The 9th Annual BYC Easter Hatchalong!

[pennyJo1960]

It has been a while, but I am looking forward to participating in this HAL.

What breed are you hatching glad you joined in

 

[Beer can]

@aliciaplus3
Love your avatar pic, looks similar to the group I have lol.

 

[pennyJo1960]

alright I have officialy added three green eggs to the hova bator moved them last night to it as I need to figure out the metric setting and setting it back as I mistakenly changed it
may learn to regret buying the darn thing just labeled egg incubator

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Set Chicken eggs on Saturday, March 10th at Noon (whatever time zone you are in)

If I get the rebates on time and get another easy-bake-oven, I'm in. March 10th is off schedule with my program.
Because the new oven would need a good test run anyway.

Maybe another dedication batch.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Had to set mine early but still will just follow along as it fun to see everyone's hatches

 

[LilJoe]

I just switched roosters with my Seramas and 3 weeks lies on March 17. Would 5he eggs be fertilized by the new roos on March 12 or not?

 

[pennyJo1960]

I just switched roosters with my Seramas and 3 weeks lies on March 17. Would 5he eggs be fertilized by the new roos on March 12 or not?

I have not bookmarked that as of yet there is article here on site regarding how long
found this thanks to @Ridgerunner pretty long but worth the read I now have this bookmarked you may want to also
Something to help you with your planning. It takes an egg about 25 hours to make its way through the hen’s internal egg making factory. It can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. That means if a successful mating takes place on a Sunday, Sunday’s egg is not fertile from that mating. Monday’s egg might be but don’t count on it. Tuesday’s egg will be fertile. That timing is pretty specific.

The last part of the mating act is after the rooster hops off the hen stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts that journey. That sperm normally stays effective for anywhere from 9 days to over three weeks. Most of us count on two weeks. There have been cases where a hen laid a fertile egg over three weeks after the rooster was gone, but it’s fairly rare. Most people use three weeks as a pretty safe length of time for that sperm to clear out. A month can be a long wait.

As mentioned a rooster does not usually mate with every hen in the flock every day. In a normal flock situation he doesn’t have to, once every two weeks is enough. You are not in that situation though. How often he mates and with which hens will depend on different things. Part of it is how vigorous the rooster is. Some roosters have no problems keeping over 20 hens fertile. Some may struggle to keep 4 hens fertile. Age can be a factor. Younger roosters can be more vigorous than older roosters.

Flock dynamics has a lot to do with it. A rooster needs to be dominant enough that the hens accept him as flock master. Otherwise they may run away when he dances instead of squatting. Not all roosters chase them down and force the issue.

Roosters do not carry a little black book to keep track. “Oh, I haven’t mated her for a couple of weeks, it’s time”. It’s a lot of opportunity. If the flock splits up where some hens stay with the rooster while others avoid him, certain ones are more likely to be bred.

In other words there is no guarantee a rooster will even keep all hens fertile, let alone how long it takes for him to fertilize the flock to start with.

The way I understand it, you have two roosters and 12 hens you want to hatch eggs from. You want the chicks to be about the same age. You feel you can collect enough eggs from 12 hens in two days from each rooster.

My suggestion would be to split the hens into two groups of six each. Put each group with one rooster. After the appropriate amount of time, collect eggs over a 4 or 5 day period to hatch. That way the chicks will be exactly the same age, not just close together. One rooster is more likely to have all eggs fertile with six hens than 12. I don’t know if you have one incubator or two, but either way you can keep the chicks separated at hatch. We can discuss that if you wish. If you only have one incubator, do you want a staggered hatch?

I don’t know all your goals or whether this could work for you (you may not want to split the hens) but it seems it would give you more control over the situation that waiting and hoping the second rooster does his job in a reasonable amount of time. I think you are kind of putting all your eggs in one basket if you count on days 13 and 14 to be good days for egg laying, plus on occasion the sperm may not be as viable then as sooner in the cycle.

 

[mlm Mike]

Mike - so you are great but your brother is ok?

Yep, according to the nieces and nephews.

 

[mlm Mike]

Two more years! Can't wait!

It should go fast!

 

[LilJoe]

I have not bookmarked that as of yet there is article here on site regarding how long
found this thanks to @Ridgerunner pretty long but worth the read I now have this bookmarked you may want to also
Something to help you with your planning. It takes an egg about 25 hours to make its way through the hen’s internal egg making factory. It can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. That means if a successful mating takes place on a Sunday, Sunday’s egg is not fertile from that mating. Monday’s egg might be but don’t count on it. Tuesday’s egg will be fertile. That timing is pretty specific.

The last part of the mating act is after the rooster hops off the hen stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm into a special container inside the hen near where the egg starts that journey. That sperm normally stays effective for anywhere from 9 days to over three weeks. Most of us count on two weeks. There have been cases where a hen laid a fertile egg over three weeks after the rooster was gone, but it’s fairly rare. Most people use three weeks as a pretty safe length of time for that sperm to clear out. A month can be a long wait.

As mentioned a rooster does not usually mate with every hen in the flock every day. In a normal flock situation he doesn’t have to, once every two weeks is enough. You are not in that situation though. How often he mates and with which hens will depend on different things. Part of it is how vigorous the rooster is. Some roosters have no problems keeping over 20 hens fertile. Some may struggle to keep 4 hens fertile. Age can be a factor. Younger roosters can be more vigorous than older roosters.

Flock dynamics has a lot to do with it. A rooster needs to be dominant enough that the hens accept him as flock master. Otherwise they may run away when he dances instead of squatting. Not all roosters chase them down and force the issue.

Roosters do not carry a little black book to keep track. “Oh, I haven’t mated her for a couple of weeks, it’s time”. It’s a lot of opportunity. If the flock splits up where some hens stay with the rooster while others avoid him, certain ones are more likely to be bred.

In other words there is no guarantee a rooster will even keep all hens fertile, let alone how long it takes for him to fertilize the flock to start with.

The way I understand it, you have two roosters and 12 hens you want to hatch eggs from. You want the chicks to be about the same age. You feel you can collect enough eggs from 12 hens in two days from each rooster.

My suggestion would be to split the hens into two groups of six each. Put each group with one rooster. After the appropriate amount of time, collect eggs over a 4 or 5 day period to hatch. That way the chicks will be exactly the same age, not just close together. One rooster is more likely to have all eggs fertile with six hens than 12. I don’t know if you have one incubator or two, but either way you can keep the chicks separated at hatch. We can discuss that if you wish. If you only have one incubator, do you want a staggered hatch?

I don’t know all your goals or whether this could work for you (you may not want to split the hens) but it seems it would give you more control over the situation that waiting and hoping the second rooster does his job in a reasonable amount of time. I think you are kind of putting all your eggs in one basket if you count on days 13 and 14 to be good days for egg laying, plus on occasion the sperm may not be as viable then as sooner in the cycle.

I have one pair and a trio. Both little groups are split up. I do have two incubators, but one doesn't work very well (Styrofoam). I also may use a broody for those eggs.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by a 'staggered' hatch. Can you elaborate a little? And do you think it would be a safe bet to set on the 12th?