Think we have a bunk rooster

[casey l]

Our small flock is not producing fertile eggs. We have 4 hens W/ one rooster but only one out of twenty eggs incubated was fertilized, none hatched. They get a 21%protein meat maker feed w/ mealworms added to raise it to over 28%. Also get sunflower sprouts and oyster shell daily. Before we try to replace the rooster I wanted to ask for opinions, he is certainly trying to do his job, but no results. Thanks for any input.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Welcome to BYC!

Here's the InfoDump.

Is it an incubator issue, or a rooster issue?

Fertile vs infertile eggs look like so:

You can check for fertility by cracking open your eggs and comparing--if a significant percentage of your eggs are fertile, you know that your rooster is doing his job and you have a different problem.

How long did you store your eggs before setting them? How and where did you store them? Refrigerators are not ideal, and eggs shouldn't really be set with any great expectations if they're older than fifteen days. Best is under ten days old.

Did you candle eggs and see development at any point in your incubation process? Candling

Have you cracked open any eggs after incubation to see what's in them? Sometimes, the temp or humidity is just enough off that you have issues and chicks die--but you would know that you have chicks.

And sometimes, nutrient/genetic problems in the hens keep the embryos from developing past a certain point. You would see dead embryos by candling or by cracking open the egg after it failed to hatch.

 

[JaeG]

How old is your boy? I found fertility dropped off rooster wise after a year old, and by two years old there's very few fertile eggs in the bunch. Definitely do as sylviethecochin said and crack open a good sample of eggs to see how many are fertile.

 

[red horse ranch]

Welcome to BYC casey l ! Glad you have joined us.

The age of your birds is important. I have found that a 4 or 5 year old rooster can be fertile with a really young hen. Likewise, I've had 4 or 5 year old hens produce offspring as long as they are with a young rooster. But if they are all over 3 or 4 years old there will be very low if any, fertility.

You didn't give your location but if you are in a Northern climate fertility will drop and there will be very little breeding in short winter days.

I just realized that you have posted in the quail section. I was talking about chickens so this may not help you much

If you can give us a little more information we will try to help you figure it out.

 

[feedman77]

The amount of light a roo/hen gets will affect fertility of the eggs. They like chickens need about 14 hours of light.

Age of birds will affect fertility. Had some 3 years old, eggs were fertile but not as good as my young birds.

Have you tried vent sexing the roo. If he is fertile a little movement of his vent will shoot out foam.

 

[red horse ranch]

The amount of light a roo/hen gets will affect fertility of the eggs. They like chickens need about 14 hours of light.

Age of birds will affect fertility. Had some 3 years old, eggs were fertile but not as good as my young birds.

Have you tried vent sexing the roo. If he is fertile a little movement of his vent will shoot out foam.

I've never heard of vent checking a roo that way. interesting.

 

[sourland]

What breed do you have. Hens with overly fluffy butts can make it difficult for the rooster to hit the spot. Some people pluck vent feathers on overly fluffy birds to improve the chance of making contact and assuring fertilization. @feedman77 is right on the money about day length impacting a roosters fertility. A rooster's testicles will actually diminish in size in the winter.

 

[Diamond Dan]

Ditto to all

 

[lomine]

There can also be fertility problems if the quail are too young. I found that most of my quail eggs weren’t fertile until after about 12 weeks, even if they started laying and mating at 6. The boys needed time actually get good at their jobs.

 

[casey l]

Thanks for all the replies! I will definitely try the mentioned vent test. We did have one chick that seemed to have not made it in the egg, but that was it out of 20. We got them at the end of Nov. at about 6 weeks which puts them at approx 11-12 weeks. Someone mentioned 12 weeks till best fertility? Also, it could be an incubator deal, ours is homemade, and temp. fluctuation is difficult( it's too small). I'm building another to improve our odds. We are in a northern climate, but they are under lights, 16 hrs. a day. Picked up 3 more hens and another roo yesterday, all 3 weeks old. that'll up our chances. Honestly I feel that he's just smaller than the hens and has trouble reaching, he's constantly on the girls, and they're losing feathers to the point I may have to seperate.