Introduced new rooster to hens…now what??

[HLail]

I introduced a new rooster he’s a barred rock/Rhode Island red with my 5 hens today. They’re doing great, & everyone is getting along so far. I am keeping a close eye on them. We bought another coop today, we aren’t sure if we are going to keep rooster with hens or separate. What do you suggest?

Also my main question is…how long after introducing a rooster to hens until they start mating? We are excited for the possibility of fertilized eggs. Out of 5 hens we only have 3 laying eggs. They’re my sapphire gem, sapphire olive egger & my silkie. So I am wondering how long until the rooster decides he wants to mate one of them?

My Delaware hen & mystic maran haven’t laid yet. Hopefully soon! Should be any day now!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I have two roosters currently, one in with a flock of 6 and the other in a flock of 9. They stay with their ladies 24/7 protecting them and taking care of them. They are not overly rough, and treat their girls with respect. They were raised as babes in the flock, so the ladies have trained them how to be gentlemen.

Which is the bottom line. Is the rooster treating the hens with respect? Or is he a teen with raging hormones bodily attacking hens all day long?

It sounds like you've got a good start. And if he remains a gentlemen, let him stay with the flock. He'll settle squabbles and keep a look out for predators (though don't expect him to always lay his life down for the girls...he simply may be the "pace setter" to run away...but that's useful too.)

As to how long does it take. Well, let me just say that I had a Cream Legbar hen on one side of the fence, and a Barnvedler rooster on the other. I decided to start that line of olive eggers, so one night put her into his pen. I didn't get the gate closed before the deed was done...so about 15 seconds is all it needs to take.

I'm sure your boy has already figured out who is fertile and willing, but it's not a bad idea to leave a rooster in for a week if you plan to take him out...but then again, you don't have to if he is a good gentlemen.

And one more word on that. Don't put up with any rooster that isn't a good gentlemen to his ladies. There simply is no need for harshness. Those boys find a home in freezer camp at my place. Only keep the sweet hearts to both man and beast and hen.

Good luck with your flock.

LofMc

 

[aart]

I introduced a new rooster he’s a barred rock/Rhode Island red with my 5 hens today. They’re doing great, & everyone is getting along so far. I am keeping a close eye on them. We bought another coop today, we aren’t sure if we are going to keep rooster with hens or separate. What do you suggest?

Also my main question is…how long after introducing a rooster to hens until they start mating? We are excited for the possibility of fertilized eggs. Out of 5 hens we only have 3 laying eggs. They’re my sapphire gem, sapphire olive egger & my silkie. So I am wondering how long until the rooster decides he wants to mate one of them?

My Delaware hen & mystic maran haven’t laid yet. Hopefully soon! Should be any day now!

So are your girls about 5-6 months old?
How old is the male?
How long has he been with them?

Chicken sex is pretty quick business, so you may just not have seen it happen.
Look at the yolks when you break eggs to eat,
that will let you now when you have fertile eggs to incubate.

 

[HLail]

So are your girls about 5-6 months old?
How old is the male?
How long has he been with them?

Chicken sex is pretty quick business, so you may just not have seen it happen.
Look at the yolks when you break eggs to eat,
that will let you now when you have fertile eggs to incubate.
View attachment 3004664

My sapphire gem & Delaware hen are both roughly 8months old. My sapphire gem lays good eggs, a couple a week. My Delaware hen hasn’t laid an egg yet sadly.

My Sapphire olive egger & Mystic Maran are both roughly 6 months old. My sapphire olive egger has only ever laid 1 egg & that was about 2 days ago, nothing since. My mystic maran hen hasn’t laid an egg yet sadly.

Then I have my new silkie hen (all white), I got her a few days ago. I was told she’s roughly 1 year old, but she’s not laid me an egg yet. So it’s a waiting game with her at this point.

So yes to answer your question all my girls are over 5-6 months old.

My rooster is a barred rock/rhode island red & I didn’t raise him from a baby up. We got him from a friend who told me he’s roughly 1 1/2 years old. I really wanted to raise a rooster up from a baby but we are wanting chicks sooner then later so we opted for a mature grown rooster for now. We had initially got hens for eggs, which then turned into my wanting a few chicks off my favorite hens! Some of my hens are like lap dogs! So so sweet!

I introduced my rooster to all of my hens YESTERDAY. So almost 24 hours ago. He has been such a gentleman & not attacked or pestered any of my hens to the point of extremely stressing them out. He just hangs out in the cage & let me tell you his crow is loud. Brought and early he woke me up. I went outside to check on them & my sapphire gem had laid an egg early! She normally lays before 12 lunch and today she’d laid before 8 am.

