Hens at the Back of My House

[Bitpo]

My mum has been keeping a lot of hens at the back of the house. A lot have been killed and eaten Two are left by now. Those two hens have lain eggs in recent days. But there is no any cock.

Do hens lay eggs without the need of cocks?
Do hens reproduce without the need of cocks?
Why do my hens lay eggs without cocks?
Do hens need to copulate with cocks before they can lay eggs?
Do hens copulate with cocks?
Did my hens copulate with cocks before they were bought?

[betheny]

Cocks are only required for fertilized eggs and baby chickens. If you want breakfast you scramble up those mofos out in your yard!

I've never seen a hen out looking for cocks...but I reckon they do.

[Timaru]

My mum has been keeping a lot of hens at the back of the house. A lot have been killed and eaten Two are left by now. Those two hens have lain eggs in recent days. But there is no any cock.

Do hens lay eggs without the need of cocks?
Do hens reproduce without the need of cocks?
Why do my hens lay eggs without cocks?
Do hens need to copulate with cocks before they can lay eggs?
Do hens copulate with cocks?
Did my hens copulate with cocks before they were bought?

1) Yes.

2) No.

3) Think of the egg as a chicken's period.

4) No.

5) All the time if they can get at 'em!

6) Don't ask, don't tell.

[t8burst]

Why are you getting lonely and are the chickens starting to look attractive?

[Wheel Travel]

This is turning into a very humorous thread

[LindaT]

Don't choke those chickens!

[Patton57]

This is turning into a very humorous thread

I was a little surprised that this thread didn't originally start off with the question, "How do you know if any of the cocks are virgins?".

[flying]

There was a chicken and an egg laying in bed, the chicken rolls over and lights up a cigarette and says...................................I guess that answers that question

[Wise Young]

Timaru had the most interesting answer, in my opinion. He said: "Think of the egg as a chicken's period." Human females lay eggs every time they have a period. Chickens seem to lay eggs almost every day. I wondered if they have a "period" every day. So, here is what my research revealed. I attach a pdf from an authoritative source.

According to Jacquie Jacob, Tony Pecatore, and Austin Cantor, writing for the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Kentucky,

Birds lay eggs in clutches. A clutch consists of
one or more eggs laid each day for several
days, followed by a rest period of about a day
or more. Then another egg or set of eggs is
laid. Clutch size is species- and breed-specific.
For commercial egg layers clutch size is typically
quite large. Clutch size, as well as the
numbers of clutches laid in a laying cycle, will
vary with species, but the principle is the
same.

In chicken hens, ovulation usually occurs in the
morning and under normal daylight conditions,
almost never after 3:00 PM. The total time to
form a new egg is about 25-26 hours. This
includes about 3½ hours to make the albumen,
1½ hours for the shell membranes, and about
20 hours for the shell itself.

Ovulation of a yolk for the next egg in a clutch
occurs within an hour of laying the previous
egg, and so that each day the hen gets later
and later in her timing. As an analogy, she
"runs behind," like a clock that is improperly
adjusted. Eventually she gets so far behind
schedule that she would have to ovulate later
than 3:00 PM. Since hens do not typically
ovulate after 3:00 PM, the next ovulation is
delayed until at least the next day and egg laying
is interrupted. This delay results in the break
between clutches and the cycle repeats itself a
day or so later.

So, egg laying happens regardless of fertilization. Basically, a hen takes about 25-26 hours to make an egg. During the day, the ovaries will drop an egg within an hour after it has laid one but the chicken will usually not ovulate after 3 pm. Hens lay a "clutch" of eggs at a time. At the beginning of a clutch, a hen lays an egg in the morning. The next day, she will lay an egg several hours later (i.e. 26-27 hours since the last egg). She will keep laying eggs 2-3 hours later each day until she lays an egg at 2 pm or later. Since she will not ovulate later than 3 pm, she essentially skips a cycle and starts a new clutch by ovulating the next morning. The number of eggs per clutch, as well as the timing between eggs vary amongst bird species.

Note, however, the hens are very resourceful when it comes to storing sperm. Again according to the attached article:

Near the junction of the vagina and the shell
gland, there are deep glands known as sperm
host glands. They get their name from the
fact that they can store sperm for long periods
of time (10 days to 2 weeks). When an egg is
laid, some of these sperm can be squeezed
out of the glands into the oviduct so that they
can migrate farther up the oviduct to fertilize an
ovum. This is one of the really remarkable
things about birds; the sperm remain viable
at body temperature.

So, the hens can be laid (so-to-speak) once every 10-14 days and the sperm collected from a single fuck (again so-to-speak) can be used to fertilize eggs for 2 weeks.

Wise.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/afspoultry-fi...productive.pdf

[Timaru]

Fascinating stuff Profesor, I found this particularly interesting........

So, the hens can be laid (so-to-speak) once every 10-14 days and the sperm collected from a single fuck (again so-to-speak) can be used to fertilize eggs for 2 weeks.

From watching my Grandfather's chickens in the farm yard the cock with a harem of between twelve and twenty hens would mount each hen three or four times a day.

This admittedly rough observation begs the question as to why the hen evolved the ability to store sperm for up to two weeks?

Could it be that farm yard fowl engage in recreational sex and that pre domestication wild birds would only be in a position to copulate every ten or so days suggesting that naturally they were solitary birds rather than social.

[triumph]

Bitpo:

This dilemma sounds like a 5th grade math story problem. You didn't say if you are harvesting them. At this rate I'm guessing you will end up with 0 chickens. Unless, of course, you can lead them to a social mixer at least once a week.

[grommet]

They'll lay without any cocks. My duck laid an egg everyday all on her own unless you count the dog she lived with.

[betheny]

I love it when one of the world's pre-eminent neuroresearchers discusses chicken fucking. Only on CareCure!

[Patton57]

I love it when one of the world's pre-eminent neuroresearchers discusses chicken fucking. Only on CareCure!

The Dr has range!