Sterile Rooster??

[CluckNDoodle]

Is it possible to have a sterile rooster? I've been helping a friend with her broody hen and twice now she put several eggs under the broody and we candled days later to find there was zero growth, we cracked them all open as well and none of them were fertilized.

After the first clutch of eggs were all duds we cracked open probably more than a dozen eggs and it looked as though more than half of them had bullseyes so we just figured he was off his game and put more fresh eggs under her...all duds again.

Now I'm questioning everything because we put eggs under the broody that while checking yolks looked like they were the roos "favorite girls"...5 days later, nothing, zero development again and upon cracking open, none of them looked fertilized. So it could just be bad luck because when we cracked them open we definitely didn't see 100% fertility (IF we really did see some fertilized eggs because now I'm totally confused). Instead of cracking open a bunch more I just put ten more fresh eggs in an incubator to check again in a few days.

Thoughts? Rooster is about a year old, we've never tested his fertility prior to this.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

For anyone that stumbles over this sterile rooster saga later, I thought I would leave a happy ending! 3 short little babies!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Here you go.

lol, I don't think I can bring myself to do this but it was very educational! Thank you.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Have you tried in an incubator? Maybe it’s the broody?

Yep! I just put 10 eggs from her in my incubator last night. So we can at least rule out the broody hen in a few days.

 

[Trish1974]

Is it possible to have a sterile rooster?

Yes, its absolutely possible. I have one. I've tried everything except AI (like you I don't have the stomach for that). He's now 3 years old. He was my first rooster, he's as sweet as can be, and he is in with my layer flock so I don't need him for my breeding program (luckily).

 

[CluckNDoodle]

UPDATE!!! Sir stubby legs finally did it! (without assistance) 5 fertilized eggs out of 12! So his fertility rate is really low and we think it's because of his stubby little Japanese Bantam legs making it hard for him to "hit the mark" but I'm excited to see what hatches!

 

[aart]

What breeds of birds?
How many females?
You are checking after 5 days under the broody?
Do you have experience candling?
One cause for 'infertility' can be too much butt fluff inhibiting the 'cloacal kiss'.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

What breeds of birds?
How many females?
You are checking after 5 days under the broody?
Do you have experience candling?
One cause for 'infertility' can be too much butt fluff inhibiting the 'cloacal kiss'.

She has a mixed flock, one bantam rooster (I think a White Japanese Bantam) over 2 Silkies, 1 Wyandotte, 2 True Blues, 1 Olive Egger, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Bantam Barred Rock, 1 Marans, and 1 Silver Duckwing Old English Game bantam...so 1 rooster over 10 hens.

Yes, checking after 5 days, I have a ton of experience candling and while in most cases I would put a question mark on the eggs around day 3 and not toss an infertile until day 7, none of these were showing anything, so we opened them to confirm they weren't fertilized.

There are a few fluffy butts, especially the Silkies.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Is AI an option if you don't wanna trim butt feathers?
Artificial Insemination.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

You're Welcome.
I'm planning on trying this for my RJF hybrids, & a couple cocks who are too big for them.

It does look fairly simple to do actually I'm just not sure I could bring myself to do it at this stage. I'll store the knowledge away in the back of my mind for when I'm dealing with expensive breeding flocks of my own. In this case I'm not sure my friend would ever look at me the same if I did this to her rooster.