Bob is "Shooting Blanks"

[lmdengler]

Hi All -
Sort of a vulgar thread title - my apologies in advance. I just didn't know how else to put it. And it was just a little funny.
Bob is just 1 year old. And... he does "thing" with the girls regularly. I have tried to hatch more than a dozen of his eggs - and not one single one of them are fertile. Could it be that he is sterile? Is he too young?

And here's the really really dumb question ..... and don't one of you laugh behind your screen! Could he be "neutered"?
Lisa

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I have had chicks three months raping hens,or trying.By one year he shouldn’t be sterile,but he can be fixed.A rooster who is fixed though loses all his roostery looks and cries and attitudes.

 

[featherhead007]

having a fixed rooster, is like having a screen door on a submarine! no point in it.

 

[Mylied]

I am having a similar issue with a Drake. Very very low fertility. The chances of your rooster being castrated is slim. It's a bit of a complicated procedure and he wouldn't be seducing the girls. He's probably sterile. He should be very fertile at 1 year old.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How have you tried to hatch them? Are you sure it is not the way you are collecting, storing, or incubating them? There area lot of things that can cause an egg to not develop, the rooster being sterile is only one of them.

 

[bobbi-j]

Before you try again, look closely at your eggs to determine fertility.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-photos-thread-reboot.1113237/#post-17139317

 

[lmdengler]

How have you tried to hatch them? Are you sure it is not the way you are collecting, storing, or incubating them? There area lot of things that can cause an egg to not develop, the rooster being sterile is only one of them.

I pick them up shortly after they are hatched. Set them upright (pointy side down) in my little ceramic tray on the counter and then set them in the same way in the incubator.
I would not doubt at all if it is something I am doing I just wish i knew what it was

 

[lmdengler]

Before you try again, look closely at your eggs to determine fertility.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-photos-thread-reboot.1113237/#post-17139317

These pictures were super helpful. I am going to go home tonight and take a closer look at a couple of today's eggs and see what I can see Maybe I'll take a picture to share and see if you can tell.

 

[Chickassan]

What kind of rooster is Bob? If his butt is real fluffy it might help to trim his nether region so he gets better contact.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Have you broken out any of your setting eggs and looked for the fertile disk?

With all the holistic, vegetarian, Vegan, and other fad diets being encouraged on the World Weird Web it is a miracle that most Back-Yard-Chickens are even alive little less that they can produce fertile eggs. The advice about the correct diet for the production of hatching eggs is valid for both the HEN and the ROOSTER. Eggs that are lacking in the proper vitamins and minerals will fail to develop, or if development proceeds a pace then the eggs will simply give up or quit trying to pip or hatch. Again this is as true for the cock bird as for the hen bird. Laying pellets are formulated for feeding 20,000 to one hundred thousand laying hens in an intensive livestock feeding operation and lay pellets may not always be the perfect choice for a flock of hens and roosters if you are planning to hatch replacement birds from the eggs.

A 100,000 head flock of laying hens will consume 25,000 Lbs. of chicken feed a day.
Boys & girls that 'ain't' chicken feed, it is equal
to 500 50 pound sacks of laying pellets each and every day, 24/7/365