Broody hen cracked egg and do roosters have preferred hens?

[Ponyiqandhens2]

Ok, I have a second broody hen,a lovely Olive egger. I marked and removed all but 3 standard eggs. I did let her keep 5 bantam eggs as well. I did not candle the bantam eggs at 5-6 days,assuming that the bantam roo bred them ..I did candle her egg,ee egg and australorp egg.. fast forward day 13-14..I candle all..none of the bantam eggs appear to ever started.. looked like normal eggs. Ok I never have been able to see into Olive's eggs,they are very dark olive and thick shelled. The australorp egg looks great..the ee egg has obvious movement looks great but had an inch long crack that did not effect the membrane.i remembered reading several posts about using wax to seal a crack..all my candles are scented so went digging in my junk drawer and found a non toxic crayon..so heated it up and sealed the crack actually went about a 1/16 in past the crack on both ends ( inch long lookslike a crack I would make cracking g to use the egg, like centeregg) the australorp( blue) henwas forcing olive off the nest to lay, that stopped about 3 days ago when olive lost her s**t and said no more, so I suspect it may have happened then.iknow the odds aren't good, but I figured I would give the egg a chance since it is still alive and active. I am thinkingat day 20 I will need to scrape the excess wax ( it's probably thicker than needed)off

2.can roosters decide to not like certainhens.pretty sure I haven't had a fertile sebright egg,she has laid ( Farrah Fawcett sebright hen) , cicely oeg bantam and Mille fleur d'uccle both have fertilized eggs previously as cicely hatched 5 bantam and 1eeegg.. but none of the bantam eggsunder olive werefertile..I haven't seen him ( Timmy the sebright roo) dancing like he used to, but I have caught him dancing for Red (ee hen) and for Blue ( australorp hen) recently... he and blue rule theroost.

 

[azygous]

I think you have the incubating eggs covered. As far as roosters picking favorites, it's mostly the other way around. Watch carefully, and you will see the "favorite" hens shamelessly presenting themselves irresistibly to the rooster by squatting temptingly right in front of his forward trajectory as he wanders. The shameless little hussies manage to make triple certain their eggs are good and thoroughly fertilized.

The "un" favorite hens you will see not as interested in making it so easy and tempting by squatting preemptively when the rooster is in the vicinity. They will often show less interest or will outrun a roo that is trying to do his job.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Floozies

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Yep, males have preferred females and females have preferred males. Sometimes they're compatable, sometimes the male likes a hen that doesn't like him and sometimes a male isn't as interested in a hen that is interested in him

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Roosters do have preferred hens. Most of the time, they will prefer the hen who has the largest comb. I have read that this is because hens with larger combs mostly lay a larger amount of eggs.

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

Roosters do have preferred hens. Most of the time, they will prefer the hen who has the largest comb. I have read that this is because hens with larger combs mostly lay a larger amount of eggs.

Interesting, because his fave ( golden sebright) love my blue ameraucana hen.. and i have the egg under the broody to prove it.. she has avery large red comb.. the sebright hen has a very tiny mulbery comb.. the bantams do have smaller combs the easter eggers have small but very vibrant combs