Aggressive mating behaviour: a recent review of the literature

[CoopBoots]

Can anyone speak to the 'psychological castration' hypothesis?

i.e. "roosters that mature later may be subjected to female dominance, which can lead to inhibition of reproductive behavior. This form of “psychological castration” is considered irreversible [22]."
Ref 22 is Bestman, M.; Ruis, M.; Heijmans, J.; van Middelkoop, K. Poultry Signals: A Practical Guide for Bird Focused Poultry Farming; Roodbont Publishers B.V.: Zutphen, The Netherlands, 2020, which I have not seen.

I might have something to contribute here.

I have a boy I jokingly call my "eunuch rooster" who stays with my hens without making sexual advances. He did at first as a cockerel--but was pretty easily deterred by the grown hens and my dominant rooster. He even used to crow. Now he has given up all such behavior as far as I can tell. No daytime crowing, no grabbing, no chasing, no chest bumps or "noticing" a vulnerable hen and using the opportunity.

I was disappointed with the absence of crowing, and then further with the absence of any observed mating, as I find him a very pretty rooster. The closest thing to male behavior he's got is shooing away cockerels who ARE interested in the girls, and being confident enough to shoo away some competition at the feeders. He generally just growls and uses his massive size to push his way in. He's still very "cautious" and can be easily frightened away if a hen stands her ground, but he comes at the end of feeding sessions and they mostly just get out of his way now. He doesn't even seem to peck anyone at roosting time!

I'm hoping he's not permanently altered, but he DID show sexual behavior and attempts as a cockerel. His first molt didn't help speed things up, and he's just getting over that now. But all he's interested in is standing around with the hens and staying out of the boss rooster's way. I'm interested to see if he wakes up at all this spring...

 

[Perris]

I might have something to contribute here.

I have a boy I jokingly call my "eunuch rooster" who stays with my hens without making sexual advances. He did at first as a cockerel--but was pretty easily deterred by the grown hens and my dominant rooster. He even used to crow. Now he has given up all such behavior as far as I can tell. No daytime crowing, no grabbing, no chasing, no chest bumps or "noticing" a vulnerable hen and using the opportunity.

I was disappointed with the absence of crowing, and then further with the absence of any observed mating, as I find him a very pretty rooster. The closest thing to male behavior he's got is shooing away cockerels who ARE interested in the girls, and being confident enough to shoo away some competition at the feeders. He generally just growls and uses his massive size to push his way in. He's still very "cautious" and can be easily frightened away if a hen stands her ground, but he comes at the end of feeding sessions and they mostly just get out of his way now. He doesn't even seem to peck anyone at roosting time!

I'm hoping he's not permanently altered, but he DID show sexual behavior and attempts as a cockerel. His first molt didn't help speed things up, and he's just getting over that now. But all he's interested in is standing around with the hens and staying out of the boss rooster's way. I'm interested to see if he wakes up at all this spring...

Thanks for that; I found it very interesting.

I have a male who turned 1 in June so is a full grown roo now, and his behaviour is the same, though he does occasionally crow. He has (and has had since he was a juvenile) stiff flat feet, and a peculiar gait, and he shows no interest at all in mating though, like yours, he did when he was a teen. I used to worry he was in pain, but he's not depressed, and I'm sure he's glad to be alive, so I haven't euthanized him. He performs useful roles despite his deficiency in locomotion; he has been seen looking after a broody and chicks, and keeping an ill hen company and a chick warm. I think they all know they can rely on him for protection and that he won't even try to mate. So he's a valued and fully integrated member of the flock. And in terms of genetics, he thinks he is (and he actually is) related to the roos that do mate, so there may be an element of communal genes altruism going on.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can anyone speak to the 'psychological castration' hypothesis?

I'm hoping he's not permanently altered, but he DID show sexual behavior and attempts as a cockerel. His first molt didn't help speed things up, and he's just getting over that now. But all he's interested in is standing around with the hens and staying out of the boss rooster's way. I'm interested to see if he wakes up at all this spring...

It would be interesting to see what would happen if his competition were removed.

I grow out several cockerels every year with the flock. Of course it is more complicated than this, but they generally form a sub-flock of their own with the pullets. A few of these cockerels are aggressive in trying to dominate but several are submissive, not fighting the other cockerels for dominance of this sub-flock or trying to mate the pullets. And the dominant ones usually leave them alone. I practically always choose one of the more dominant cockerels as the eventual flock master so I don't get to see it, but I'd expect a submissive one to step up if the dominant competition were gone.

I wonder if psychological castration is just another way of saying "submissive". Is it permanent or situational? As each chicken has its own personality I'd expect you to get different results with different chickens.

But I generally choose a more dominant cockerel to become flock master on the theory that a male with a dominant personality can maintain control over the flock based on force of personality as opposed to brute strength.

 

[CoopBoots]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if his competition were removed.

I grow out several cockerels every year with the flock. Of course it is more complicated than this, but they generally form a sub-flock of their own with the pullets. A few of these cockerels are aggressive in trying to dominate but several are submissive, not fighting the other cockerels for dominance of this sub-flock or trying to mate the pullets. And the dominant ones usually leave them alone. I practically always choose one of the more dominant cockerels as the eventual flock master so I don't get to see it, but I'd expect a submissive one to step up if the dominant competition were gone.

I wonder if psychological castration is just another way of saying "submissive". Is it permanent or situational? As each chicken has its own personality I'd expect you to get different results with different chickens.

