Introducing roostee to hens

[Crissyh97]

Long post alert!!! LOL We got 4 hens in the spring. 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Isa Brown and 2 Bovan Browns. They seem very happy and have been laying for months. My husband saw a post on line where someone was giving away a rooster. I'm not going to go into why they said they were giving it away or why I think they were giving it away, but he's pretty beat up. His wings are pretty much gone. Hes a black Silkie with green on his tail feathers. We've been keeping him separated from the girls and giving him lots of medicated food/water and extra protein. Once he's healed up, which I read could take months, and we put him in with the girls, how long before we need to refrigerate the eggs or before we have any fertilized eggs? Thanks for reading if you made this far!!

 

[LizzzyJo]

Awesome job rescuing! I would first advise you to get more hens. A good ratio is 8:1. Absolutely some people have found success with fewer, but you will likely need to become accustomed to some pretty beat up hens from over ‘use’.
You will likely have fertilized eggs after about a week or two depending on his nature.
there is no need to refrigerate the eggs or treat them any differently than you do now. If you want to hatch eggs then I would just allow a broody to build up a clutch of her own and add to it from unrefrigerated eggs.

 

[aart]

My husband saw a post on line where someone was giving away a rooster.

There a hundreds of those!!
What is your goal for keeping this rooster?


The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.

It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.

Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc ....short term and/or long term.

It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.

Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

I keep a fairly small hen-to-cock ratio and it works fine, but mating saddles Might be a necessary investment (tho my feather footed roosters are not nearly as hard on the hens, so perhaps the Silkie won’t be as hard on them) it could also take awhile for him to establish himself as the dominant so mating might not happen for a bit, especially if your ladies aren’t used to submitting to a rooster. Good luck with your new boy, congrats on being able to get him out of that situation

 

[Crissyh97]

There a hundreds of those!!
What is your goal for keeping this rooster?


The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.

It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.

Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc ....short term and/or long term.

It all depends on the temperaments of the cock and hens and sometimes housing provided.

Backyard flocks can achieve good fertility with a larger ratio.

Our goal is just to give him a good home. My husband thinks it would be cool to hatch some babies in the future, but right now we just want to keeps the girls happy while giving him a good home to heal in and him be happy as well.

 

[Mrs. K]

Adding an adult rooster is the easiest of introductions. He sounds to me like he has molted. Birds molting can look near death, missing huge patches of feathers. That indicates to me he is at least a year old.

Let him out and about when you are ready, and let the hens out in the yard too. There might be a bit of posturing, some pecking, but ten to one, the girls will lead him home to the coop. I just did this last week. I received a bedraggled rooster, and I did keep him separate until he feathered up. But really adding a rooster is pretty easy.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

As for the eggs. Fertilized eggs are inert unless kept near 100 degrees for about 24 hours, at that point, then they begin to develop. So if you gather eggs once a day, you will not have any eggs begin to develop, even if you keep them on your counter.

Look on here, and see what a fertilized egg looks like, and keep a tally sheet as you cook. If your cooking eggs have the bulls eye, and are full sized, you can set eggs with confidence.

Personally I pray for a broody hen, honestly, chicks are fun, having chickens are fun...but there is NOTHING more fun than a hen with chicks and no work.

Mrs K