non fertile rooster?

[Goose3984]

Im incubating 2 18 egg clutches right now. The first clutch is from chickens I bred last year very successfully and the other is my first time. The hens are about 18m and the rooster is around 2 I think.Rhode Island reds. One rooster to 7 hens. I just candle lighted them due to hatch in 5 days the clutch from last year looks like 16 out the 18 are viable the second clurch of the new is all empty, like no maybes all empty. Bad rooster? Not fertile? Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Mommy6]

Did you check any of your eggs for fertility before setting them?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

How long have you had the new rooster? If he's new, he may not be comfortable enough to do his job yet.
One other thought, I'm assuming the roosters are separate from each other, but you know what happens when one assumes. Are they in separate breeding pens? If not, he may be the less dominant and not allowed to mate.

Just some things I'm throwing out there

 

[Sphinx]

Are they all in the same incubator?

 

[Goose3984]

I did not check before but I thought had seen red spots before eating a few(have been eating for a while).

had the rooster for a year been with the chickens since they were adults (started as chicks)

both of my roosters and hens are in separate large coops they have never been together and the coops are far apart

Yes its the same incubator, I used it last season to hatch 200 chicks(all from other rooster and hen)

 

[One Chick Two]

When you are opening fertilized eggs to eat, the round, white bullseye is actually the sign of the rooster doing his job. Even when you see that, it does not always necessarily mean that the egg will germinate. As I understand it, the tiny bloodspot found in some eggs is only just leftover matter from the hen, and is not sign of an embryo. In fresh, fertile eggs, it takes 24 hours of incubating for a chick embryo begin to grow.