But I generally choose a more dominant cockerel to become flock master on the theory that a male with a dominant personality can maintain control over the flock based on force of personality as opposed to brute strength.

My current plan is to keep him, so if he ends up inheriting the flock or challenging the status quo I'll be happy to update.

He's a good couple of years younger than my current flock leader so I guess there's always a chance!

 

[Perris]

Human interference and restrictions on movement both probably have a big impact on male birds' behaviour.

I wouldn't describe my dominant roo as having 'control over the flock'. In terms of personality, he's the least popular mature roo, and in terms of brute strength, two of his sons/subordinates will have a spat with him at mealtimes now and then, which he does not always win, and there is far more fluidity to their respective positions than one would ever guess could be possible from reading the literature (never mind from reading posts on BYC). I don't think of him as a flock 'master' and I don't think the other birds do either. The roos here behave like a band of brothers not a master and slaves. I wouldn't describe any of them, including the flat-footed one, as submissive.

 

[Mrs. K]

I had a mature rooster and two cockerels. They hatched in late May. I culled the old and one young cockerel this fall.

I really expected the remaining one to come into his own, but he seldom crows. Only my pullets are laying. I assumed they were fertilized but now I wonder.

 

[Perris]

I've never seen one do it with a chick or an equal male

Right on cue, yesterday afternoon I saw Hensol (son, 1 year 4 months old) do it to Killay (sire, nominal flock dominant, 3 years 5 months old). They were not fighting or flighting. K just dodged H exactly as a hen might, and H just tried again exactly as a roo does. There were 2 other roos nearby, who also were cool and calm and behaving normally. It happened 3 times before K went under the fence to the paddock (the gap is a chicken run for quick easy access between neighbouring open spaces) and stopped the other side (I could still see his legs), and in due course H followed, along with the other roos. There were no hackle flashes, and no-one ran. H crowed.

So the wing drop on that occasion clearly was not courtship behaviour. Possibly herding, but since the flock here does not have to and does not choose to stick together as one during the day, I don't know why H should suddenly start doing it to his dad.

In any case, their behaviour is nothing like I saw during the succession of Chirk taking over from Sven as dominant roo, or Killay taking over from Chirk, which were proper fights. And obviously it is not about them mating. So now I'm wondering, is the wing drop just an expression of confidence and co-ordination to encourage submission without a fight? Display subbing for force, so that everyone gets out of it intact? Coming back to the initial paper, is that what's missing in commercial operations, which are plagued by just force, to the hens' clear and obvious disadvantage?

 

[angc11]

Right on cue, yesterday afternoon I saw Hensol (son, 1 year 4 months old) do it to Killay (sire, nominal flock dominant, 3 years 5 months old). They were not fighting or flighting. K just dodged H exactly as a hen might, and H just tried again exactly as a roo does. There were 2 other roos nearby, who also were cool and calm and behaving normally. It happened 3 times before K went under the fence to the paddock (the gap is a chicken run for quick easy access between neighbouring open spaces) and stopped the other side (I could still see his legs), and in due course H followed, along with the other roos. There were no hackle flashes, and no-one ran. H crowed.

So the wing drop on that occasion clearly was not courtship behaviour. Possibly herding, but since the flock here does not have to and does not choose to stick together as one during the day, I don't know why H should suddenly start doing it to his dad.

In any case, their behaviour is nothing like I saw during the succession of Chirk taking over from Sven as dominant roo, or Killay taking over from Chirk, which were proper fights. And obviously it is not about them mating. So now I'm wondering, is the wing drop just an expression of confidence and co-ordination to encourage submission without a fight? Display subbing for force, so that everyone gets out of it intact? Coming back to the initial paper, is that what's missing in commercial operations, which are plagued by just force, to the hens' clear and obvious disadvantage?

I am really enjoying this thread!! I thought I would chime in with my VERY limited experience and observations with what I like to call my "Lord of the Flies" flock (they're all the same age (9 months old) and have grown up their whole lives without older hens/roosters. They have been free ranging since they were 3 months old).

I have two roosters in my flock of 19, one is the dominant flock master, the other is very submissive but has made a few surprising and bizarre attempts to overthrow the alpha with very little success. Most of the time sub just runs away from alpha.

@Perris I do believe I have observed the similar kinds of wing dancing to what you're describing with Hensol and Killay. Particularly, I have seen specific cases where a hen will call out for a rooster to come and fetch her either after she's laid an egg or gotten lost from the flock somehow. Both roosters will take off running toward her, but alpha will actually stop and wing dance around submissive roo. Submissive will dodge him just like a hen would when wing danced at and will stop running toward the hen in need. The alpha will then go and collect the hen (funny enough he wing dances at her as well to herd her back) while submissive boy goes back to the flock. There's never a fight (at least that i've witnessed). I always read those interactions as alpha telling submissive that he's the boss around here and submissive mostly obliges without a fight.

So as far as I've observed, I think you may be onto something where the wing dance is actually to "encourage submission without a fight". That's mostly how I've observed my alpha using it with the submissive cock and with the hens.

 

[FunClucks]

This open access article may help those dealing with aggressive mating behaviour by roos to identify possible causes and thereby suggest ways to resolve the problem. Lupu et.al. Aggressive Mating Behavior in Roosters (Gallus gallus domesticus): A Narrative Review of Behavioral Patterns, Life 2025, 15(8)
https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081232

Fascinating! Thank you!!!