do roosters loose interest?

[faykokoWV]

I had two Barnevelder roosters and recently sold one. The remaining one is in with his 4 hens and about 8 youngsters that are between 6 and 12 weeks old. I haven't seen him doing his thing with the hens in a while. I could just be missing it, or maybe he's just shy in front of an audience. Any chance that he would just stop mating. He's only 9 mo old. I thought maybe he had too big of a flock to watch out for now and might not be giving the hens the attention he used to. I cracked a few eggs and still saw bullseyes, but apparently that could have come from a previous mating?

 

[CMV]

The only time he will lose interest is when he is either dying or already dead.

 

[gritsar]

I'm going to have to disagree. My roo loses interest when he is 1. moulting 2. it's very hot or 3. in the wintertime. He mates a little all year-round, but not nearly as much as he does in the spring and early summer.

 

[WriterofWords]

Maybe your hens are praying to the God of Roosters for a break...... I can't picture mine taking a break!

 

[Oven Ready]

Is he spending too much time helping to feed the youngsters?

When we get four or five clutches around the same time our rooster 'Oven Ready' spends too long being the modern dad, helping to find food for about 20-25 chicks, and this gives the young, up and coming, boys a chance to get a quick fumble with some of the hens. If he spots it he'll fly over and kick them to bits, usually he is too busy scratching to notice.
I think this is one way in which he encourages the hens to abandon ( I didn't think 'wean' was the right word for chickens) their chicks and get back into breeding condition.

When he doesn't have a heap of chicks to tend to, no-one gets so much as quick dance except him.
Perhaps your 'main man' is too busy being a 'good father'.

We also still have the ex-main rooster, he's a bit old and infirm now and Oven beat him up a lot in the transition to number 1 rooster and he physically couldn't 'get it on' even if he had the opportunity, he doesn't even bother to do the dance anymore, so yes they definitely go off it.

On the other hand, all the young boys will attempt it with anything remotely chicken like, including each other, young hens nowhere near ready to breed even soft toys that could only pass for chickens under extreme medication.
I've seen them dance to feral pigeons which, to my mind, indicates a level of desperateness that's beyond imagination.

The need to continually expand the number of offspring carrying the roosters own DNA must be offset somewhat by the need to make sure those offspring actually make it to maturity so that they too can spread the roosters DNA far and wide.

Life is much more complicated for these little creatures than we imagine I'm sure.

 

[Wynette]

Just wanted to comment - you really shouldn't have an adult rooster in with birds that are only 6-12 weeks old. First, they're not old enough for adult food yet, also, if he breeds the young ones, he could hurt them - espcially if your Barnie is good sized, which most are. Just sayin.

He could also lose interest if he's not feeling well.

Hope you get it figured out! Best of luck!