OK dont laugh! How soon after breeding does the fertile egg get laid? Is it the next day? Also I have 6-2 yo RIR that are laying and I just got a Cochin Roo and 2 hens that are about 6 months old. OK this sounds really dumb but I think the roo is too short for the RIR.. he looks like he is mating but I dont think he is hitting the target! Now he has gone back to the Cochin hens he came with. I was hoping to cross breed the reds and have the cochin hens set on them. Is this ok or possible?
If you want to cross those two breeds, leave him in with them for a while. He will figure it out. Trust me. Just keep cracking the eggs open and looking for the bullseye of the fertilized egg. My bantam cochin has bred my mottled Javas and one copper black marans hen that was in the sell pen. Yours will figure it out too. Hatching the offpring eggs under your cochins sounds like it will work fine.