https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3386170/
http://www.rosecombs.com/documents/low_fertility.pdf?page_id=116
Here is one example of infertile eggs quoted from another thread...
"This thread is talking about whether the eggs are fertile, not whether the hen is fertile. Even then, laying eggs is not a sign that a hen can produce offspring. A hinny duck, for example, is a sterile cross between a pekin drake and a muscovy female. All offspring are infertile and cannot produce ducklings, but the females will still lay eggs. The eggs however can never become fertile and hatch."
So your statement about infertile eggs not being fertilized by the rooster is probably more accurate... and what I'm talking about would be more about sterility... I suppose.
Your question comes in a timely manor for me... as I have two aging hens throwing blanks. They are laying eggs every other day but still zero development in my incubator. I need to figure out if it's really them who are sterile or if my rooster simply isn't mating those two.
But with one producing body checked eggs... probably time to exit the breeding program. Any insight you might have would be appreciated!
This is very interesting and way to complicated for my tiny little mind. I don't see in any of the reference articles that eventual sterility occurs. It's genetics and I'm not really up to that! The duck thing, Pekin & Muscovy creating sterile offspring is the same as a female horse & male donkey creating a sterile mule. I get that. I guess I'll not become a breeder! Interesting discussion! Thanks for tickling my brain cells. Good luck with your old girls. I guess you need to watch them with the rooster for a few days and see if he still mounts them. Sounds like the answer you may need?
