Salmon Fav. Rooster Age & Fertility

[meltonmb]

I have a LF Salmon Faverolle roo that is about eight months old and two hens that are the same age. The hens are laying and I thought the eggs were fertile (I cracked one to check) and set them in the incubator. None of the eggs have developed and I'm wondering if my rooster is old enough to be fertilizing the eggs or if he hasn't quite gotten things figured out. Anyone with experience in this area would be appreciated. My sister has RIR chickens that are a month younger than mine and they have already started hatching out eggs. Should I be worried about my roo?

Thanks for any help!
Morgan

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

He should be well old enough to be getting the job done. Are there other hens in with them, or is it the three of them penned together? If there are other hens, he might be directing his attentions at them...
Have you seen him trying to mate the girls?

 

[meltonmb]

He's in there with just two other girls. Granted, I'm not down there all day everyday, but we have yet to see him do anything, and there are only two ladies to direct his attention to. We set some eggs about three weeks ago and decided to put a few of his eggs in there to just see if they would develop and not one of the four I put in there even developed. Is it possible that the girls eggs aren't big enough?

Morgan

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe girls aren't his 'thing'

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I doubt it. It may be that he hasn't figured out exactly "how" to do it correctly yet...