Silly Questions, but I dont know the answer

I totally understand. My flock is a little over 30 days old, and I still refer to this site non stop for answers to my questions lol. Good luck with your chicken venture!!!

There are a lot of variations on this, but what should happen is

The rooster dances. He drops his wing and kind of circles. This is telling the hen his intentions.

The hen squats. This spreads his weight into the ground throughout her body and not just through her legs. It is not really as bad as it looks with a big rooster and a little hen as long as she does her part and squats.

The rooster climbs on and grabs the back of her head. This head grab is not just for balance. It's his signal that he is in position and for her to raise her tail out of the way.

The rooster quickly touches his vent to hers. He hops off.

The hen stands up, fluffs up, and shakes. This is how she gets the sperm into the right place in her system.

Sometimes the rooster does not dance first but just grabs hold and tries to climb on. That is not really very good but not necessarily a fatal flaw.

Often the hen will start to run away. Sometimes the rooster ignores her and goes about his other business. Not a big deal.

Sometimes the rooster chases her and she almost immediately squats. Not a big deal. She was seeing if he was serious.

Sometimes he chases her and she keeps running. He may eventually give up. Or he may eventually catch her. If she squats when he catches her, again not a big deal. But if she continues to resist, she might get hurt.

Most of this is not a problem. But occasionally you get a rooster that is just a brute. It does not matter if the hen cooperates or not. He is rough and a brute. He can hurt them. If I have several hens having problems, I figure it is the rooster.

Sometimes you get a hen that will not do her part. There have been times that only one hen in the whole flock had a problem with becoming barebacked. When I removed that hen from the flock, the problem went away and never came back. I don't consider that the rooster's fault.

Often the problems are magnified when the rooster or the hens or both are adolescents. Usually when they mature the problems go away. Usually but not always. Sometimes the young roosters can't control those hormones running wild. Sometimes the young pullets don't understand what the rooster is trying to do. Some people consider chickens mating to be brutal and vicious. I don't unless something is wrong.

I don't know how you want to handle any of this with your young kids. I grew up on a farm and animals breeding was just a fact of life. I was pretty blaise with my kids about it. It was just a fact of life and not a big deal, although they were city kids. Them being city kids did make it a bit harder. I don't know if any of this will help you with your kids, but maybe it will help some. Good luck!!!

Our hens had been acting as we called it "strange" the last two days. They were "bowing" down (as we called it lol) with thier butts in the air. Today our rooster climbed on the back of one of our hens,and grabbed the back of her head. We figured he was mating with her since that is how our cocketiels mate also. We also happened to be in the chicken coop at just the right moment, and seen one of our hens lay an egg. It was really neat to see. Our chicken venture is still really new to us, and we have enjoyed every moment of it, EXCEPT georgia eating her eggs!!! Thanks to all who have given insight into the nature of chickens!

debid said:

Really? Geez, your roo must really cover up well. Mine gives a show even with tail and wings spread.

It was rough at first with a lot of squawking and I told my young kids that the cockerel was trying to love the girls but that he wasn't very good at it yet and that's why they're upset with him. And now that they mostly submit, the kids seem pretty confident that he's loving them nicer now. I told them that he's hoping they'll want to hatch his babies so they have a vague idea that it's all related but haven't yet asked for details. I'd think it would be harder to make up cover stories and try to remember them.

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My boy is usually pretty decent about it. He'll do a bit of a dance for whichever girl he's interested in at the moment. He's had a thing lately for my SLW pullet, who isn't always sure about how to act when she gets attention. She actually stared at him once like she wasn't quite sure what he wanted. Several long seconds later, he gave up and walked away. He did get his way later, though. I saw him run up and "surprise" her while she was scratching around. She let out a squawk like, "Fer RUDE!"

When a rooster mounts the hen, he deposits semen from his vent into her vent. Rooster sperm can live in the hen for up to a month. The egg which is forming inside the ovaduct then becomes fertilized prior to being layed. Optimal fertilization is dependent on the fluid exchange between the vents.and sometimes it is helpful to trim or clip the feathers around the vents, especially in the heavily feathered breeds.

FarmerFaith81 said:

So growing up I was always told that a chicken lays the egg, and then the rooster " sprays" the egg to fertilize it. Is this how it is truely done? Because recently I have been told that the rooster actually "gets" the hen, and then she lays a fertilized egg. I know my small birds actually have intercourse, so I am confused!!!

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To make you feel better thats how fish do it!!!

LOL, Well thanks! I didnt know fish did it that way =)

FarmerFaith81 said:

LOL, Well thanks! I didnt know fish did it that way =)

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Frogs, too