Early breeding?

[Matieus27]

So I was outside watching the chickens like I normally do and something strange happened one of my known roosters went up to an suspected pullet suspected pullet squatted rooster climbed on top. Now these chickens are not laying yet so is this just practice breeding what are my chickens doing?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Cockerels are ALWAYS ready before the hens/pullets. And yes they are better at sensing the females than we are.

 

[Matieus27]

Does this mean I’ll have eggs sooner that I thought or are the boys just ready and waiting lol

 

[NoFlyBackFarm]

Cockerels are ALWAYS ready before the hens/pullets. And yes they are better at sensing the females than we are.

X2

 

[Matieus27]

Because I am sure they are 2 to 3 months from laying

 

[JedJackson]

It's perfectly normal, and yes, it is mating. The fact that the pullet was squatting means she is ready to mate and will probably be laying soon.

 

[JedJackson]

Because I am sure they are 2 to 3 months from laying

It's nothing to worry about, unless the rooster is huge and the pullet is tiny. But it sounds like it has been happening with no ill effects for a while now. The age difference may be disturbing to us, but for chickens it is natural.

 

[Matieus27]

It's perfectly normal, and yes, it is mating. The fact that the pullet was squatting means she is ready to mate and will probably be laying soon.

This actually makes me super eggcited but I don’t have her a nest yet I guess I better get one made and put in there for her

 

[rebrascora]

How old are your "roosters" and how many males and females do you have. If they are just approaching sexual maturity, the dynamics of your flock are probably about to change quite rapidly and probably not for the better. Too many adolescent males can make for a lot of stress on the girls. Whilst this girl is obviously cooperating and inviting the rooster to mate her, there is a possibility that she will get severely over mated if you have more than one cockerel in the flock.

 

[JedJackson]

This actually makes me super eggcited but I don’t have her a nest yet I guess I better get one made and put in there for her

Yes, definitely get a nest box. They are easy to make from scrap lumber, you can by them ready made, or you can get creative. If you have an old pet carrier, you can use one of those, too. Just remember to put in hay or wood shavings.