Once bread how long until hens will lay fertilized eggs?

[Chickengirl1304]

And how long will they lay them fertilized before they are not anymore?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It takes an egg about 25 hours to go through the hen’s internal egg laying factory. It can only be fertilized during the first 15 minutes of that journey. I’ll help you with the math.

If the mating takes place on a Sunday, Sunday’s egg will not be fertile. It started its journey on Saturday before the mating. Monday’s egg might or might not be fertile. It depends on what time of day the mating took place and when the egg started its journey. Tuesday’s egg will almost certainly be fertile. As you noted, this is after a mating. A rooster does not necessarily mate every hen in the flock every day.

The other part of your question is a little harder. There is no absolute time limit for each and every case. Most hens will lay fertile eggs for about two weeks after a mating. Some may lose fertility after maybe 9 days bit I think most of us use two weeks and that usually works out OK.

There have been several reported cases on this forum where eggs were fertile for as long as 3-1/2 weeks after a mating. So if you want to make sure a hen is not fertile from a certain rooster, 4 weeks is probably the best time period to use.

So I think the answer to your questions are to wait two days after a mating and reintroduce them before two weeks pass.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Awesome thank you very much

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The only answer I have is to discard the first 5 eggs she laid after she was first put with a rooster. All eggs after this should be fertile.

If for any reason you want to be SURE that the eggs you sit are from a special rooster, introduce the roo to the hen, let her lay out and go broody, then let her sit for 21 day. When she starts laying again save her eggs. They should all be fertilized by the rooster you have her with when she begins laying again.

Others may have different answers but I think this is realistic.

 

[LukensFarms]

Take all roosters away from the hen. Then check the eggs that she lays for a bout a week or two. I may even incubate a few of them initially to see if they are developing an embryo. Once you do not see an embryo in two consecutive eggs, then it is time to introduce a new rooster. You can introduce this rooster for a couple of days. Then you can pull it and she will lay eggs for about 2 to 3 weeks that should be fertile from that rooster.

 

[buggal]

Thank you for this information. I realize the posts were years ago but the information is still needed.

 

[Foristers]

I agree Buggal. This information is timeless. I am going over my breeding program now and didn't have immediate access to this info.

 

[Suffolkingood]

This forum is great. Thanks

 

[AllynTal]

To the moderator that closes old threads:

Please don't close old threads like this one (and many others). The fact that someone SEARCHED the forum and found a thread that gave them the information they needed shows that the thread is still viable and helpful to people using the forum. By closing old threads, people have to start a new thread asking for the same information, which creates a lot of duplicate threads.

Thank you.

 

[confederatemule]

Thanks, to all. Just the question I needed answered and the answers I needed.

Mule