Is my Rooster fertile?

[hollycs]

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but I am a newbie to the chicken world and so I honestly don't know. I have 21 week old Buff Orpingtons. 4 hens and 1 Rooster. They have started mating vigorously over the past couple of days. The hens have not started laying yet, but my question is when they do start laying, will the eggs be fertilized or is the Rooster too young to be fertile?

 

[sourland]

He is old enough to be fertile.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The only stupid question is the one not asked. Don’t feel bad or shy. We all had to start somewhere.

You might go through this thread. It talks about how to check fertility and even had photos.

Fertile Egg Photos
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=6

At 21 weeks, he is plenty old enough to fertilize the eggs. That’s not an issue.

Buff Orps and other chickens with really thick feathers occasionally have problems fertilizing eggs though. The feathers can be so thick that the rooster has trouble hitting the target. This is not likely to happen with most of the Buff Orps that we get from hatcheries but serious breeders of show quality Orps, Cochin, or other breeds with really thick feathers have been known to trim those really thick luxuriant show-quality feathers around the vent on both males and females to make hitting the target easier.

I’m not sure where you got yours but if you see an infertility problem you might want to think about this.