooster you have, but rotate you hens every couple of weeks. This should keep the roo from tearing the hens backs and side up. Additionally, you need to trim the spurs on your roo before and during his time with his ladies. I also put saddles on my hens when intentionally breeding to sell fertilized eggs. It is much easier to protect them from the beginning than to notice the damage later and have to pull the hen from the roo. I have seen it take as long as a year to heal some mating wounds. If you are only concerned for your own purposes, stick with the one rooster and test the results in an incubator.