Do roosters designate certain hens as theirs or do they share all hens?

[Juju2773]

I have two roosters, one is young, but now getting old enough to start mating. He seems to have a little click with two young hens that he grew up with. My other rooster is top dog now , with five laying hens and there’s five other hens that will start laying any day now. I was wondering .... Do roosters designate certain hens as their own, or do all the roosters share all the hens to mate with? They both get along at the moment , but the young rooster certainly steers clear of the big one for the most part.

 

[centrarchid]

The hens and sexually mature pullets can exercise some discretion in terms of who they associate and mate with when in a free-range setting. That is particularly evident where the chickens can assort themselves in discrete roosting groups. The females have the least amount of control when coming off the roost as the dominant rooster typically comes comes down first and mates with females as they come down. If roost are far enough apart, then the most dominant rooster can not effectively force his way on everyone. If the area foraged is large enough, the roosters and hens that associate with each other will form home ranges can can take on characteristics of territories further reducing the ability of a rooster to mate with just any hen. If the sex ratio is closer to even and area is large, then a given rooster may mate only with hens he hangs with in the form of a harem. Those same hens may have reduced relations with lower ranking roosters that follow their group around, but essentially no relations with other roosters that operate outside their home range.

This pattern does not hold in a coop or even a large run.

 

[neo71665]

Once that young rooster matures they will fight and each will want all the hens to him self.

 

[Juju2773]

The hens and sexually mature pullets can exercise some discretion in terms of who they associate and mate with when in a free-range setting. That is particularly evident where the chickens can assort themselves in discrete roosting groups. The females have the least amount of control when coming off the roost as the dominant rooster typically comes comes down first and mates with females as they come down. If roost are far enough apart, then the most dominant rooster can not effectively force his way on everyone. If the area foraged is large enough, the roosters and hens that associate with each other will form home ranges can can take on characteristics of territories further reducing the ability of a rooster to mate with just any hen. If the sex ratio is closer to even and area is large, then a given rooster may mate only with hens he hangs with in the form of a harem. Those same hens may have reduced relations with lower ranking roosters that follow their group around, but essentially no relations with other roosters that operate outside their home range.

This pattern does not hold in a coop or even a large run.

Thanks for your response .. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. They have a coop with a large run , but they get let out in a 138 foot fence area to spend the day and their coop door stays open all day.

 

[centrarchid]

Thanks for your response .. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. They have a coop with a large run , but they get let out in a fenced 138sq foot area to spend the day and their coop door stays open all day.

Then they are confined. Choices will be all up to roosters that will resolve issues through conflict,