Good looking roo shooting blanks

[GardenWeasel]

Finally got a 20 egg incubator so I could do just one hatch this year. Filled it about half and half with eggs from my head rooster and with eggs serviced by my second rooster. Well day 23 and 6 of my head guys eggs hatched and zero from the other rooster. Are some roosters sterile? So I guess I will have to do a second hatch anyway. Poop

 

[Tricoglossus]

Yes, some roosters can definitely be sterile. However the issue is multi-factorial - think genetics, nutrition and environment. Some things to think about include:
Mating itself - Is he physically able to complete the act of mating with the hens? Have you seen his ability to perform? Some breeds are physically unable to mount the hens properly. Are the hens a breed type which need to have the feathers around their vents trimmed in order to facilitate mating? What about the rooster?
Nutrition - What are you feeding the rooster? And the hens?
Environment - How many hens per rooster? Can he service them all in a day? Is it the beginning or the end of the laying season? Have you treated for external parasites and intestinal worms?
Genetics - Has this rooster sired any chicks before? Does he seem to be healthy generally?

Edited to add - You said that only 6 eggs hatched, but you didn't say if you had checked the other eggs for chick development. Were those eggs clears with no development at all? If you haven't checked, just note that some eggs can take even longer than 23 days to hatch (rare, but it does happen).

 

[GardenWeasel]

I opened all the eggs tonite and my rooster is not sterile there were several dead almost formed chicks and a live chick in the last one. I am just sick about it. I think I have narrowed it done to a few things that I did wrong. This is to keep anyone else from repeating my errors. New incubator- I thought temp was correct and it was 1 1/2 degrees cooler than recommended hence longer hatch time than with my old incubator. Put the eggs in lockdown at least one day too early ,had an egg rolling and panicked, too much humidity for too long. Lastly when closing the incubator after candling the cover was not sealed down properly overnight. Will try again and be more careful this time. I really hated to see all those chicks just so sad.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Glad you discovered the problem. Doing lockdown a day early won't make any difference though but the low temp & open lid sure will. I don't know what you mean by a rolling egg made you panic or what difference that made.
I tossed all 28 eggs from my last chicken hatch and 24 from the previous hatch for being clear. Problem was the eggs came from the old hens and the rooster was only mating the young hens. Wasted a lot of time & eggs...arghhh
Better luck next time.

 

[Tricoglossus]

I opened all the eggs tonite and my rooster is not sterile there were several dead almost formed chicks and a live chick in the last one. I am just sick about it. I think I have narrowed it done to a few things that I did wrong. This is to keep anyone else from repeating my errors. New incubator- I thought temp was correct and it was 1 1/2 degrees cooler than recommended hence longer hatch time than with my old incubator. Put the eggs in lockdown at least one day too early ,had an egg rolling and panicked, too much humidity for too long. Lastly when closing the incubator after candling the cover was not sealed down properly overnight. Will try again and be more careful this time. I really hated to see all those chicks just so sad.

Sorry to hear that, it's awful. The same thing has happened to me with finding fully formed dead chicks in their shells. I have only done one incubation and I drowned all but 1 of the chicks as the humidity was basically 100% for the entire incubation period. That's what you get from following the manufacturer's instructions and not using your own hygrometer and common sense! At least you know your rooster is not sterile. Also you have identified your problems so you will know what to correct for next time.