Timeline on egg fertility

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Hey gang!! New situation for me. My wife has a pair of Barred Cochins. I KNOW the rooster is fertile, and has proved himself on more than one occasion with a couple of the game hens. She wants to try raising some purebred cochins, and the hen is definitely not the broody type. So, how many days is it after they mate that the eggs become fertile? She wants to try her hand at incubating them. Thanks a bunch!!

-- Uncle Jake (lulafred@cs.com), October 14, 2001

Answers

Hi Jake! I would say to give it just two or three days. You can always make sure by breaking one open and looking at the yolk. I still want to see if I can incubate anything, but right now the only roostter I have is Silver Seabright. That just won't do with Wyandottes and Australorps...altthough He still acts like a big guy!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), October 14, 2001.

I may be wrong on this, but I think there's more like five eggs"in production" inside the hen at all times. I'd wait a week or so before starting to collect the eggs.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 14, 2001.

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