When do roosters start trying to mate?

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Eventually the hens will mature too, and they will squat by the rooboy to be mated. Its quick, and when they're done, she'll stand up and waggle her tail and fluff up, almost like saying "Thanks, that was a good one".

Maybe they'll lose some feathers on back of their head and neck. Sometimes when we see art/illustrations from the early 1900's there are hens wearing head scarves and aprons. Now I understand why! I sometimes think I'll have to make a little bandana for my girls if they're looking too naked. Some hens get naked backs, and their owners buy them aprons to wear.

My hens love their rooster. They groom him, seek him out. They're friends. And they're having sex all the time. At first we didn't know what to do about it, but it's worked out nice.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Oh! And I forgot to add WHAT A HUGE BLESSING that you only got one rooster! It will probably work out great!

 

[Lisa202]

Quote:
I made a mistake...he's not 16 weeks old, he's 14 weeks old. Pop said they usually start this behavior around 4 months, so I guess he's a little early too.

Mister Mabel also crows ALL THE TIME too and is very loud. I'm not allowed to have him, so I hope no one complains. I didn't want a rooster to begin with, but now I'm looking forward to babies...but then I could get more roosters...or I could just eat all the eggs and not worry about it.

 

[Lisa202]

6chickens in St. Charles :

Eventually the hens will mature too, and they will squat by the rooboy to be mated. Its quick, and when they're done, she'll stand up and waggle her tail and fluff up, almost like saying "Thanks, that was a good one".

Maybe they'll lose some feathers on back of their head and neck. Sometimes when we see art/illustrations from the early 1900's there are hens wearing head scarves and aprons. Now I understand why! I sometimes think I'll have to make a little bandana for my girls if they're looking too naked. Some hens get naked backs, and their owners buy them aprons to wear.

My hens love their rooster. They groom him, seek him out. They're friends. And they're having sex all the time. At first we didn't know what to do about it, but it's worked out nice.

 

[Lisa202]

UPDATE...

ok, so I just saw Mister Mabel mount poor Lucy 4 times in a 5 minute period. She seems to be accepting since she squats and lets him on her, but just now I saw that her beak was bleeding. I checked closer and noticed that the blood was coming from that seam where the hard beak meets the softer part. I wiped it until it mostly stopped, but what do you think happened? How would her beak get hurt during this and what should I do? I really can't separate her or him.

I can't keep watch over them constantly. I'm so worried that he's going to hurt them. They're only 14 weeks old.

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
Not likely that the mating process made her bleed in that area, unless she was trying to escape and ran into something. If she is squatting for him, she`s an easy target, but she should start laying soon. Shouldn`t be a big deal, if you got the blood stopped. Usually cannibalism is in more fleshy areas. Banty roosters are extremely feisty. Usually the pullets are up to the task. Good luck with yours........Pop

 

[murraymylan]

well actually,well surprisingly,I'm wondering if I don't have some record! Lol I have a amaracauna mix roo that is mating now and is six weeks old! Never seen anything like it!!! I guess he'll be a good one lol. note: a rooster this mature and confident is extremely rare, his name is cocoa and love him to death!

 

[Lyndalou]

Our Easter Egger x Black Copper Maran cockerel that hatched just shy of 2 months ago has been trying to mount the hens for the past week or so. He actually was successful today. Is it normal for such a young guy to have such a strong sex drive?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I have an 18 week old Splash Orpington cockerel and he has started to grab the back of necks of my 12-14 week old pullets and position them for mating. They want nothing to do with it now but I know in a few weeks they will be fine. Just keep an eye on your boy and make sure he is not too rough, otherwise seperate until they are more mature.

 

[outdoorsii]

Eventually the hens will mature too, and they will squat by the rooboy to be mated. Its quick, and when they're done, she'll stand up and waggle her tail and fluff up, almost like saying "Thanks, that was a good one".

Maybe they'll lose some feathers on back of their head and neck. Sometimes when we see art/illustrations from the early 1900's there are hens wearing head scarves and aprons. Now I understand why! I sometimes think I'll have to make a little bandana for my girls if they're looking too naked. Some hens get naked backs, and their owners buy them aprons to wear.

My hens love their rooster. They groom him, seek him out. They're friends. And they're having sex all the time. At first we didn't know what to do about it, but it's worked out nice.

LOL your hilarious....and yea, we haven't had any roosters around our full grown 6 hens right now, but we're about to introduce Pinky, the 15.5 wk old GLW to them, he's almost the size of our little white leghorn hen, she's our smallest hen, the other hens would probably kick his butt if he tried anything on them; but a few are submissive to the fact---I Found that out by petting them, then 1 day I was scratchin her back towards her butt & she just squatted down w/her tail up in the air, acting like she was holding onto the ground for dear life LOL, i was like (WTH!) , then i stopped & now they always shake and fluff it off afterwards, its funny. I hope we don't have to get aprons for our girls. He'll have 11 hens of his choice eventually.