Question about hen/egg fertility?

[La_TomboyGirl]

Ok. I hope this question goes under this topic, as It seemed to be the most applicable. So, when the chickens mate, how long does the sperm stay alive in there & therefore the hen's able to produce fertile eggs? Like, if they mate, then the eggs are considered to be fertile for the next 2 days, a week, etc. before she's need to be exposed to the rooster again in order to keep getting good hatching eggs? I have a couple hens I'm giving as pets to my niece, & they don't really want to eat the eggs (I know- I have no idea why not!), & so I thought i could just let her "come visit" my guy(s) every so often, & then I could collect the fertile eggs from them so they aren't wasted. Or if that's a hassle, we'll just eat them for them! Yum...

 

[Kittymomma]

They can stay fertile for anywhere between 7-28 days. If I'm collecting for the incubator I figure 7 days. If I'm waiting for a hen to be clear before introducing a new roo I either wait 28 days or until there is no "bulls eye" for 3 straight days.

Visiting rights may not work out well since they could pick up different parasites etc. at their new home and may not want to submit to the roos when they're exposed to them since they'll be all freaked out about the travel and the "new" place. I'd just eat the egg and not mess with trying to get fertile eggs from them.

 

[La_TomboyGirl]

Ok then. I went & got some Silkies the other day, & OF COURSE my niece wanted the 2 with the poofiest crest, etc. (READ: the ones I wanted for myself! LOL) And getting bearded, esp. splash silkies isn't easy round these parts. She originally wanted frizzles, but the guy was out @ the time & I talked her into picking out silkies instead.

She had wanted white @ first till she saw those. They have some frizz in the bator though...maybe I'll just see if we can go back to "plan A" & I'll keep all the poofies for my rotten self!!! Mwahahaha.....Thanks for reminding me about the parasites also. They are going to be mostly indoor pets in a large dog training crate & let out into the back yard w/ supervision in the afternoons, & will be the only chickens there, so maybe that would help? I guess I might try it a time or 2 & if it's too much trouble, we'll just eat all those widdle biddy eggs!

 

[Laurieks]

I hope I can ask this here, it looks like the most recent thread in this topic (I hate to start a new thread if one like it exists)

If a hen gets bred by the wrong roo, will frequent breeding with the Right Roo 'wash out' the sperm from the 'wrong roo'?

I've read that whales operate this way & hope it works with chickens too.