Infertile Hen

[Sagenovese]

Hatching eggs for a friend. She has one rooster and 4 hens, each hen lays a different color egg so easy to tell. (24) eggs total.

Dominique-tan (8)
Marans-dark chocolate (5)
Easter egger- sage green (5)
Silver Leghorn-white (6)

I hatched her eggs last year and all eggs were fertile, 100% hatch rate (local) and beautiful healthy babies. My favorite is a sweet hen from her Leghorn and she just started to lay (last year was a fun experiment and I kept her babies).

Same chickens, same everything as last year. On day 8 in incubator. It appears that all the white (Leghorn) eggs are infertile. The dark green and brown eggs are harder to see veins, the light brown and white eggs are easy to see. But I believe all of the other eggs are fertile.

Makes me think the Leghorn hen has become infertile since last year.

Also, on Day 8, I assume there is no chance these white eggs are late bloomers. Is it time to remove them from incubator?

I’m just curious here. Does anyone have any thoughts on the infertility of this one hen?

Thanks for any input here.

 

[aart]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the infertility of this one hen?

She may not be getting mated?

 

[Sagenovese]

I suppose so. I mentioned that to my friend.and she was surprised that it could be the case. With only 4 hens total, and knowing he fertilized her eggs last year, I guess I’m surprised, too. But It would certainly explain it.

She didn’t say she paid enough notice to know if their love affair has faded.