Low fertility/testosterone rooster

[MaeIstrom]

So I have an Araucana rooster that's been crowing and mating for at least 2 months now but the problem is he appears to mate much less than the average rooster. When I first tried doing a hatch he was in a pen with 28 females of varying age and the fertility was maybe 10-15%. Maybe a month ago I dropped the numbers down to 9 hens, then it went to 12 hens, I've know it should be 10 but I just can't bear to part with any more and I've had much better fertility with the last rooster and 14 hens, at least 60%. The thing I've noticed from observation is I'll see him mate maybe once if I watch for 20 minutes whereas a normal rooster would go at least 304 in that time. Additionally I've had some hens that were fertile a month ago are no longer fertile. For example the only fertile eggs in the last 2 hatches were from a leghorn that lays the only white eggs I get but the most recent check showed no fertility in her eggs. I have 3 cream legbar hens and in the last week I've seen him mating with a cream legbar hen every time I go out but never with an araucana. It's very frustrating because I can't run multiple roosters where I live and I really want at least one generation from him with my best Araucanas as he has great physical typing and the largest pure-bred Araucana I've been able to get my hands on. He's also very mellow and sweet-tempered which I put down to low testosterone levels but other than not mating he's an ideal rooster protective of the flock and fearless without being overly aggressive. The two suggestions I've had from local breeders are
1) separate him from the flock for a while where he can see them but not access them which should raise his interest. I do have a separate pen ready to go but I'm worried this might lead to a lot of crowing which would be problematic as I'm in a residential area and relying on the tolerance of my neighbours.
2) trim the feathers around the vents of the hens and the rooster. I'm a bit reluctant to do this as I can't find any visual guides on what to cut and how much and the same hens weren't having fertility issue with the previous rooster. I've just had our annual poultry show (where he won 1st place) so I guess that's at least an option now. It's just coming out of winter and into spring here so still a few chilly mornings so I don't want to go overboard on the feather removal.

So I'd be grateful for any tips on how others have dealt with this or at least a link to a good guide on vent trimming. My current thinking is I might try him on his own for a couple of days then introduce the 3 hens I really want to breed him with then gradually add more, bit of a timeline on that though as I'll need the second pen for a broody in 3 weeks and I've got people clamouring for fertile eggs too.

 

[Loving my girls]

I would love to say Viagra but this would lessen the severity of your plight so I won’t

 

[MaeIstrom]

Aha thanks for that although TBH I am kind of hoping someone mentions a food or supplement that might help, outside of oysters which are a bit out of my price range.

 

[LaFleche]

Are they rumpless Araucana?

You can help with fertility rates:

Trim the butt fluff of the hens and the male.

Feed animal protein such as scrambled eggs.

Feed some germ oil which is very important for male fertility.

Do leave the Araucana hens only in his flock and he will mate them soon enough when his favourites are no longer to be had.

Do not switch the hens around as this will upset the flock routine and pecking order each time you add or remove a bird from the flock.

It can take up to three weeks each time after adding or removing birds until peace is restored and successful mating is able to happen again.

And parasites ( internal and external) will lower fertility rates significantly, so always treat accordingly and deworm the flock at least 2-3 weeks prior to collecting hatching eggs

 

[MaeIstrom]

They're Australian standard so they have tails, albeit short ones and the rooster kind of has a stocky build that doesn't do him any favour when attempting the "cloacal kiss" I suspect, I've attached a photo for reference. They've been getting plenty of scrambled eggs from all the failed hatch attempts and as for parasites they've been getting ivermectin pretty regularly although not for the last 4-6 weeks as all the external parasites appear to have vanished.
I just saw him mating the leghorn but he definitely seems to have a preference for the leghorn/legbars over the Araucana hens. I'm thinking of giving him a week with the araucanas and then adding a couple of hens to his flock every other day to let him work up to 10 rather than working his way down from 28.

 

[LaFleche]

then adding a couple of hens to his flock every other day to let him work up to 10

This exactly will mess up the peace of the flock.

How many Araucana hens do you have?

 

[MaeIstrom]

I have 8 altogether although 1 is currently brooding. I was thinking of trying to move them in terms of cliques or friendship groups of which I know a couple, others are more solo depending on age differences and having to cull half recently. Also if it makes a difference the "second" pen has been made cutting the main pen in half so they'll be able to see each other through the wire and probably won't consider the pen new territory.

 

[LaFleche]

I have 8 altogether although 1 is currently brooding. I was thinking of trying to move them in terms of cliques or friendship groups of which I know a couple, others are more solo depending on age differences and having to cull half recently. Also if it makes a difference the "second" pen has been made cutting the main pen in half so they'll be able to see each other through the wire and probably won't consider the pen new territory.

Like I suggested earlier, put the remaining 7 Araucana hens with him and remove all others and he will mate with them soon enough.

Chicken don't like changes at all and even less changes in their flock dynamics.
Once they have settled and their new pecking order is established they will be willing to mate.

Another thought:
Have you recently used antibiotics to treat your flock?
Some antibiotics can lead to temporary infertility as a side effect as can some pesticides.

 

[LaFleche]

It's just coming out of winter and into spring here so still a few chilly mornings

This may as well play a big role as roosters need more sunlight and vitamin E to produce sperm.

Regarding the cold: The eggs might have even been properly fertilized but have gotten too cold to develop hence appearing to be unfertilized.

How old is your rooster and for how long did you have him?

 

[MaeIstrom]

Regarding the cold: The eggs might have even been properly fertilized but have gotten too cold to develop hence appearing to be unfertilized.

Would that affect the ovum developing into that 'bullseye' shape you observe when you open a fertilized egg because I've been sporadically checking eggs and very few have got that. No antibiotics or pesticide exposure that I know of. I do think the miserable weather might explain a bit of it, I cracked open a dozen eggs on wednesday and observed 3 fertilised eggs which is a step up from the none last time I did that and I have another batch in the incubator that I'll be candling tomorrow, plus the hen going broody 2 days ago gives me some optimism the fertility is going up. But I guess my main concern is I just see him mating so much less than previous roosters, even in bad weather. The flip side of that is he also crows less and causes less grief than previous roosters plus the little bugger has really grown on me, really not looking forward to replacing him.