MATING WHILE LAYING EGG

[aimawinner]

hi all,

i am a newbie and have been trying to raise backyard chickens for the past few months.
i have 2 roosters and a hen that has just matured and is ready to lay eggs.

she and my roosters started mating a few days back and she has laid an egg already.
what i want is for the eggs to be fertile so i can raise chicks, too.

my question is, would it be a good idea to let my hen and the roosters mate even if she is laying eggs already?
would this be a good idea?

thanks!

hope you can help me.

ive searched all over the internet

but to no avail.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

I'm not sure I understand your concern. If you want fertile eggs, why would roosters fertilizing the egg be a bad thing? Could you possibly explain in better detail what you are worried about?

 

[aimawinner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!
I'm not sure I understand your concern. If you want fertile eggs, why would roosters fertilizing the egg be a bad thing? Could you possibly explain in better detail what you are worried about?

Glad I joined too.

I have browsed through this site and ive learned a lot of useful things on raising BYC.

Anyway, my concern really is if her egg is really fertile. I have seen them mate a few days back but im afraid it wont hatch into chicks.

I was thinking to have them mate again and again so I can be sure that her succeeding eggs would be fertile. on the other hand, though, wont this affect the fertilization process?

Also, it might be useful to know that a month ago, she has laid 20+ eggs. I was really excited but it turned out to be a major failure since she suddenly decided not to incubate them. It all ended up as breakfast food.


I know I sound like im stressing because I really want to make sure everything works out right this time.

So, bottom line is: can I let them mate even if she started laying eggs already? So that I can be sure she lays fertile eggs.

 

[Angie8eggs]

What kind of hen do you have? Some hens are not the broody type, and some who are supposed to be, well, they get a little lazy, it will just take them time, especially if they are new layers. if you have 3 chickens, and two of them are roosters, I would get more hens, yours could be a little stress with two roosters for her. However, her eggs should be fertile, if the roosters are doing their job, it's just her not laying on them enough. Good luck, hope you get baby chicks soon!

 

[dirtylittlefly]

From my understanding, eggs can be fertile up to 2 months after a single mating. What percentage of eggs will be fertile after 2 months I dunno, but if you want to hatch chicks- I suggest you let them mate. Whether or not she feels like sitting on them is a different story, roosters or no roosters. I don't know for sure, but I don't think a pullet that's only been laying for a month would be getting broody already... and the time of year may have something to do with broodiness. Out in the wilderness I don't think they would be programmed to sit on eggs in the fall as the chicks likely wouldn't be large enough to survive the winter. Another reason why they stop laying when they aren't exposed to enough sunlight.