A hen can lay eggs every day, with or without any male contribution.However, to get a fertilized egg, a rooster’s involvement is vital. He can fertilize the eggs of up to ten hens.To increase the size of a flock, a rooster, is very important. He must mate with the hens for their sperm to travel into the hen’s oviduct and produce fertile eggs. After the chickens have mated successfully, the hens can lay eggs that are fertile for the next few days.The springtime is the ideal mating season for chickens. During this period, the male chicken might display several courtship patterns like ’tidbitting’ where the rooster finds food for the hen as a sign of good gesture and performs the rooster dance where the rooster drops one of his wings and dances around it to impress the hen.Sometimes, however, there are no such patterns. Instead, the mating process gets quite aggressive and often leaves the hen with several injuries. In such cases, it is often seen that the female chicken rejects the rooster or refuses to mate with them.Here, in this article, we will discuss how roosters can fertilize eggs and the whole process that follows, from mating to the hatching of the eggs. Unlike other animals, chickens are neither wild nor pets. They are primarily used for human consumption or poultry farming.For more articles related to animals, please check out interesting facts on how do amphibians breathe? And how do animals hibernate?How does a rooster fertilize an egg?Roosters attain sexual maturity several months after their birth. They are responsible for the flock’s survival, and they take their mating responsibilities very seriously. While some roosters are romantic, others tend to go for a more direct approach.The direct approach involves the rooster hoping on the hen’s back and performing cloacal copulation, commonly referred to as the cloacal kiss. Here, the rooster copulates through the cloaca, and their sperm gets delivered into the hen’s oviduct.On the other side, roosters try to impress the hens before mating. The first attempt involves ’tidbitting’ where the rooster finds food for hens and lures the hens to check it out. After inspection, if the food or the item brought to them by the rooster doesn’t interest them, the hens will brush it off and reject the rooster by walking away.Another mating ritual employed by roosters to impress the hens, is ’the rooster dance’. The rooster approaches the hen by the side, then drops a wing to the ground and dances around it. They continue with their dance until the hen shows interest in the rooster or walks away from him.A hen considers several points before choosing its mating partner. The health and the look of the rooster are two of the primary determinants in this process. It is often seen that the female breed usually prefers a rooster with a red comb over the rest.After the mating is over, the hen lays a fertile egg of the day and continues to lay several fertilized eggs for the next few days.How many times can a rooster mate in one day?Roosters are naturally sexually potent and have high virility. Their age isn’t as much of a factor in this process.A rooster usually reaches sexual maturity at a very young age. They are capable of producing 100 million to 5 billion sperm cells during their morning session and almost another tens of millions of sperm cells by the end of the day. They can produce sperm constantly, and even as much as needed for mating. They have two functioning testicles in their abdomens, located near their kidneys.A rooster, however, does not have a penis. Instead, they have a tiny bump in their cloacal wall, called a ‘papilla’. The testicles deliver the sperm to the papilla inside the cloaca, which gets ejected inside the cloaca of the hens.An average rooster has the capacity of mating 10-20 times in a single day. As they are responsible for populating their entire flock, they do not wait for hours for the eggs to get laid and hatch; instead, they move on to the next hen.After the male is done copulating, the sperm travels from her cloaca towards the ovary, however, the female may contain the sperm in their special internal pockets. The sperm is then viable for 7-10 days after that. That is how a hen can produce fertilized eggs for the next few days without mating.How do you know if a rooster has fertilized an egg?There are two primary ways to identify fertilized chicken eggs from the not fertilized ones. The first one involves cracking the egg up, and the other involves a more complex process called candling.The easiest way to see if a chicken egg is fertilized by the rooster is to crack it open. The yolk of the fertilized chicken egg has a white ring around it. However, this process is not ideal because, after this, the eggs do not remain viable.Candling, on the other hand, requires a few extra steps. After incubating the eggs for a few days, the eggs are taken into a dark room, where a bright light is held under the egg’s larger end. Fertile chicken eggs will show a dark spot with visible nerves surrounding them, whereas unfertilized eggs will show the shadowy figure of the egg yolk. So, candling is always the preferred choice, and it is mainly used to check the development of the embryo from time to time. This entire process is called candling because earlier only candles were used as the source of light.How many eggs does a rooster fertilize at one time?As already established, roosters are very fertile and have high virility. At first, the rooster only fertilizes a single egg, known as the egg of the day. However, studies have shown that a rooster can fertilize up to 12 eggs in a single mating.As the semen enters through the cloaca and travels towards the hen’s ovary, some of it gets saved in special inbuilt pockets. This makes the eggs fertilized in the coming weeks. Though the most common timeframe to use this semen is five days, the semen remains viable for a maximum of two weeks in a productive hen. Hens are initially born with two ovaries, but the right one generally dies, and the left ovary has to carry all of the eggs.Brooding And Development Of Fertilized Chicken EggsOnce the hen and rooster are done mating and the sperm has turned enough eggs fertilized, the female will soon chase off the rooster if he tries to mate with her again. So, after laying eggs, she will find a dark and quiet nesting place to brood, where other birds won’t disturb her.She will collect all her eggs, store them in the nest and sit on the eggs for the next 21 days until the eggs hatch and a baby chick is born. After becoming broody, the hen rarely leaves the nest and dedicatedly protects her eggs from any incoming danger. Some hens will become broody, regardless if roosters fertilize eggs.Once the eggs start hatching, the mother takes care of all the chicks. Hens develop a special bond with their baby and look after what they eat. Even after completely hatching out of the eggs, she vigorously protects them until they are mature enough to be a part of their flock and can themselves take care of what they eat.Soon after the baby chickens are grown enough to leave the nest, the females reengage themselves with male chickens.Fertilized Vs Unfertilized Eggs: Things You Need To KnowFertilized chicken eggs and unfertilized chicken eggs serve two different purposes for humans.The process of egg fertilization in a hen is not something that happens within a few hours. It takes a little time for the embryo to develop completely. Though time-consuming, this process is essential for poultry farming, as regular fertilization provides a continuous supply of chickens.As there is no need to get the egg fertile, there is no need for a rooster’s sperm anymore. The female chicken alone is capable of laying a fresh egg every day.The unfertilized chicken egg is directly related to the poultry farming business. One of the primary incomes of a poultry farmer comes from selling these eggs to a store or the supermarket, which we end up buying and eating in our day to day life.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how are chicken eggs fertilized? Then why not take a look at how do birds find worms, or how do dolphins sleep?
A hen can lay eggs every day, with or without any male contribution.
