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Infertile eggs, what's going on?

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Russ:
With 2 cock\'s/cockerels you run the risk of neither one being able to fertilize them. Since they are both to busy discouraging the other one from breeding. Or if alpha one is mating then he might just have low sperm count, you could try locking one up to test this theory. I feed 20%protein feed and give Vi-tal (electrolyte, vitamin, mineral supplement added to water) twice a week during breeding season just to help. I would start by separating both cock\'s and giving each one a couple hen\'s then doing a test hatch after 7 days in the incubator you should easily tell who is fertile/infertile. Also try putting them in smaller pen I don\'t know how big of a pen you have them in but bigger is not better when breeding. Just my two cent\'s lol

Mike Gilbert:
An old timer with years of experience once said, \"You always need to keep at least three males.  One will die, one will be infertile, and that will leave you one to breed from.\"    The fact that a male will mate with a hen does not mean he is fertile.   Humans experience infertility, so why wouldn\'t another species?  The point about multiple males with the females is well taken also.  One will often interrupt the act of the other.  

John:

--- Quote ---With 2 cock\'s/cockerels you run the risk of neither one being able to fertilize them. Since they are both to busy discouraging the other one from breeding.
--- End quote ---

In my larger LF pens with about a dozen hens I use 2 cocks, but one at a time (generally).  Just as I said in pair mating coops I let the cocks visit the hens each Sunday and Wednesday, those are the days I also switch the cocks in the large pens.  The better cock goes in for the longer period of time from Wednesday to Sunday.
I\'m not saying this is a perfect system, but without test mating it is what works for me.
FYI, I have a few pens with bantam buffs this year using only one cock/cockerel per pen.  Early on some pens didn\'t produce any fertile eggs for the first couple weeks or so, but most eventually started producing them.  Whether it was because of their age, the weather, or some other reason I don\'t know, but sometimes it takes time.

Beth C:

--- Quote ---With 2 cock\'s/cockerels you run the risk of neither one being able to fertilize them
--- End quote ---


This happened in my w/bw/sw pen last year. I left both males in because they got along. The rivalry was good natured and there were no real fights, but there were also no fertile eggs until I separated them.

That said, the fact that you have been getting fertile eggs  and he had one showing early signs of development, makes me suspect an incubation problem.

mustangsaguaro:
Thanks for the input on the 2 male thing. Right now I don\'t have any pens to separate anybody. But then again all I have are Lav/Lav split birds and then there are my barnyard mixes too. I let everyone free range. I do this because all I have are the lavender/lav splits and thus really don\'t need to worry about things since I only have the one color to deal with. I do however have one white female from a few years back but she lays in a spot totally different from all the others. And surprisingly I can tell the difference between the whites eggs and all the others. And my barnyard mixes are all brown layers.

I have some shipped eggs coming later this week and will be setting some of my own eggs again to see if I infact have a fertility problem. If that is the case, I might have to lock one male in the coop and let the other do his job and see what happens and vice versa.

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