Wait time for incubating eggs from new breeding groups

Skinny rooster · Post by **Skinny rooster** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 8:16 pm

WLLady wrote:QR_BBPOST If they have all been running together you will need about 25 days before they should be fertilized only by the new male.

I always heard two weeks at least, lately I have been hearing three but wasn't sure. I find ten days usually cleans things out but I didn't realize 25 days to be sure. The interesting thing is it's not like a treadmill as the books keep saying. Once I had an old RIR rooster that I had to put down, I put an extra young barred rock in with the hen immediately and began hatching all her eggs. First groups of chicks were RIR but eventually little black chicks started coming so I figured oh well, no more reds, then a red baby would hatch, then black, then maybe two reds and so on until only black started coming. It was my little experiment lol.

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 9:50 pm

Skinny rooster wrote:QR_BBPOST
WLLady wrote:QR_BBPOST If they have all been running together you will need about 25 days before they should be fertilized only by the new male.
I always heard two weeks at least, lately I have been hearing three but wasn't sure. I find ten days usually cleans things out but I didn't realize 25 days to be sure. The interesting thing is it's not like a treadmill as the books keep saying. Once I had an old RIR rooster that I had to put down, I put an extra young barred rock in with the hen immediately and began hatching all her eggs. First groups of chicks were RIR but eventually little black chicks started coming so I figured oh well, no more reds, then a red baby would hatch, then black, then maybe two reds and so on until only black started coming. It was my little experiment lol.

Interesting! I had no idea that was possible!!!

Post by **Killerbunny** » Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:23 am

windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST The longer you can wait the better...Last Fall I hatched a chick that had been sired by a rooster that had been dead about 5 weeks when I collected eggs. The more a hen likes a particular rooster, the longer she will hold onto his sperm, and reject the sperm of a rooster she doesn't like. Yeah, they can do that, weird but true, and apparently for quite some time :/

And then there was "Oopsie" how long was that one Jan?

Post by **WLLady** » Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:25 am

A few years back i timed all my breeds. Each was different. I removed the males and cracked eggs starting at 10 days. My barred rocks were "clean" first at 18 days. Most of he others were unfertilized by 21 days and my ameraucanas were not fertilized at 24.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:43 am

Interesting, I also noticed the Ameraucana held the fertility longest after rooster was removed.
Something to be said for those not so "pure" breeds.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:23 am

Turkeys can last 4 months on a single mating so Cirrus Hill told me!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:59 pm

Anecdotally, If the hen is not laying when a mating occurs, it will take longer to clean out, or degrade, or whatever chicken sperm does. Blue Oopsie is the one I think you mean Gill? The black Giants had been separated for almost 3 months...I got an egg and I hatched that sucker...And got a blue chick. With a crest. Clearly the result of my bantam project boy having his way with a much larger lady. That's the only oopsie I'm 100 % certain was that long between separation and hatching. There were a couple others, but I couldn't guarantee Squinky didn't hop the fence and hop back out. He was a master flier and also master of the hump and run!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Fri Mar 10, 2017 12:04 am

Yeah, turkey matings can last a ridiculously long time. They can also hatch eggs without mating at all, so at 4 months, unless you can do genetic testing, there's no telling 'who's your daddy' or if they even have one!

Post by **Killerbunny** » Fri Mar 10, 2017 4:41 pm

windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST Anecdotally, If the hen is not laying when a mating occurs, it will take longer to clean out, or degrade, or whatever chicken sperm does. Blue Oopsie is the one I think you mean Gill? The black Giants had been separated for almost 3 months...I got an egg and I hatched that sucker...And got a blue chick. With a crest. Clearly the result of my bantam project boy having his way with a much larger lady. That's the only oopsie I'm 100 % certain was that long between separation and hatching. There were a couple others, but I couldn't guarantee Squinky didn't hop the fence and hop back out. He was a master flier and also master of the hump and run!

I'm thinking of the Black JGs I set in May 2015. Oopsie was such a sweet little BOY!