Infertile rooster?

JacksFarmNGardn said:

What are some reasons a rooster goes infertile?

He was bred 4x with a sexlink,probably a couple weeks ago now, and he is in a pen with an orp hen, and 2 light brahmas. Well, one was killed 2 days ago, but i'm incubating her eggs.

I set some eggs 16 days ago. All the eggs from him,were not fertile. I set more 4 days ago,and they don't look fertile. I seen veins in my green ee eggs,so its not dark shells preventing me from seeing veins.i'm gonna check again in 3 days but i already feel they're not fertile.

I have seen bullseyes in my orps and light brahmas before, i know he mates them, he's done it right next to me while i vid others laying!

He seems like he's shooting blanks, and i don't know why.

Oh, he's only about 16 months old, and a chick was hatched from my a fam members hen that was brought over to breed,back in summer.

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aart said:

There are many reasons a fertile egg might not develop,
and 'seeing bullseyes' is no guarantee of fertility.

I found your narrative a bit confusing to follow.
Sounds like you are moving this cock around to different pens, and you have other cocks too?
Might be a timing issue with how long the pairs, trios, or whatever, are together.

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Ridgerunner said:

Is it possible that the male or females are sterile from a disease? Anything is possible but with those symptoms I’d say not likely.

As mentioned, sometimes a male’s fertility drops in winter due to the lessened daylight. If he is molting that can have an effect too. I’ve hatched eggs fertilized by a molting rooster and got a decent hatch rate so fertility does not always decrease, but I’ve seen plenty of trusted people on here say it has affected theirs.

Whether or not an egg develops is not totally dependent on fertility. Other things can have an effect. When a fertile egg is laid, the embryo should be alive. If the egg gets too hot or too cold the embryo can die. Cycling between warm and cool can be hard on them. Storing them too long can have an effect. So how often are you collecting them in the winter in New York? And how are you storing them?

How are you feeding them? Males and females need a certain level of nutrition to produce fertile eggs. People like to fixate on protein levels. Protein does play a part but there are other nutrients that are also important. If you are feeding them a normal chicken feed as the majority of their diet they are probably doing OK. I like adding kitchen scraps this time of year too so there is a bit of a mix but that should not be necessary. If you have them on a highly specialized diet it could contribute.

Not all matings are successful. Mating behavior has a huge effect on flock dynamics, it’s not always about fertilizing eggs. A rooster can withhold sperm when he mates. A hen can reject the sperm. Some breeders of thick-feathered breeds like Orpington or Cochin have been known to trim vent feathers on males and females to get them out of the way so he can better hit the target.

As you can probably tell I don’t have a clue what’s actually going on with yours. There are just too many possibilities. Hopefully you can find something in here that either helps or at least makes you feel a little better. Good luck!

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Ridgerunner said:

I think it’s important to note that fertility can decrease, not that it always does. As you say, you can still hatch EE chicks so the other rooster isn’t affected that much. I didn’t see where you actually said it but I assume you have a second rooster and his eggs are fertile.

That’s the problem with a lot of this type of questions, it can be different things or a combination of different things. It’s not always easy to tell what the real problem is even when you are looking at it, let alone across the internet. But yeah, the odds are pretty good this will resolve itself in a couple of months.

I thought of something else that can cause infertility in a rooster, frostbite. I mean, there are a lot of possible causes.

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