Do males fertilize eggs around this time of year

[BaileyBoy]

I live In sunny California and I had just bought a dozen fertil, unwashed, unrefigerated eggs, only to find out they were duds when they didn't hatch. Because of the price I got from the farmer, I'm thinking about trying a new batch from the same place. Do you think the same thing will happen again, maybe because of the weather?

 

[foreverlearning]

Yes they do. You want to look at your end first and make sure everything in the incubating process went well. Then you want to look in the eggs that didn't hatch and see if anything tried to grow or if they look like they were just laid. If they started to grow inside the egg then you need to fix something in your setup, if nothing even started to grow you may want to let the farmer know. You can take eggs up to two weeks after laying and set them. Of course the older they are the less chance of 100% hatch rate.

 

[seminolewind]

I had a clueless rooster once. About a third of the eggs were fertile.

I would say that when you get your dozen, let them sit for 12-24 hours. Then incubate at 100 degrees and no more than 30% humidity. Candle at day 7. If there's no growth, at least you'll narrow it down to unfertile or shipping.

 

[KWoodardRN]

Just heard my rooster crowing for first time (yay!) should he be fertilizing eggs yet? He looks like he is mating with the hens. I am trying to get my BO to go broody for the 1st time and get some chicks the natural way. Any suggestions or advice would be great