Will the eggs be fertile

[rosco]

All -
we took these chickens away from their roosters last Friday night, November 20, 2009. one of our chickens laid an egg and is still warm. it is now ~noon.

1st ? - is there a chance the eggs are fertile. or, better asked, how long is the sperm affective inside the chicken?

2nd ? - we've two black astralorps, one red EE and one Barred. which one lays a blue egg? Our EE is too young.

3rd ? - if there is a chance the egg is fertile can we just leave it in the box and let the mother raise it?

4th ? - how long can the egg be left in the box and still be fresh to eat? it will be close to 70F today. i'll assume she sits on it tonight.

5th ? - I touched the egg, does that affect anything?

Thank you for all the great answers to other questions! I'll be on the FAQ's site but know yall will answer these questions before i can get through the first one myself.

Regards,
rosco

 

[matthewgraves]

The eggs will probably be fertile for about 3 weeks after taking the rooster away. If she ain't broody then she won't sit. It doesn't matter that you touched it.

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:
Yes, the eggs could be fertile - if the roosters were mating with the hens. Hens can continue to lay fertile eggs for about 3 weeks after last mating.
Quote:
How young is your EE? Black australorps & barred rocks only lay brown eggs. Must be the EE.
Quote:
The hen will only hatch the egg if she is broody. You can't 'make' a hen go broody, so unless you already have a hen that wants to sit, you're out of luck.
Quote:
Float the egg in water. If it sinks to the bottom, it's good. If it floats, it's bad. If it stands on one end, it's not fresh, but not bad yet, either. If your hen isn't sitting on the egg right now, I wouldn't assume she's going to sit on it overnight. She'll probably forget about it.
Quote:
Only if your hands are really dirty... like motor oil or kerosene. Otherwise, no.

 

[rosco]

How young is your EE? Black australorps & barred rocks only lay brown eggs. Must be the EE.

She is ~10months + one week. the seller believes this would be her first egg. this EE was sold to to him, my seller, as an amaraucana (sp?). but he and many others think it is just an EE.​

 

[evonne]

10 months is plenty old enough to lay... and the blue will be from the EE.... Grats.. blue and green eggs are soo fun...
my EE's and my leghorn were hatched in may... so they're 6 months old, and the leghorn has been laying for 2 months.. and the 2 EE's that are laying about 6 weeks...
my barred rocks that i got in july look like they're about to start laying too...
everything i've read says they can start anytime after about 5 months.. but it depends on the bird.. my other EE's that are from the same hatch as the first 2 are still not laying...

 

[rosco]

A brown egg has appeared in the same nest box. is it possible two chickens laid an egg in the same box? No chickens are sitting.

I will investigate the term "broody."

Thanks for the answer!

rosco

 

[Mahonri]

Broody means the hen stays on the nest incubating the eggs for 21 days until the egg hatches, only getting off for short periods to eat, drink and poop.

They usually don't start brooding until they have a number of eggs in the nest (6 to 12).

Or you could collect the eggs and incubate them yourself in an incubator.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
mahonri - we are on a time frame here with fertility. the eggs will no longer be fertile/viable in less than two weeks. to stimulate broodiness, if that is possible, shall i leave the eggs in the box? they aren't sleeping in the boxes tonight, but on another roost. to best get live chics in this time frame, shall i take the cold eggs out of the box? if so, we've got a lizard terrarium that is between 85-105, depending on area of terrarium. should i throw them in there? right now, the boss, robin has them in her sweater.

between four chickens, we've just received two eggs.

also, is it possible to stick store bought eggs in the nest to stimulate broodiness? i get the idea that broodiness can not be forced but it makes sense that a chicken wouldn't become broody until it has at least so many eggs to hatch.

-rosco

 

[kyeschicks]

Quote:
mahonri - we are on a time frame here with fertility. the eggs will no longer be fertile/viable in less than two weeks. to stimulate broodiness, if that is possible, shall i leave the eggs in the box? they aren't sleeping in the boxes tonight, but on another roost. to best get live chics in this time frame, shall i take the cold eggs out of the box? if so, we've got a lizard terrarium that is between 85-105, depending on area of terrarium. should i throw them in there? right now, the boss, robin has them in her sweater.

between four chickens, we've just received two eggs.

also, is it possible to stick store bought eggs in the nest to stimulate broodiness? i get the idea that broodiness can not be forced but it makes sense that a chicken wouldn't become broody until it has at least so many eggs to hatch.

-rosco

Yes, the hen(s) will sit on them if ONLY there's a "clutch" of eggs in the nest box (not necessarily in the nest box) . And I believe that you CAN stick some store-bought eggs in the nest box along with the "fertil" ones. About a month ago I didn't collect my eggs for about 4 days and there was a HUGE clutch of eggs when my little White cochin bantam hen decided to go broody. Of course, we took about half of the eggs out because she wouldn't cover all of them and that unfortunately would be a problem. So next time you get a rooster you know how to raise the chances of a hen to go broody (I wouldn't say "Make" a hen go broody because you cannot force them to go broody)

 

[rosco]

Skitz,
Thanks! i thought that would work. when we have silkies broodiness won't be a problem!