Rooster forgot his job, or...?

[BarnyardChaos]

Out of 12 eggs in the incubator, only ONE is developing at 5 days. One! Did my rooster forget how to do his job, or are the hens just not letting him?

I have only 2 Bresse hens, 1 rooster, (and 1 pullet) in this pen. They are about 1 year old now. Incubator is a kebonnixs, I've used it several times with great success.

I know he's fertile. I had 3 hens last fall. Two of them tried to set with 13 or so eggs, all fertilized. But I ended up with only one surviving chick. Then a raccoon took the chick's momma. So I now have the other hen who had gone broody, and one hen who has not. (And the chick/now pullet.)

I collected up 12 eggs over 6 days, stored properly, and set 5 days ago. Candled them tonight to great disappointment.

I have suspicions that this rooster is smarter than he's letting on. He's heard me threaten him several times, after an attack on me, "Just wait, d!*khead, as soon as I get some chicks out of you, you're soup!"

Or is there something preventing successful mating?

They all appear and act healthy, getting good quality all-flock feed.

Ideas?

 

[Bertram]

Have you used any mite spray or treatments on them recently?
Do they have enough room?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Have you used any mite spray or treatments on them recently?
Do they have enough room?

No treatments of any kind recently. I should check them for mites this morning.
These four birds have a coop that measures 4' x 8', and a 600 sq ft run.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's still super early in the year. He's probably just not in the mood to be breeding all the time yet

 

[BarnyardChaos]

@Bertram and @JacinLarkwell I think I will wait about a month and try again. Come to think of it, I haven't noticed my other three roosters mating with any of the girls in the big flock for awhile, either. So it's likely weather related or seasonal. Like most of the U.S., we had two weeks of very brutal cold weather. I didn't start collecting eggs (to incubate) until warm weather returned, but maybe it wasn't long enough.

After doing a bit more research this morning, I think I've identified another potential (though much less likely) problem. Their run is fence-to-fence with our pigs' pen. We have six feeder pigs at the moment, who are fed in trough feeders right next to that fence. The pig feed is a 3:1 mixture of chopped corn and a product called Evolution, a meal made by MFA. I add water to make a mash. Every morning, I toss a handful of their feed into the chickens' pen - a. for a treat, and b. to distract that rooster. The Evolution contains copper sulfate. Says on the label not to feed to copper-sensitive animals, like sheep. But... aren't chickens also sensitive to copper? So I'll stop the treats business, though I can't move the feeders. They'll still get some, but at least it will be significantly less.

I cracked the 11 clear eggs this morning to check, and ten were not fertilized. One had a very clear, large bullseye but failed to develop any further.

(edited for clarity)

 

[Mrs. K]

Deliberate breeding can be so disappointing, darn it. Better luck next time.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

@Shadrach do you have any thoughts on this?

 

[Yard Farmer]

It could just be he's not in the mood.
Or he's not being "successful", are their butt feathers pretty thick?

This is kind of a debated topic, but check your birds to see if they have thick feathers around their butt. If they're are thick, get some scissors and trim them. (Only around the vent area.)
The idea behind this, is the sperm isn't able to make it to the hen, making her fertile.
I tried it, and it worked. I would give it a shot, you have nothing to loose.

 

[Shadrach]

Have a look at his legs. Seriously, a roosters legs go red, or redder than normal when he is in season. It's usually down the sides of the leg that the colour change shows best.

If you're coming out of winter, as mentioned above he may just not be ready.
I would love to back this up with some science but not only do I not have any, I don't really know how this on and off season works with males. However, there is no doubt in my mind they have them.

It could be that the hens aren't crouching for him properly. Not knowing which season you are in makes things more difficult.

I've understood the hens/pullets ages, but not the age of your rooster (?)

Winter season when the hens stop laying is the roosters off time, cockerels are a bit different in this respect. Roosters know when the hen is fertile and when she's not and he stops trying to mate with the hens. Roosters tend to eat and moult and the slow moult makes them generally more irritable.

Finally, if he's done it before he should be able to do it again; unless his nuts have dropped out.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Have a look at his legs. Seriously, a roosters legs go red, or redder than normal when he is in season. It's usually down the sides of the leg that the colour change shows best.

If you're coming out of winter, as mentioned above he may just not be ready.
I would love to back this up with some science but not only do I not have any, I don't really know how this on and off season works with males. However, there is no doubt in my mind they have them.

It could be that the hens aren't crouching for him properly. Not knowing which season you are in makes things more difficult.

I've understood the hens/pullets ages, but not the age of your rooster (?)

Winter season when the hens stop laying is the roosters off time, cockerels are a bit different in this respect. Roosters know when the hen is fertile and when she's not and he stops trying to mate with the hens. Roosters tend to eat and moult and the slow moult makes them generally more irritable.

Finally, if he's done it before he should be able to do it again; unless his nuts have dropped out.

Thanks so much! He's the same age as the hens, just turned 1 year.

And he's got a nasty case of frostbite from 2-3 weeks ago, in which he is losing all the tips of his formerly magnificent comb down into the edge of the meaty part.

Well, DUH BarnyardChaos! It just occurred to me about the frostbite. Being in pain sort of spoils the romance, doesn't it?