Does a chicken need to mate once per egg?

-- Steve Hill (ukph@edsamail.com.ph), April 27, 2001

Answers

Response to Eggs

No rooster needed for eggs.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), April 27, 2001.

Response to Eggs

Nope. No roosters needed for eggs. Just sunlight, and good feed.

-- Eric in TN (eric_m_stone@yahoo.com), April 27, 2001.

Response to Eggs

No No I mean for fertile eggs, if i want chicks does the chicken have to mate once per egg?

-- Steve Hill (ukph@edsamail.com.ph), April 27, 2001.

Steve:

That is an urban myth spread by roosters. One productive mating will fertilize numerous eggs.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 27, 2001.

I would wait a week or 2 before harvesting eggs to incubate .One mating lasts some redicilous amount of time .Better to be safe and have a good hatch .Also roosters will have there favorites.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), April 27, 2001.

I read that a mating session is good for 48 hours. That was in a poultry book I have. But, I have found that roosters are very "busy" and don't need any coaxing. In fact I have eight hens and I had to separate my rooster to give the girls a rest. They were all stressed out from his attentions !!

-- cindy (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), April 28, 2001.

That is funny ! A woman produces eggs without a man,they are just not fertile. A hen is the same way. If you do not want fertile eggs you do not need a rooster.

-- ourfarm (mike@fakeaddress.com), April 28, 2001.

We try to mate at least weekly. I haven't noticed any difference in the amount of chicken eggs we collect. (sorry! I couldn't resist!!! Just from the title, not the question...)

Husbands are wonderful. Roosters are a real pain, though!

Your question is one that I personally was afraid to ask for a long time!

-- sheepish (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), April 28, 2001.

Hens have a "storage receptical" in their body that the sperm is deposited into. The hen's body then doles it out regularly over a period of time, and all eggs will be fertile. Have heard varying reports as to how long the hen's eggs will be fertile, from 2 weeks to 2 months. Suppose it depends on the individual hen (and the individual rooster), and if the hen lays an egg a day or an egg a week.

-- Lynn Bixler (ljbixler@dtgnet.com), May 01, 2001.