Hello everyone! I’m just curious how much rooster fertility declines each year.
I’ve hatched out dozens of chicks from eggs laid by my flock over the last several years, but this spring it looks like the majority of eggs are not developing. The poor results of test batch #1 could be explained by a power outage that lasted several hours, but the next day I set another batch of eggs in my second incubator. I just candled test batch 2 this afternoon (day 7) and had to discard over half of the batch…no development.
The incubators are tested and true, and in good working order. Chicken feed and care have not changed from previous years. I’ve never had such a poor hatch rate. Does rooster fertility go down at just 3 years old? He’s in with about 20 hens. I have a few 2-3 year old hens, but most are just under a year old.
I have plenty of chickens, so it’s no disaster, but I always like to hatch out a few eggs in the spring and I’m kind of curious about why we are getting such poor results. Any insights are appreciated!!
I’ve hatched out dozens of chicks from eggs laid by my flock over the last several years, but this spring it looks like the majority of eggs are not developing. The poor results of test batch #1 could be explained by a power outage that lasted several hours, but the next day I set another batch of eggs in my second incubator. I just candled test batch 2 this afternoon (day 7) and had to discard over half of the batch…no development.
The incubators are tested and true, and in good working order. Chicken feed and care have not changed from previous years. I’ve never had such a poor hatch rate. Does rooster fertility go down at just 3 years old? He’s in with about 20 hens. I have a few 2-3 year old hens, but most are just under a year old.
I have plenty of chickens, so it’s no disaster, but I always like to hatch out a few eggs in the spring and I’m kind of curious about why we are getting such poor results. Any insights are appreciated!!
