Probably a silly question involving a stud rooster.

[Lizz9311]

Background: We have five hens that are roughly 3 years old, but still laying fine. (Average of 3 eggs per day.) My husband's uncle has a rooster (no other chickens, just the one rooster Sam). Sam has come to visit with our ladies because I want fertilized eggs from our own birds. Sam has only just been introduced to the ladies. He's been in the run with them for roughly two and a half hours.

Question: At what point do I start putting the eggs I gather aside for incubation? Should I wait a day, then put collected eggs into the incubator? Can I start collecting for incubation as soon as tomorrow (since I already collected today's eggs)?

Question 2: Do I have to put the collected eggs right into the incubator or can I put them aside until I have a good number collected (between 15-20, which will take a little over a week to collect) and put them all in the incubator at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

 

[gryeyes]

if Sam has mounted all five ladies, then tomorrow their eggs should be fertile.

Yes, you can collect eggs until you get a good number of 'em before you put them all into the incubator at once.

Good luck and hope Sam gives you lots of chicks! (Gender is determined by the hen so we can't blame too many cockerels on him.)

 

[Lizz9311]

I know he mounted one girl as soon as he was let loose! Not sure how he's done with the other girls so far as I've been doing other things, but we'll see!

Thanks for the answers!