Introduced new rooster to hens…now what??

[Lady of McCamley]

Silkie eggs tend to be a bit smaller and ivory to light tan, if that helps your decisions.

And yes...aart is spot on. It only takes a second, as I stated in my response, for mating to occur, and the overall deed is less than 10 to 15 seconds. My boys seem to get the "first" job done very quickly with a new hen, so I'm sure your fertile hens are covered now.

And yes, as aart said, a hen can mate once and retains a sperm pocket for about 3 to 4 weeks, so all her eggs will be fertile from that mating on that have not been shelled yet.

it takes about 23 hours for an egg to travel from ovary (where the sperm will meet the egg) down the egg duct to receive a membrane (the white stuff you see as you peel hard boiled eggs) and then the shell. So about a day is all that is needed for the next egg to be fertile.

Good luck with your project. (Oh, and side note, keep an eye out for your little Silkie. I've not always had good luck mixing Silkies with standards. The Silkies can get roughed up a bit as they are slower and smaller and so tempting to peck the pom. Just keep an eye out for feather roughage).

LofMc

 

[McChooky]

Our roosters favorite hen died after laying an egg without a shell last week .Since then all the hens that used to roost beside him & her are roosting on the roost below him. I need a rooster to fertilize the eggs but the only hen who accepted him after we added him in December just died .Now the pecking order will be reset again.(Its always done when one's added or taken away.) Who's to say if this rooster will get to stay or go ?The hens decide.