Mating/ Breeding question

[jarcoo0153]

If a rooster gets with a hen how many eggs will be fertilized by him? And if two different roosters get with a hen, can offspring be from different fathers?

 

[BrownEggFan]

I know that when wild turkeys mate, the gobbler only has to mate the hen one time to fertilize all of the eggs that will be laid (usually 11-15), so I would assume it would be the same with chickens. My understanding is that at any given time, a hen can have up to 21 eggs at different stages of development. Hopefully someone can confirm this and answer the question about 2 different roos, because I don't have a clue on that one!

 

[ChIck3n]

A hen can store sperm from one mating for around 9 days-2 weeks. So however many eggs she lays in that time will be fertile. Since she stores the sperm, I would assume she could hold it from 2 roosters at once. The fastest swimmer of the bunch will fertilize the egg. I've never tested this though.

 

[possumblossum]

Great question!!!

I was unaware of the 9-21 day fact, but I am currently running a little fertility experiment that may shed some light on the subject. I have two EE roosters, one has a Salmon Favorelle heritage and the other has a splash Andalusian heritage. I set the Salmon over eight of my hens for a week and collected all the eggs marking them with an "F" for Fabio, the rooster's name. Then I separated the hens for three day to "get everything out of their system" and set the Splash over them for a week collecting the eggs and marking them with an "M" for Marble. As the chicks hatch, I'll place one color nail polish on the feet of Fabio's chicks and one color on Marble's.

All of this is for a 4-H/ Middle School science project for my kids, so we're tracking which rooster had the best hatch rate, produced more hens vs. cockarels, produced the biggest offspring, etc.

The eggs are on day 7 in the incubator, so I'll continue to follow this thread and let you know how the chicks develop. If everyone turns out Salmon, we'll know that only one rooster wins.

This should be neat.

Justin

 

[JSGamefowl]

Quote:
hate to tell u that three days is not long enough to clean a hen out , it takes atleast a week or so i usally do 2 weeks to be sure , so you may not be able to keep track of which is which ,
i single mate about 75 % of all the ones i hatch , i put a hen in a 4x5 pen and i will have like 5 hens in 5 pens just the same and i will rotate the rooster every day to each pen and they will all lay fertile eggs from just being withe him every 5 days

 

[Ryu]

We got fertile eggs from 4 weeks after last exposure to the roo (Buckeye hens EE roo). 100% hatch.

I try to wait at least three weeks after switching the roos before collecting eggs again.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

also, from what I have learned, unlike humans, it is the hen that determines the sex of the offspring not the roo.

 

[hinkjc]

I also had fertile eggs for at least 3 weeks after removing a roo. I always wait 4 weeks to be sure.

btw - I've read a wild turkey hen can hold fertility for 200 days. They only need to breed once for an entire season. If she loses her clutch, she doesn't need to find a tom/jake to get fertile again - she just resumes laying and starts a new clutch on her own.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

alas . . . to be a turkey . . . lol! couldn't resist

 

[possumblossum]

Well,
I didn't know any of this until I read this tread, so I look forward to seeing just how all my chicks turn out.