# Question about chicken breeding



## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

When a rooster mates a hen, how long is that hen fertile from that one mating?

If you were going to breed a certain breed of chicken and the hen was mated from a different breed, how long before you could be certain that the hen no longer was fertile from that rooster, and put her in with the same breed rooster?

I guess thats the same question twice


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

It seems to be a LONG time to be "certain", but odds are* good* after just 2-3 weeks:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/faq.html#Q33


> Hens can lay fertile eggs for *several months* after they have mated with a rooster, but the percent of eggs laid that will be fertile decreases dramatically after a couple of weeks.
> 
> A few sperm have been known to be viable for several months after a mating, though they are rare. This is possible since the hens have sperm storage sacks in their reproductive tract that slowly releases the sperm from a mating over time.
> 
> With the addition of a new sperm source (i.e., the Araucana rooster rather than the Barred Plymouth Rock) the remaining sperm from the Plymouth Rock will be out numbered by the sperm from the Araucana rooster so 99% of the offspring should be from the new rooster - but you still might get the occasional chick fathered by the Plymouth Rock, but the odds go down dramatically over time.


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

for me when it came to incubating, between week 2 and 3 i noticed a lot of eggs go back to being infertile so i would say just 2 weeks to be on the safe side..


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## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

Oh, I wish I would have known that when my favorite rooster died! Good information to know!Thanks


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I try for three weeks in the spring, just to be sure. But, if I were in a hurry, I'd do two and hope!


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## Dead Rabbit (Oct 30, 2010)

supposedly the stronger sperm wins. stronger as in fresher. the hen has a sack for storing sperm. 
ive heard they are only fertile for 3 days up to couple wks. 
true story: i bought a grown hen from kansas. had her shipped in. she laid an egg in transient and kept laying. i kept her by herself with no contact with any of my brood cocks. a month later her eggs were still fertile, and i hatched a clutch from her. 

now imo, this is the extreme exception to the rule. when i was all about keeping bloodlines pure and breeding seriously, i would never risk polluting a hen with some other rooster besides the particular one i wanted bred to her. if per chance i caught one off the yard and put in a brood pen, who had influence from any other rooster, my method was to let her lay out, go broody, set and then start laying again, that gave her plenty of time to clean out, before putting her into the breeding regime.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

there are lots of variables, Single Comb, Pea comb, Rose Comb, body type of roosters involved to a degree, weather or not it was a single mateing on an open hen or a hen that has had other partners and needs to switch to a new rooster, 

Single comb light weight roosters have the most potency, they can cover more hens and their sperm stays viable longer in the reproductive tract, pea comb and rose comb and larger heavy breeds are less potent, cover fewer hens and dont stay as viable as long, 

if a hen is kept alone and single mated one mateing can be used for one or two weeks of fertil eggs, give or take depending on the rooster, 

if a hen is taken out of one breeding flock and put with a specific rooster its POSSIBLE to get his eggs right away but mixed with any other contribution that may jump in line, this is because fresh is often used first, but there is the very good possibility that any old previous contribution can slip through for up too three weeks with the most fertil roosters, but after one week the bulk of eggs will be from the new rooster with only a few throw backs getting mixed in, 

if you had a hen exposed to say a mixed group of roosters, an EE, a Leghorn, an Austrolorp, and a Wyandotte and has bred equally to all of them and is removed you could hatch her eggs for a few weeks with the bulk of them being fatherd by the leghorn and Australorp in that order, most if not all of any possible EE and Wyandotte eggs will be laid early on in the first week and dropping off dramatically after while the leghorn and australorp eggs keep coming possibly up to three weeks especially for the leghorn, 

now thats just a hypotheticall, results may very but the concept is the same, you need to consider what she WAS exposed to vs. what she is going to be bred too next,


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