Rooster fertility questions

[CajunChickenGuy]

I have 2 laying hens, 5 three month old hens and 5 three month old roos. I only want to keep one roo and have already picked him out. How often is a roo infertile? It would really suck to send the other 4 roos to freezer camp and then find out that the one I picked out is infertile.

Should I keep two roos until I can verify the fertility of my favorite?

Another question while I'm at it: Do roos ever become temporarily sterile due to heat like rabbits? Just curious, as my rabbit buck was sterile for a month or two this summer.

 

[sourland]

Unless they are heavily inbred there is not a fertility problem with most roosters. Infertility does seem to occur more frequently in roosters that are not single combed. I believe that day length has more of an impact on fertility than temperature.

 

[CajunChickenGuy]

My roos are easter eggers bought from efowl.com so I'm not sure how much inbreeding has taken place.

So would you advise to keep two just in case?

 

[donrae]

I wouldn't keep two, it would be too problematic to manage with that small number of hens. If, down the road, your rooster has any issues, EE roosters are easy enough to replace.