Does anyone know how long a chicken takes from the time of mating to laying the egg fertilised by that mating? We raised a batch of Buff Orpingtons that look half Aracauna. We had the Buff hens caged with our Buff rooster for 2-3 days before saving the eggs for incubation. We can only guess that this was not long enough to avoid the eggs fertilised by our Aracauna rooster before caging.

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), March 29, 2001

Answers

I don't know exactly, but I think it takes about a week. There are about that many eggs inside the hen at various stages of development.

-- mary, texas (marylgarcia@aol.com), March 29, 2001.

I've read that a chickens eggs are fertile for up to 2 weeks after being with the rooster! (seems like a long time for those little guys to keep swimming!)

-- Elizabeth (lividia66@aol.com), March 29, 2001.

Most folks I know separate the hens from "other" roosters for 3 weeks before saving hatching eggs! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), April 04, 2001.