Can you cross a bantam rooster with a white rock hen

[tcombest]

I have an Old English Game Bantam that has been "having a field day" with several of my brown egg layers hens. He is the only rooster with them. He is definitely breeding with them.... or trying to. We have only found one fertilized egg out of many. I am wondering if it was a fluke that they "got the job done", or is it normal for a small rooster to be able to breed with a big hen. It could be that my egg hatching problems are with the incubator and not in the fertility of the eggs. Anyone out there have experience breeding a bantam rooster with a big hen?

 

[Guitartists]

Well, if you're not getting a lot of fertilized eggs... then he's NOT getting the job done. LOL But it can certainly be done

Are you checking fertility by hatching or by looking for the telltale 'bullseye'?

 

[tcombest]

Im not real good at knowing how to check the bullseye. Should it be much larger? Or what should it look like? .......... I think our previous incubator was too hot. I have since bought a new incubator and have it set right. I am hoping for better luck now and should have eliminated that variable. Out of probably 100 eggs, we have had only one that we KNOW was fertile. Looks like the embryo grew for 8-10 days and then died. We cracked it open at day 24.

 

[Guitartists]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102188

 

[Guitartists]

Oh, and

 

[tcombest]

OK, Im pretty sure that we've seen a lot of fertilized eggs. I assume a not fertile egg has a very small dot, i.e., 1mm across like a pencil lead????? And then if it is fertile, it should be a round dot about 3mm across with a dot in the middle??? The pictures do help a lot and I really appreciate your helping us with this. We're here at work with a new incubator in the other room with 4 turkey eggs and about 15 chicken eggs. My name is Tymn (tim) from San Angelo TX

 

[Guitartists]

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