Does your roo help the hens lay an egg?

[ChickaD]

The other day I was amazed to see our EE roo crammed into a nesting box next to one of our NH reds!

They had both been looking for a nice place for her to lay an egg, searching all over (I had to keep chasing them out of the garage shelves!), making little clucky sounds...then I discovered the pair of them in the box. The story had a rough ending, as I hurried out there to collect the egg and found it had already been eaten! Do roos eat eggs, I wonder?

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

It prob accidentally got broken and they never even realized what they did. At least you HOPE that is what happened. Otherwise they will keep breaking them and eating them and that is almost impossible to break. My huge cochin rooster always gets in the nest box and does his cackling. Not sure what he is thinking but it's pretty funny. GOod luck on those egg eaters! I sure hope it was on accident. And YES they ALL love to eat broken eggs!

 

[cmom]

Most of my girls prefer the same nest boxes and I have found six in one box. Once in awhile I’ll have two or three in a box. You'll have to wait and watch. I put a critter cam in my coop so I could watch on the TV. My cameras are almost zero lux so even in the dark you can see, though not too good. I do have a low watt red light in my coop which helps. I hope one of them isn't an egg eater and that the egg got broken by accident. They will eat an egg if it breaks.

 

[jjthink]

My roo always helps his hen friends. He warms their nesting area for them, signals them to come nest when he senses they need to, guards them while they are nesting and coos gentle sweet sounds to them during.
JJ

 

[basicliving]

jjthink - that is so sweet! I have 21 hens and 2 roosters. The alpha roo doesn't help any of the hens, but the smaller roo has 4 black spanish hens he is completely in love with. He paces in the coop when they go to their nest boxes and makes little, fretful, cooing noises until they come out. He dug a nest for two of them the first time they laid eggs - unfortunately it was on the coop floor and it took me a few days to break them of it.....

I just love sensitive, sweet roos

Penny

 

[swtangel321]

Hey there chickaD-

I have a silkie roos that will stand right outside the nesting box and wait for his wifey (hen) to lay and then when she's done they go back out and go on with the day. I always tell him he's a great husband !!

As far as the egg eating goes... like Hangin Wit My Peeps said lets hope b/c they were both in the box it got broken. If it keeps up try putting golf balls in the nesting box (helps with egg eating for some chickens) Do you think that might of been why they rehomed him ??

BTW, did you get my last email ?? Talk soon.

 

[cajunlizz]

what size are your nesting boxes ? for both to be in the same box might be a bit to big .

I use milk crates and fill with hay and big enough for any size hen , BUT surely not big enough for a roos to be in with her

 

[pixiechick]

We had an EE rooster who did the same thing! He would celebrate very loudly when the hen layed.

 

[ChickaD]

Quote:
Our nesting boxes are either the size of crates or smaller, although they may be a bit deeper. They've worked for 9 years. This is the first time I've seen a big roo wedge himself in there next to his bulky lady...it looked like clowns in a phone booth!

It's great hearing everyone's experiences and adventures!

 

[cajunlizz]

I actually had to remove one of the roosters in the main coop and just leave the Alpha , because he was chasing the hens out the coops and preventing them from laying , then the alpha would constantly being after his BU_ _ for disturbing the hens . Since I have removed him and isolated him in a run and coop by himself ( JAIL ) the hens are starting to lay more , and they are alot calmer .

I know for a fact , hens do not like any kind of change or anything that upsets them . HECK, I clean out the coop and add fresh pine shavings , or even add more hay to the nesting boxes and they LOOK LOST . We moved the roost to opposite wall and oh mercy , they had a fit .

Like they were in the wrong house .