Incompetent rooster?

[ochochicas]

I have a great flock with about 15 hens and one rooster that is 6 months old. He is gentle with the hens and has been fertilizing eggs.

A few weeks ago I bought a small flock of cream legbars. The rooster is less than a year old, bit older than my other rooster. Both flocks are separated and the roosters are not fighting with each other.

I've been watching the CCL rooster interact with hens. He does not seem very competent to me. He will get a hen to come over to him, stand on her back, and then not do anything. He seems to give up before he's finished the job. Is this normal for a younger rooster? Will he learn or should I cull him now and get a better rooster? Then hens are all older than he is, so I think that could be part of the issue. The woman that owned them before me said she incubated 20 eggs and only 4 of them hatched. I suspect it was a fertility issue (but could have been incubator error as well).
Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would check all the CL eggs you get for fertility by looking at the blastodisc vs. blastoderm to begin with.

 

[ochochicas]

I would check all the CL eggs you get for fertility by looking at the blastodisc vs. blastoderm to begin with.

The dilemma is that I want to put all the CCL eggs in the incubator this weekend. I only have a handful of eggs to begin with since they are beginning to molt. If I crack some open to check I will have less eggs to hatch. I think I will just chance it and put them in the incubator and hope at least 2 or 3 or them will be fertile.

I will definitely check some eggs next week for the blastoderm. My other roo does such a good job that I assumed it was "natural" for all of them. He has about 9 or 10 hens that he services regularly and all their eggs are fertile. They are all older than him since he's the youngest of that bunch. Some people think older roosters do a better job since it takes some time to learn the trade. LOL

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Humans are the most successful species at reproduction but some men are still infertile.
The same holds true for chickens.