14 week cockerel mating with stuffed animal??

[eclectic-em]

well the title sums it up but anyway i have a 14 week EE who i hatched (no other eggs were successful) so i got him a stuffed dinosaur to cuddle with in the brooder. it was hard to find chicks in december/january but in february i happened to find Sophie, a RSL x leghorn, who is the same age as him and they get along very well. i’m getting 3 sexed chicks this week and 3 more beginning of may. (i like to make things complicated apparently). sophie isn’t laying yet since she’s also just 14 weeks. but yesterday i was taking a comparison picture of george and his dinosaur to show a friend and he ended up mounting and tried mating with it. leaving his uh fluid on it.

georgie as a chick and an attempt at a comparison picture before he showed it affection.

my aunt who raised chickens on a much larger scale (think hatching 1000 chicks at once) says it’s not good and that he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do with the hens. well i only have a pullet as of now so besides being a little shocked witnessing him do it (a handful of times since yesterday morning) i’m okay with him using a stuffed dinosaur than sophie.

just to show how cute they are and how well they get along. this was just taken while they were sitting on my lap together.

i intend on getting her one of those little saddle jackets to protect her back since i know it’s not good to have 1:1 but i also don’t want to get any more adult hens or even started pullets as i have spent hours a day with them and they’re extremely social.

so long story short

• is it bad if i let him keep doing what he’s doing to the stuffed dinosaur?
• how can i protect my lovely little pullet until georgie has more lady options?

any advice is welcome! thank you

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

@aart

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

To protect your pullet, I'd do no touch just see.

 

[Tonyroo]

Stuff toy is absolutely fine, make for a good distraction and practice for him. And the saddle apron will work with the situation.

 

[eclectic-em]

To protect your pullet, I'd do no touch just see.

what does that mean?

 

[eclectic-em]

Stuff toy is absolutely fine, make for a good distraction and practice for him. And the saddle apron will work with the situation.

LOL practice. yes he hasn’t expressed interest in sophie yet which is good and maybe since she’s not laying he knows she’s not ready? either way i’m fine with the dinosaur but my aunt made me nervous by saying it wasn’t good lol

 

[Tonyroo]

LOL practice. yes he hasn’t expressed interest in sophie yet which is good and maybe since she’s not laying he knows she’s not ready? either way i’m fine with the dinosaur but my aunt made me nervous by saying it wasn’t good lol

Just saying it's not good without a reason to back it up is a empty comment. I wouldn't worry it's just temporary anyway.

 

[Tonyroo]

Just saying it's not good without a reason to back it up is a empty comment. I wouldn't worry it's just temporary anyway.

Plus you are the care giver for your chickens so you know what works for you.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

It’s fine. I guess it could be bad if you want fertilized eggs as early as possible. Other than that I can’t think of any reason this behavior would be harmful.

 

[eclectic-em]

Plus you are the care giver for your chickens so you know what works for you.

oh well she said it’s not good because he doesn’t know what his job is with the hens. but i’m not breeding them so he doesn’t really have a job. and she sees them as food and i see mine as pets essentially so we definitely have different takes. i just wasn’t sure if there would be some detrimental effect on him by letting him try to mate his stuffed toy