Broody roosters in bachelor flock

[RoostersAreAwesome]

But there are no females around to have nest, right?

One of those roos was in a flock with hens, the other two were in a bachelor pad.

 

[northerngracema]

@centrarchid
There are no females around?

They know that females exist (have seen them through fences) but that's correct that there are none around, anywhere nearby, or within sight. Nor does this behavior appear to correlate with having seen the girls recently. It would not be hard for them to do it within line of sight of the girls--there are actually some good nesting spots on the hillside outside their run, but I have not seen them doing this there. In the video I don't know if he was doing it but Joe also does some nest grooming, pulling the grasses around him and whatnot.

Several people asked this (though not all directed at me, but I kind of lost track), cc: @Chickenhappy8708 @Sammy1122 @ella @aart @centrarchid

 

[northerngracema]

What breeds are they? They might want to be dads?

The "broody" ones are a Rhode Island Red (Joe, in the video) and a Black Copper Marans. The marans, Omie, is extremely docile, and he is super tight buds with the alpha, Caesar, whom he was raised with. Caesar also mounts Omie regularly, which is an act of dominance, not reproduction.

 

[northerngracema]

Wow! Maybe you should put some fertil eggs under him and see if he hatches anything! That would be so cool! I am totally following this thread if you try to hatch with him!

So, I didn't want to try putting eggs under him because yeah I think he would be clumsy and break them, but someone mentioned the porcelain egg prop and we do have one of those so I will try that and see if he stays on it. He has not been real diligent about sticking to one nest though, he kind of bounces back and forth between two spots behind the lilies that he seems to prefer, and at the end of the day he lines up to go back into the coop with the other boys. Now, granted, this is about the same level of diligence I've seen from our girls, none of whom are broody enough to hatch eggs.

 

[centrarchid]

They know that females exist (have seen them through fences) but that's correct that there are none around, anywhere nearby, or within sight. Nor does this behavior appear to correlate with having seen the girls recently. It would not be hard for them to do it within line of sight of the girls--there are actually some good nesting spots on the hillside outside their run, but I have not seen them doing this there. In the video I don't know if he was doing it but Joe also does some nest grooming, pulling the grasses around him and whatnot.

Several people asked this (though not all directed at me, but I kind of lost track), cc: @Chickenhappy8708 @Sammy1122 @ella @aart @centrarchid

What I am seeing is not consistent with broody rooster behavior. Broodiness is direct parental investment starting with incubation of eggs and rearing of young. Behavior shown is part of normal courtship sequence where rooster plays a major role in nest site selection process. When hens still in phase where they are selecting which harem / rooster to associate with, rooster tries to influence hen's choice not only in nest site, but also ultimately the rooster that fertilizes the greater part of the eggs in the upcoming clutch.

I see what is shown fairly often as have a lot of rooster penned singly in a row with hens / pullets coming into lay moving about outside those pens exercising choice.

 

[wolfinator]

We have a small bachelor flock (4 boys) and recently two of them have been acting broody. I've even caught the alpha guarding one of them while he nests and makes broody hen noises. There are a couple other threads on here discussing broody roosters, but I thought folks might enjoy the video. It's uncanny, really, he sounds just like a broody hen.

Broody Roo video

More than once I've found my roosters sitting on eggs in nests. I used to have a bachelor coop/pen with 5 roosters. I kept 1 from it, my buff Orpington. He's now a bully to my Cuckoo Marans rooster. I currently have 6 roosters in 2 coops, 1 large pen.

Buff sitting on eggs.

Red Boy decided to get in nest and coo softly to the hen. She was trying to lay a huge egg and his presence relaxed her enough, she laid it after 3 hours.