Look for a "blood spot" when you crack the eggs.

Oh yes! I forgot about that! Haven't seen one yet.

Well, I'm sure we'll get there. Don't have a broody hen now anyway...

Hey runningtrails,

an egg can be fertilized and still not show a blood spot. look for the blastoderm (the white spot) on the yolk. if it is not a perfect circle it probably isn't fertile. if it looks like a bullseye (its perfectly round with another round dot inside of it), it is fertile.

also, how many hens do you have? if he's got a lot of girls to fertilize, even if he is old enough, he probably won't get to all of them! :)

hope this helped!

Blood spots in eggs have nothing to do with fertility, it is simply a bit of blood that got trapped in the egg during the development cycle. You need to look for the germinal disc and determine it's state: a blastoderm (fertile) or blastodisc (infertile). More info on fresh egg breakout with great pics here:

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/b1166-w.html

I'd gather & crack 3-4 fresh eggs and look for the germinal disc--at 4 months he may be a bit young, but it could happen. :) When eggs have been brooded for about a week and a half, THEN you can candle them to look for a dark mass that indicates that a chick is forming.

Velvet ~:>

I have twelve hens and the one, 4 mo old, rooster. I'll look for that spot. I'm hoping our chickens will raise their own chicks.

Thanks for the info!