Any idea why?

[lilwanderer]

I heard it may be due to inner breeding, and it resulted her being infertile ( As in, she came from it, not her eggs. ) But is there any other reason, and can it be fixed? I have this ee hen who I have always wanted to hatch eggs from, but not once over the 5 years I've had her, have her eggs been fertile. She's one of the favorite hens and I see her rooster on her practically everyday almost, even one of the younger roosters I have that's with him gets her from time to time as well. So why are her eggs never showing any sign of potentially hatching? When we got her she wasn't even laying yet, only around 6 months, so I wouldn't say it's due to her age.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

She is close to 6 years of age?
I assume you have gotten chicks from the other hens? So it isn't necessarily because the rooster is infertile.
Sometimes a hen has too much fluff on her butt for the cloacas to mate up properly
Have you opened her eggs and examined to see if there is a blastoderm or blastodisc on the yolk of her eggs?.

 

[lilwanderer]

So she is close to 6 years of age?
I assume you have gotten chicks from the other hens? So it isn't necessarily because the rooster in infertile.
Sometimes a hen has too much fluff on her butt for the cloacas to mate up properly
Have you opened her eggs and examined to see if there is a blastoderm or blastodisc on the yolk of her eggs?.

Well I was told it was because "she" was infertile, but i wasn't sure if it were even possible for a hen to be infertile. I do know roosters can, but ours i know isn't. And yes, there never has been, just tiny blood spots you find in eggs that can be fertile and infertile, way before you ever begin incubating them..

 

[lilwanderer]

So she is close to 6 years of age?
I assume you have gotten chicks from the other hens? So it isn't necessarily because the rooster in infertile.
Sometimes a hen has too much fluff on her butt for the cloacas to mate up properly
Have you opened her eggs and examined to see if there is a blastoderm or blastodisc on the yolk of her eggs?.

Her butt is partially fluffy, but I don't think it's fluffy enough to cancel out every egg, I still should've had at least a couple eggs fertile. Especially when I try almost every year to hatch one of her eggs, I put about 3/4 of hers in the mix, and one time I did a batch of 10 on just hers, no luck.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It is possible for any animal or human to be infertile.
Do you see the halo on her yolks?
What are you feeding? Is it freshly milled?

 

[aart]

If a hen was 'infertile', she wouldn't lay eggs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If a hen was 'infertile', she wouldn't lay eggs.

Where's a 'slaps head' emoji when you need one?

I guess theoretically, the hen's germinal disc could be defective or possibly malfunction of the granulosa cells. A lot has to go right from the time an ovum drops into the infundibulum that usually does the right thing.

 

[lilwanderer]

It is possible for any animal or human to be infertile.
Do you see the halo on her yolks?
What are you feeding? Is it freshly milled?

Update on her, I’ve recently hatched chicks with her eggs being in the incubator with them- They proved themselves by showing fertility, but only one made it, although it died as well on day 18. The other eggs all hatched that weren’t hers, besides one being deformed. Currently, I’m hatching another set which will be hatching today/tomorrow, her egg is still alive and well, day 19. Not sure what happened all these other times with her, as none of the eggs ever showed fertility, but she is fertile now so dunno.

 

[lilwanderer]

If a hen was 'infertile', she wouldn't lay eggs.

That’s like saying a hen without any roosters shouldn’t lay eggs. But it’s nothing to worry about now, problem solved.

 

[aart]

That’s like saying a hen without any roosters shouldn’t lay eggs.

No. If a hen doesn't produce ova, if her ovary is not functional, she can't lay eggs.