Effect of mating on egglaying behavior?

[Lobzi]

I know it is said that roos are not needed to get eggs from hens but I have witness something different. I have roos and my gals are always laying, brooding and raising chicks, year around. I have a few "delicate" hens, some of them older, on my porch that I keep away from the rest of the flock. They are protected from any bullying and over mating by roos. I have a young roo that I hand rasied who comes up on the porch every once in awhile. One of my hens who stopped laying for now just restarted laying. I think it is due to the young roo's interest in her. She doesnt like him to jump her but sometimes it does happen. I notice that when I am diligent keeping him off the porch she stops laying, for weeks. Then when he gets up to have access to her she starts laying again and will continue to lay an egg per day as long as he comes to visit regularly. Do you think there is anything to my suspicion that roos do indeed influence the laying behavior of hens?

 

[Pork Pie]

Who knows the answer to your question , but the more anecdotal reports collected observing the same phenomenon as you have is certainly food for thought. Thanks for sharing

 

[lazy gardener]

Interesting. I think it would be great to do a study of a flock of heritage pullets with a mature rooster, and a control flock of the same breed and age without a rooster. All parameters would be the same: feed, access to grass or free range, housing. The only difference would be the rooster running with the experimental group. Compare point of lay, production rate, egg size, frequency of broodiness over a year between the 2 groups.

 

[Lobzi]

Yes, it should be studied. Due to all the pressure on folks to get rid of any roos they hatch because of the noise they make, it would be nice to have data to prove the exceptional value of including roos. Including roos in a flock should be a given way of owning chickens. Above and beyond the reasons we all know already such a flock security and providing owners of a way to continue their flock existence, society should realize the value of owning roos. I think there has been way too much focus on the abuse of roos when they are raised and used for fighting. Roosters have been blacklisted from the list of possible pets and they make excellent stand alone pets as well as flock members.

 

[Lobzi]

My little non-layer is back at it again today, that is after a couple of visits from my little roo who loves her. She hadnt laid an egg for two months until today.