Do chickens need to be laying before roos can mate with them?

[ScotianChick]

My favourite hen B.B. (RIR) is my only girl not laying. I got them all around May 1st so they are all almost 10 months old. B.B. does not lay, her wattles are small. She is at the bottom of the pecking order but I managed to get her fed up, cleaned up and able to take care of herself. She's doing a million times better but still is smaller and does not lay eggs. She has never let Bill, my RIR rooster mount her. She always squawked and ran away even when he had a hold of her neck. Today I went outside and heard a noise. I walked over to the coop and Bill had a firm hold on B.B.'s neck and had mounted her and was mating her a lot longer than he does the other chickens. He got off of her and she shook herself out about five times. She fluffed up and seemed a bit flustered. Now to my knowledge she has never laid an egg. She hangs out in the nest box and that's about it. Also her vent looks smaller than all the others which I read is an indication that she is not laying. I had to read up on it because I was getting eggs and couldn't figure out who from haha.

So can Bill mate with her if she hasn't even laid an egg? Also I noticed that everyone else's abdomens seem to be squishier and hers hard.. Is that just because they are chubby and she is not.

 

[elizabethbinary]

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She could also have impacted eggs, but maybe not.

Bill can mate with her, as you've seen - but it's not going to be successful.

Instead of 'vent looking smaller' get your hand right up in there. Put two of your fingers ON (not in!!!) her vent flat and feel for her pubic bones. If her bones are one finger apart, she's never laid. If her bones are two fingers apart, she has. If it's in-between, she's about to.

 

[ScotianChick]

When I felt how her belly was hard I was a little worried but she's her normal self, if not peppier than usual. I'll check her out a little better this evening when everyone is calm and half asleep. I feel bad getting all up in her space haha. So I can check but putting my finger on her vent directly and feel the bone there? And if her abdomen is hard, she may have an impacted egg?

 

[elizabethbinary]

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May but not likely. Just a thought I threw out there, really.

You don't have to feel exactly the vent but it's pretty close to that area if not just a bit towards the breast, like how a human's pelvic bones are a bit above the, er, exit. But yeah if you feel around enough you can feel the degree of separation between her bones and the wider, the longer she's been laying.

 

[gritsar]

If she tolerated it, she's liable to start laying soon.

By the way, the fluffing up may look as if the hen is frustrated, but it's actually the mechanism by which she moves the rooster's sperm up into her body for storage.

 

[gryeyes]

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Oooh, I just learned something new! (Yet again... I love gathering knowledge.)

That's a whole lot more interesting than thinking they fluff up just because they didn't want "bed feathers" after an encounter.

 

[gritsar]

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Oooh, I just learned something new! (Yet again... I love gathering knowledge.)

That's a whole lot more interesting than thinking they fluff up just because they didn't want "bed feathers" after an encounter.

Well, there's that too.

My girls fluff after I've been holding them. What do you say after they do, knowing why they do it? Somehow saying "you're welcome" just doesn't quite fit.

 

[sfw2]

Quote:
Oooh, I just learned something new! (Yet again... I love gathering knowledge.)

That's a whole lot more interesting than thinking they fluff up just because they didn't want "bed feathers" after an encounter.

Well, there's that too.

My girls fluff after I've been holding them. What do you say after they do, knowing why they do it? Somehow saying "you're welcome" just doesn't quite fit.

 

[ScotianChick]

That's really interesting! So maybe B.B. was okay with it... haha. The others seem cool with it. Alabama even squats for Bill. But last week I heard awful screeching and BB came tearing out of the coop with Bill holding her neck. It was awful. She got away but this time I don't think she even made an effort to run away.

Does this mean my girl might actually lay?! I had given up hope. I cared for her too long and too much to cull her so she is more our pet than anything hehe.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Bill knows what you do not

Bill knows how to read his "girls" and he can tell when one is getting ready to start laying. He can also tell when the girls start to molt and will not be laying eggs - watch him, he will not mate with molting, non-egg laying girls.

This is something all roos know, young cockerels generally need to age/learn a bit before they know.