do roosters rape baby chicks?

[Jessy]

I was feeding my chickens this morning when I started hearing my chicks crying out so I went over to their pen and noticed that the rooster was on top of one of them. I have my 17 chicks and a rooster in a pen together because I have nowhere else to put him. If I put him in with the other older ones, I'm afraid my other much bigger rooster will kill him. My question is, is it normal for a rooster to be on top of a chick and mate with her?? I don't think so but any input is hugely appreciated. Any advice...

 

[Kevin565]

How old are the chicks? It is NOT normal for a rooster to rape chicks. He very well CAN kill them so he really needs to be separated.

 

[Jessy]

They are 3 weeks old. Well I guess he's gonna have to deal with the other rooster.

 

[centrarchid]

I keep game roosters with chicks under two types of situation. Most of time a single adult is placed with a group of juveniles once they are weaned or removed from brooder with entire group placed in a chicken tractor. Other situation involves continous association with rooster and his harem where hen(s) leave first group of offspring with rooster when they lay eggs and/or commit to brooding another clutch. In both situations I do occasionally see rooster mount chicks but no harm seems to come of it. It does not occur often and chicks can be of either sex. Rooster will sometimes even pick chick off ground but distress call by chick is minimal and it does not run when released by rooster. Rooster doing such seems confused but not agressive. Roosters in my situation are full adult which is very different from what adolescent and subadults do. Latter roosters are not put in social groups with chicks in my management system since they can cause real harm.

 

[NYREDS]

I keep game roosters with chicks under two types of situation. Most of time a single adult is placed with a group of juveniles once they are weaned or removed from brooder with entire group placed in a chicken tractor. Other situation involves continous association with rooster and his harem where hen(s) leave first group of offspring with rooster when they lay eggs and/or commit to brooding another clutch. In both situations I do occasionally see rooster mount chicks but no harm seems to come of it. It does not occur often and chicks can be of either sex. Rooster will sometimes even pick chick off ground but distress call by chick is minimal and it does not run when released by rooster. Rooster doing such seems confused but not agressive. Roosters in my situation are full adult which is very different from what adolescent and subadults do. Latter roosters are not put in social groups with chicks in my management system since they can cause real harm.

Weaned?????

 

[centrarchid]

Life Cycle as I See It

1) Embryo in nest prior to incubation period – development minimal

2) Embryo in nest during incubation through hatch


3) Chick – Hatch through roughly 5 weeks post-hatch. Head covered in down and terminates with replacement of first set of flight feathers underway. Hen clucks. Association between hen and offspring strongest with hen brooding offspring at least while in roost.

4) Juvenile – Starts roughly 5 weeks post-hatch at about time bond with maternal hen begins to dissolve and terminates with beginning sexual competency (most evident with males). Wing feathers retain immature barring pattern. Bond with harem master strong in my American Games but not in American Dominiques.


5) Sub-adult – Adult feather set is coming in, birds likely to disperse from natal group. This age when cockerels are most problematic.

6) Adult – Completion of first adult feather set. Full sexual competence realized and reproduction realized. Five to six month in American Dominiques and about 8 months in American Games.


Weaned in simpliest terms means chicks no longer brooded by hen.


Voice changes also relevant between chick, juvenile, sub-adult and adult stages. Differences strong enough that chickens seem to have little trouble distinguishing.

Weaned?????

 

[Contrary]

My question is, is it normal for a rooster to be on top of a chick and mate with her?? I don't think so but any input is hugely appreciated. Any advice...

Usually my bachelor roosters will grab a small chick by the neck, and hold it in the air while they copulate on the floor to an imaginary hen.

 

[NYREDS]

Life Cycle as I See It

1) Embryo in nest prior to incubation period – development minimal

2) Embryo in nest during incubation through hatch


3) Chick – Hatch through roughly 5 weeks post-hatch. Head covered in down and terminates with replacement of first set of flight feathers underway. Hen clucks. Association between hen and offspring strongest with hen brooding offspring at least while in roost.

4) Juvenile – Starts roughly 5 weeks post-hatch at about time bond with maternal hen begins to dissolve and terminates with beginning sexual competency (most evident with males). Wing feathers retain immature barring pattern. Bond with harem master strong in my American Games but not in American Dominiques.


5) Sub-adult – Adult feather set is coming in, birds likely to disperse from natal group. This age when cockerels are most problematic.

6) Adult – Completion of first adult feather set. Full sexual competence realized and reproduction realized. Five to six month in American Dominiques and about 8 months in American Games.


Weaned in simpliest terms means chicks no longer brooded by hen.


Voice changes also relevant between chick, juvenile, sub-adult and adult stages. Differences strong enough that chickens seem to have little trouble distinguishing.

Wean: To accustom a child or animal to food other than it's mother's milk.This is not as I see it, rather it is an actual accepted defintion.


As to the OP, rape is a moral construct applicable only to humans. What you are seeing is dominance behavior, which is linked to mating behavior. Chickens do not think of younger birds in the same way we think of children.

 

[dretd]

Wean: To accustom a child or animal to food other than it's mother's milk.This is not as I see it, rather it is an actual accepted defintion.

with all due respect, an alternate definition is also valid (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wean )

2: to detach from a source of dependence <being weaned off the medication> <wean the bears from human food — Sports Illus.>;

The chicks are gaining independance and being weaned from the protection of their mother hen.

 

[centrarchid]

Wean: To accustom a child or animal to food other than it's mother's milk.This is not as I see it, rather it is an actual accepted defintion.


As to the OP, rape is a moral construct applicable only to humans. What you are seeing is dominance behavior, which is linked to mating behavior. Chickens do not think of younger birds in the same way we think of children.

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (see link http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wean) wean follows three usages. You indicate number 1 which indicates change of nutrition source derived from mother or both parents if both produce equivilant of milk like with mammals, doves / pigeons and a small number of cold-blooded vertebrates. Usage number 2 I think most appropriate involves detachment from dependence on brooding by hen.

1
: to accustom (as a young child or animal) to take food otherwise than by nursing
2
: to detach from a source of dependence <being weaned off the medication> <wean the bears from human food — Sports Illus.>; also: to free from a usually unwholesome habit or interest <wean him off his excessive drinking> <settling his soldiers on the land… , weaning them from habits of violence — Geoffrey Carnall>
3
: to accustom to something from an early age —used in the passive especially with on <students weaned on the Internet for research> <I was weaned on greasepaint — Helen Hayes> <the principles upon which he had been weaned— J. A. Michener>

With respect to usage of term rape in context of OP. One thing is for certain, I as a student of animals behavior am unable to determine if humans and chickens think differently in respect to immature conspecifics. I do suspect humans are not consistent in reguards to such making black and white comparisons less than accurate.