Please help me decide if I should let my hen hatch chicks.

[citychicks99]

I have always been told my rooster is very fertile because he has blood red streaks from his toes up his entire legs! Haha what i was told is those red streaks up the legs of roosters is the sign of fertility. Since i learned this i always look at the legs of any rooster i see. And for the first time ever i can see that difference in roosters! Haha
Another thing is we had a rooster before this one that did not get in the proper position to line up with the hen half the time. He would be too far up on her and would be almost above her tail feathers instead of lower near the vent. Consequently eggs were not getting fertilized very well. Might watch his 'technique' to make sure he is getting eggs fertilized properly. You definitely dont have too many hens for him!!
If you candle your eggs in a few days you will see the blood vessel network or see nothing. You will know then how many are fertile and can remove the ones that are not. Should help your anxiety to cull early and not be waiting on 8 when only 3 are fertile.
Good luck!

I didn't know that. I just checked and my roo does have red streaks on his feet that goes up to his legs on the side. How interesting!

 

[K0k0shka]

The red streaks on the legs (as well as the red on chickens' combs and wattles in both sexes) is driven by hormones. But there's a lot more than hormones that's necessary to make babies, so I wouldn't count on that half-truth to judge the actual virility of a rooster. He might have the brightest red streaks and still fail to hit the target, as in the above example. Or he may have a low sperm count, or defective sperm. Those are additional factors unrelated to the red streaks, which can still result in poor fertility and hatch rates.

50% is very low for a small flock and a good hen-to-rooster ratio like yours. Maybe your flock has underlying issues you don't know about. Given that, and given your hen's overall health and defects, if I were you I would not propagate members of that flock (and especially that hen). I think it's unethical to breed unhealthy or defective animals, even if they are our favorites.

 

[citychicks99]

The red streaks on the legs (as well as the red on chickens' combs and wattles in both sexes) is driven by hormones. But there's a lot more than hormones that's necessary to make babies, so I wouldn't count on that half-truth to judge the actual virility of a rooster. He might have the brightest red streaks and still fail to hit the target, as in the above example. Or he may have a low sperm count, or defective sperm. Those are additional factors unrelated to the red streaks, which can still result in poor fertility and hatch rates.

50% is very low for a small flock and a good hen-to-rooster ratio like yours. Maybe your flock has underlying issues you don't know about. Given that, and given your hen's overall health and defects, if I were you I would not propagate members of that flock (and especially that hen). I think it's unethical to breed unhealthy or defective animals, even if they are our favorites.

Thanks, yeah, I've decided not to.