So there has only been one egg laid in the boxes since I introduced my rooster but I know it’s too soon for that egg to be fertilized.

Maybe the next couple eggs the sapphire gem gives me I’ll check the eggs when cooking them for breakfast. If I see a fertilized egg I will not eat the others after and assume they’re fertilized.

My next question for you is, after my hen lays a fertilized egg, how long until I have to put them in an incubator? I ask because my sapphire gem isn’t broody at all, neither are my other hens. I’ve had 2 fake eggs in their nesting boxes for 2-3 weeks now & nobody sits on them or care for them. I’ve just left them in the box in hopes it encourages my hens who aren’t laying to lay. My sapphire olive egger laid her first egg beside them in the same nesting box 2 days ago. So maybe it worked who know? I’ve also heard silkies are good broody hens but so far she’s not cared for the fake eggs in the nesting boxes. I was hoping maybe she’d sit on my sapphire gems fertilized eggs but don’t guess so.

 

[aart]

I introduced my rooster to all of my hens YESTERDAY. So almost 24 hours ago. He has been such a gentleman & not attacked or pestered any of my hens to the point of extremely stressing them out.

That's a good sign, it might take him a few days to start mating them.

My next question for you is, after my hen lays a fertilized egg, how long until I have to put them in an incubator?

You can store hatching eggs for ~7-10 days, fat end up in a cool spot.
Maybe longer but the older they get the less viability.

 

[HLail]

That's a good sign, it might take him a few days to start mating them.


You can store hatching eggs for ~7-10 days, fat end up in a cool spot.
Maybe longer but the older they get the less viability.

So are your girls about 5-6 months old?
How old is the male?
How long has he been with them?

Chicken sex is pretty quick business, so you may just not have seen it happen.
Look at the yolks when you break eggs to eat,
that will let you now when you have fertile eggs to incubate.
View attachment 3004664

Ok so I took this photo and literally just tried it out with an old egg, and todays egg. I only wanted to see first hand for myself. So Egg A is an old egg, that was needing to be thrown out so I didn’t waste it. & Egg B is this mornings egg that I cooked for lunch.. I was just curious to know what this mornings egg looked like.

So I will post the photos.
Egg A- the old egg looked just like your infertile egg pic reference you showed me.

BUT

Egg B literally looks like a fertilized egg.
So IF it really is, I can only think of 2 things, either my new year old Silkie laid it, & she had previously mated with a rooster before I bought her which could be realistic because she was in a cage with a rooster Cochin & silkies.

OR my rooster & my sapphire gem mated lastnight & she laid a fertilized egg this morning which DOESNT seem realistic to me at all. But I guess it’s possible. I just put him in the cage with her yesterday so maybe they did mate?? I don’t know.

You might have to zoom in on the egg to see the white dots I am referring to inside the eggs.

 

[Tonyroo]

Egg B is fertile. Try to identify which hen laid it so you can keep track of the fertility.

 

[HLail]

Egg B is fertile. Try to identify which hen laid it so you can keep track of the fertility.

Oh my gosh YAY! This is exciting.

Okay so help me out for a second.

I only have 3 chickens laying eggs out of 5.
I know it’s not my sapphire olive egger because she lays blueish eggs. I am thinking it’s my sapphire gem, because if it’s not her then it was my silkie. I just recently got my silkie so she’s not laid an egg for me yet. But previous owner said she lays eggs. I still don’t know what her eggs will look like. I’ll have to google her egg for reference. But she was in a cage with Cochin & silkie roosters before I got her. So if she mated before hand that could make sense on her having fertilized eggs

Is it possible that my sapphire gem mated my rooster lastnight & laid this fertilized egg this morning? Keep in mind she’s NEVER been introduced to a rooster before yesterday evening. Non of my hens have EXPECT my silkie that I got 2 days ago, like I said she was in a cage with Cochin & silkie roosters.

 

[aart]

But she was in a cage with Cochin & silkie roosters before I got her. So if she mated before hand that could make sense on her having fertilized eggs

Yep, they can stay fertile for 3-4 weeks.

 

[HLail]

Yep, they can stay fertile for 3-4 weeks.

Thank you again for sharing that non fertilized egg & fertilized egg with me. I’d of never of known that my egg was fertilized today because I wouldn’t of cracked them open to look. I am so excited. Now to figure out who’s laying the fertilized eggs. That’s the challenging part for me.

So since lastnight was the first night she was exposed to a roaster. I am going to collect the next 13 eggs & incubate them. We will see what happens! Because I am assuming she will give me 1 egg a day, or close to it that’s fertilized.