Rooster laying on eggs in nest box??

[StephensonC]

Does anyone else have a rooster that lays on eggs in the nest box? I have had this Old English Bantam for 2 weeks and finally integrated him in with one of my hens 2 days ago. I'm not sure how old he is but has a full comb and wattle, and his spurs have been removed. He does try to mate with her. I don't know anything about his previous life, but for 2 days now, I have caught him laying on the hen's egg in the nesting box. Little fellow is so tiny, he can stand all the way up in there....lol

 

[crazyfeathers]

Interesting. I have not had that experience yet but my game hens are extremely broody.

 

[tds99100]

I'm quite new to chicken keeping myself. My hen just started laying eggs this week after having her since May! We have one rooster. I have not caught him in the nesting box, but I have seen his feathers in the box. He also got quite agitated today when I removed the egg. He didn't try to attack me, but he jumped up to the coop door when I came walking up and crowed repeatedly for several minutes after I walked away.

 

[StephensonC]

Congratulations on your first eggs!!

I've heard roosters can be protective of the eggs and the hen while they are laying it. Hope I don't encounter that.

 

[nayeli]

Maybe he thinks he is a hen

 

[Ponyfeather]

Broody rooster wants to be a Papa?

 

[Ravennest]

Our roo Don has not set on the nest. But on occasions when Tutu gets off to go take a break in the morning and stretch her wings -
he pops into the nest to make noises and look at how things are going. Then he goes to the porch and crows like a nut...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know what is going on with that rooster, especially since you don’t know how old he is. It sounds like he is in with just one hen and she is at least old enough to be laying. How does she respond to his attempts at mating? Does she cooperate, run away, or fight? How long is he on the nest? Does he spend a lot of time in there or just a few minutes? How do they interact when he is not on the nest? Where does he sleep at night?

One possibility is that she is dominant over him and he is trying to hide from her so she won’t beat him up, especially if he is fairly young.

Some roosters will help a hen find a safe place to lay. Although she is already laying, this may be some version of that, especially since they just met.

Many roosters will help a hen raise her chicks. I’ve never seen one help a hen brood eggs but I guess that is possible. They are living animals. You can never be sure what they will do. But to me that behavior sounds like he is hiding in a safe place more than anything else.

 

[StephensonC]

I don’t know what is going on with that rooster, especially since you don’t know how old he is. It sounds like he is in with just one hen and she is at least old enough to be laying. How does she respond to his attempts at mating? Does she cooperate, run away, or fight? How long is he on the nest? Does he spend a lot of time in there or just a few minutes? How do they interact when he is not on the nest? Where does he sleep at night?

One possibility is that she is dominant over him and he is trying to hide from her so she won’t beat him up, especially if he is fairly young.

Some roosters will help a hen find a safe place to lay. Although she is already laying, this may be some version of that, especially since they just met.

Many roosters will help a hen raise her chicks. I’ve never seen one help a hen brood eggs but I guess that is possible. They are living animals. You can never be sure what they will do. But to me that behavior sounds like he is hiding in a safe place more than anything else.

You're right, he is with only 1 hen and they get along great. She doesn't run away when he tries to mate, although she is much larger, as she is an EE and he a bantam. He doesn't always get it right on the first try due to their size, I think. But she always cooperates and she is very docile. She doesn't show aggression towards him at all. The reason I had her by herself was because her Barred Rock flock members were beating her up to the point of blood shed, and she had Bumblefoot. I removed that and she is healing nicely.

They sleep side by side on a roosting bar near the top of the coop. The rooster is usually in the box first thing in the mornings. This morning he was in one, but there was no egg yet. Maybe he's trying to stay warm? When he see's me he always hops right out and runs to greet me. They spend most of their day scratching the ground and looking for bugs, and he always call her over when he finds something tasty. They always dust bathe at the same time. LOL I've noticed that he does everything she does. I'm thinking he likes her...lol

 

[Ravennest]

Sounds like two of them are the low on the pecking order and found some
common grow on their own...