keeping pure breed

[Dialynn]

I have a "stray" breed rooster ( an Ameracuna, a gift) in my flock that is too pretty to get rid of. However I'm trying to build a pure flock of rose comb Dominekers an I wonder, how long does it take for a fertilized egg to be laid? I'm thinking I will remove "pretty boy" from my flock whenever a hen starts actign broody, ( I have a couple of hens that set last year) but I'm not sure how about the cycle of -fertilize, lay-. how much time.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through a hen's internal egg factory. It can only be fertilized in the first 15 minutes of that cycle.

So if a mating occurs on Monday, Monday's egg is not fertile. Tuesday's egg might be, depending on what time of day the egg started its journey and what time of day the mating occurred. Wednesday's egg will almost certainly be fertile.

But that is not going to help you much. After a mating, a hen can stay fertile for maybe 3 weeks, sometimes just a bit longer. So you would need to separate the rooster you don't want 3 to 4 weeks before you started collecting the eggs to be sure.

 

[Dialynn]

thanks, I've wondered how long it takes for various things to effect the eggs, particularly the breeding process. I have a place to keep the stray guy to keep him away and I think I'll go ahead and separate them just in case.