Separating breeds?!

[EnnieM]

This is for those of you that have multiple breeding pairs of different breeds. I understand the coop layout - divided for each breed. But do they always stay that way? Do you combine them for winter/off months? If you combine them and a rooster breeds a hen, how long after being seperated with just her own mate will she be back to purebred chicks? Sorry, so many questions! I have multiple chicks of nearly every breed I want now, so needing a plan.

 

[aart]

how long after being seperated with just her own mate will she be back to purebred chicks?

3-4 weeks.

 

[BantyChooks]

I have combined them in the past, but right now I am keeping them separated year-round due to predator concerns. I have few enough birds of the type in my breeding pens that even a single loss would spell disaster.

The rule of thumb for ensuring purebred chicks is about a month.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through the hen's internal egg making factory after the yolk is released. That egg can only be fertilized in the first few minutes of that journey. That means if the mating took place on a Monday, Monday's egg is not fertile from that mating. Tuesday's egg might or might not be, don't count on it. Wednesday's egg will be. Note that this is after a mating.

A rooster does not necessarily mate every hen in the flock every day but he doesn't have to. After the rooster hops off, the hen fluffs up and shakes. That fluffy shake moves the sperm to a container near where the yolk starts its journey. That sperm can stay viable in that container for 9 days to maybe more than three weeks. Most of us count on two weeks. So if you wait three weeks after a mating you can be fairly sure the egg was fertilized by the rooster you want but it's not guaranteed. Many breeders wait three weeks. If you want to be about as sure as possible, wait four weeks. Different people have different risk tolerances.

Hopefully that will help you plan.