Who will pull through?!

[cherrynberry]

If a Leghorn hen gets mated by an EE cockerel and then separated with an orphington male and the orphington mates her as well, what would her eggs hatch to be? An EE mix Orphington mix leghorn? Or just an orphington x leghorn?

 

[JaeG]

If she liked the EE and he was successful in mating with her then he would likely be the father of any chicks. Hens are able to expel the sperm of a rooster or cockerel that they don't like and store the sperm of the ones they do like to use for later eggs so it's up to her which rooster she prefers. Their eggs can remain fertile for up to a month even if separated from a rooster.

 

[K0k0shka]

That's not how genetics works. You can only merge two cells - one egg cell and one sperm cell. Not three. An EE x Orpington x Leghorn mix is impossible.

Not sure if the hen can really separate the sperm if it was deposited one right after the other. May not be enough time between for the first load to travel far enough. Even if it does, it means that she can either keep or reject the second rooster's sperm. I don't think she can reject the first rooster's but keep the second rooster's sperm. The one that's farther in wins. If they are both kept, then it would be a matter of which individual sperm cell wins the race.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

That's not how genetics works. You can only merge two cells - one egg cell and one sperm cell. Not three. An EE x Orpington x Leghorn mix is impossible.

Not sure if the hen can really separate the sperm if it was deposited one right after the other. May not be enough time between for the first load to travel far enough. Even if it does, it means that she can either keep or reject the second rooster's sperm. I don't think she can reject the first rooster's but keep the second rooster's sperm. The one that's farther in wins. If they are both kept, then it would be a matter of which individual sperm cell wins the race.

Pretty much sums it up!

 

[NatJ]

If a Leghorn hen gets mated by an EE cockerel and then separated with an orphington male and the orphington mates her as well, what would her eggs hatch to be? An EE mix Orphington mix leghorn? Or just an orphington x leghorn?

Not a three-way cross.

Leghorn x EE, yes.
Leghorn x Orpington, yes.

If you hatch several eggs, you might get some chicks with one father and some with the other father.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If a Leghorn hen gets mated by an EE cockerel and then separated with an orphington male and the orphington mates her as well, what would her eggs hatch to be? An EE mix Orphington mix leghorn? Or just an orphington x leghorn?

They have correctly explained that a chick will either be a Leghorn-EE mix or a Leghorn-Orpington mix. It cannot be a three way mix.

There are different colors and patterns of Leghorns an Orpingtons so I don't know what yours look like. An EE doesn't really mean anything, they can be any color or pattern, have any type of comb, or have any color of legs. There might be something about those roosters when mixed with your leghorn that would make it possible to tell which rooster is the father, but there might not.

In the last part of the mating act the rooster hops off, his part is done. The hen then stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This "fluffy shake" moves the sperm into a special container near where the egg starts its internal journey through her internal egg making factory so it is ready to fertilize an egg when it starts that internal journey. Technically it's not a container but think of it that way just for simplicity. That sperm might remain viable for more than three weeks in that container. This is, of course, after a successful mating. If a second rooster then successfully mates her his sperm goes into that container.

A poultry science professor that specializes in chicken reproduction gave a seminar. Somebody took a homemade video and posted it. The quality is not great but I'll provide a link. It's full of interesting stuff. It's almost 2 hours long so if you are going to watch it plan for the time. @NatJ , it can get pretty boring in places but you might enjoy parts of it.

One of the things he said is that this sperm acts on a last in-first out basis. That's an accounting method but what it means in this regard is that the last rooster to successfully mate with the hen would be the father. He sounded pretty sure of himself but reading between the lines I'm not sure all the other experts agreed with him. I'm no expert and do not know how accurate that is. Since it's living animals I'm sure anything can happen but I'd think the majority would be from the second rooster. The only way to be sure would be to wait for four weeks after the last mating from the first rooster so his sperm is no longer viable.

 

[JaeG]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-...eir own battle,desirable, low-status roosters.

This is a summary of a study done around hens having the ability to choose which roosters sperm they keep. The status of the rooster in the flock has a lot to do with a hens decision to keep or eject sperm.