First chicken squat?

[Vermont Poultry]

I have been waiting for my chickens to squat and maybe start producing eggs, they are shy of 19 weeks old. I always thought out of all my chickens that the Golden Comets would squat and lay first (because the are faster maturing). But I think they were beaten by the Wyandotte hens. When I was trying to get the guineas out of the chicken coop a Wyandotte pullet happened to be in front of me so I tried petting it. But instead of letting out a light squak and walking away from me it stayed there and appeared to be squatting. But I'm not sure because it didn't let its wings out far and didn't squat down fully. When chickens first squat is their "form" usually off? I do have a rooster and have heard that hens will not squat for a human if a rooster is present, so I was just wondering if this incident was a possible attempt at squatting. Their wattles are about 1/4-1/3 the size of a fully mature hen, but their faces are getting redder by the day. One more question (not important), why does my rooster take more interest in mating with the guineas than the hens, he never mates the hens but does with the guineas.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Wyandotte are slow to mature, so I don't think they will lay at that young of age, but you never know. Mine usually don't start until 6-7 months. I haven't seen any practice squats, either they do or they don't, perhaps you startled her. Also chickens do become less skiddish as they mature, so perhaps she wasn't as eager to move off.

Your rooster is picking what is easy as most young roosters will. Such foolish behavior will make me remove such a rooster, either temporarily or permanently. About half of all young roosters are unsure and don't know what to do. Their hormones drive them to mate and that's all they will do. Sometimes penning these roosters for a few months until they mature will straighten them out.

Roosters sexually mature before the pullets as well, so none of your pullets may be ready yet to submit to him. Your pullets will begin to squat and mate up to a month before laying.

 

[Vermont Poultry]

The same pullet did the egg song today! No egg but odd because she looks so mature compared to some of the other pullets from faster maturing breeds like Golden Sex Links. Odd My GSL's and RIR's are less physically mature than the Barred rocks and GLW's, you'd think it would be the other way around right?. The rooster has started crowing and mating the pullets as of today, I scoop him up and toss him (not far, like 2-3 feet) when he tries and mates with them, none of that around me. The pullets do not full on squat, he usually does his dance and gets frustrated and just mates after trying all day long, hope this "no consent" thing doesn't catch on.