Confused chicken

kimice

In the Brooder
8 Years
Apr 30, 2011
56
2
39
I got a mating pair of barred rocks a couple of weeks ago. The lady I bought them from said that the hen should be laying any week now. However, when I go to the coop in the morning to let them out the rooster is in the nesting box and the hen is on the roost! How am I ever going to get any eggs?! Are my chickies gender confused or what? Should I physically put the hen in her nesting box and move the rooster out of them , or just let them work it out on their own? I only have the two of them so separating them is not an option. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I don't have the answer to your question, but you're probably going to have a problem going forward. . . 1 hen is not enough for a rooster. He will overbreed her and hurt her.
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Most roosters have a number of hens--not just one--for this reason.
 
They're perfectly fine.


Roosters naturally, especially in a more wild/natural situation, will attempt to "make" or tidy up the nest for the hen, and thus actually entice her into going into it. A good rooster will do anything for her.
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It's no gender confusion or anything. . . We humans just have lazy men.
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Well I hope that is what he is doing, but it looks like....he is sleeping up there all night and she is sleeping on the roost all night. To the other post...I truely hope that he doesn't hurt her. Because I am not wanting several chickens. I only want a couple. Aren't there people who only have two?
 
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A lady I know (has a store at the flea market I go to) had a pair od Production reds and the poor girl had no back feathers. The hen passed so what does she do...get a tiny little serma for that HUge roo.....I felt terrible...
 
I'm no expert, but I've read over and over and over on this forum that you need 3, 4, 5, or more girls for one rooster.

Your current situation...
Move him out of the box at night and up on the roosting platform. He just doesn't know to go up there...he needs to be shown/trained. It will take about 4 nights or so of training to get him to do it himself.
 
I had 1 roosters and two hens and one of my hens was getting very badly hurt from over breeding. I had to remove the rooster from the coop and lost him a time later to something out in the yard. I still have more roosters than I need but they are still very young and will be out of here before they can do anything, I hope.
You really need to have 4 to 10 hen for one rooster.
 
People do only have 2 chickens, but usually only have 2 hens- they still lay eggs (just not fertilized eggs) In fact in some cases you will get more eggs without a rooster. I have about 40 laying hens and 3 roosters.
 
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As someone else said, most people w/ limited space have hens ONLY. I wouldn't have a rooster, myself--I don't want my girls harrassed. Mine are strictly pets--I don't even eat eggs so my dogs get them! But if you DO want eggs you don't need a rooster for that!

That said, I would hate to have something bad happen to your rooster.
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The world is a very uncertain place for roosters, alas, given the fact that very few are needed but lots are born.
 

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