New to hatching eggs.

[tiffanymarie98]

Hi everyone! I have had chickens for two years now. My girls are the best! My husband and I just recently started talking about hatching some of our own chicks this year. We currently have two roosters (separated of course!) We even found an incubator that we both like. I know some of the basics on getting started. My question is when do I start putting eggs in the incubator? I have read anything between 7 days and even up to 3 weeks after breeding. I'm not really sure how to start lol. I have my roosters away from my hens at the moment. At the time I didn't want any babies. Plus my roos were a little aggressive with my girls. Not in a bad way. Just tearing out feathers and causing some soreness from his spurs digging in their backs. I did get them saddles to help! Now that I'm wanting to hatch some babies I'm looking for all the advice I can get. TIA

 

[nuthatched]

Chickens can store sperm for over a month from roosters they like, since your boys were jerks, your hens may not be fertile.
Aggression can also be genetic, those traits may crop up in the cockerels.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My question is when do I start putting eggs in the incubator? I have read anything between 7 days and even up to 3 weeks after breeding.

It takes around 25 hours for an egg to make its way through the hen's internal egg making factory. That egg can only be fertilized during the first few moments of that journey. That means if a mating takes place on a Monday, Monday's egg is not fertile from that mating. It can't be. Tuesday's egg might or might not be, depending on timing. Probably best to not count on it. Wednesday's egg will be fertile.

But this is after a mating. A rooster doesn't necessarily mate with every hen in the flock every day. He doesn't have to. She stores sperm in a special container near where the egg starts its journey. That sperm can remain viable in that container anywhere for 9 days until a few weeks. It's possible an egg can be fertile as much as three or even four weeks after a mating but a university professor in poultry science said he was OK incubating eggs for as long as 2 weeks after a mating, they are probably still fertile. But he cut it off at 2 weeks after a mating as the eggs can become non-viable.

I understand you are anxious to get them in the incubator. My suggestion is to open the eggs on Day 3 after you put him in there. Look for the bull's eye. If most of the eggs are fertile start them as soon as you collect all you want to hatch. You want to start them all at the same time so they will hatch at the same time. Trust what you see more than you trust a stranger over the internet, like me.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[tiffanymarie98]

Chickens can store sperm for over a month from roosters they like, since your boys were jerks, your hens may not be fertile.
Aggression can also be genetic, those traits may crop up in the cockerels.

They weren't jerks. Just wasn't gentle. I don't think I had a good hen to roo ratio. I have since then added more girls to my flock. I'm hoping that the saddles will help my hens with feather loss when I reintroduce a roo to the girls. My one roo has super sharp spurs.

 

[tiffanymarie98]

It takes around 25 hours for an egg to make its way through the hen's internal egg making factory. That egg can only be fertilized during the first few moments of that journey. That means if a mating takes place on a Monday, Monday's egg is not fertile from that mating. It can't be. Tuesday's egg might or might not be, depending on timing. Probably best to not count on it. Wednesday's egg will be fertile.

But this is after a mating. A rooster doesn't necessarily mate with every hen in the flock every day. He doesn't have to. She stores sperm in a special container near where the egg starts its journey. That sperm can remain viable in that container anywhere for 9 days until a few weeks. It's possible an egg can be fertile as much as three or even four weeks after a mating but a university professor in poultry science said he was OK incubating eggs for as long as 2 weeks after a mating, they are probably still fertile. But he cut it off at 2 weeks after a mating as the eggs can become non-viable.

I understand you are anxious to get them in the incubator. My suggestion is to open the eggs on Day 3 after you put him in there. Look for the bull's eye. If most of the eggs are fertile start them as soon as you collect all you want to hatch. You want to start them all at the same time so they will hatch at the same time. Trust what you see more than you trust a stranger over the internet, like me.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Thank you so much!! Someone else told me about the bullseye method! I will definitely pay attention to behavior and which ones he's mating with. I have a few different breeds of hens. They all lay different colored eggs and different sizes lol. I am very excited though. I even have my kids excited. We all love our chickens here. We are so anxious. I can't wait to see what happens next month when we try a practice run on incubating! I will post an update when we try to hatch