First Mating Question

[ILoveJoe]

My girls are all 19 weeks old this wednesday and have been out with Hoss for months.

Yesterday was the first time the old guy got lucky and bred one of the Black Australorps, Rue. Woot, Hoss!!!!

Usually he does his chicken dance manuever, wings down, two stepping and dosy doe'ing and the girls ignore him or run away screaming.

He has never forced his attentions on any of them.

I had noticed him and Rue a few days ago doing this little circle dance but nothing else happened then.

Yesterday was a different story. He did his dance moves and then grabbed her feathers at the back of her neck and Voila! He was very mannerly with her, no screaming from her and after he got off her back, she placidly followed him around. Awww!

So my question to ALL YOU EGG-SPERTS is this.

How soon after this sign of maturity can I expect any of the ladies to grace me with the gift of the EGG?

And I do understand that I do NOT NEED Hoss-en-feffer in order to get eggs. I am taking this mating as a sign of coming of age. My little Rue is a women-chicken.

 

[miron28]

i don't know the answer to the question but i saw my rooster do this the other day

i thought there was something wrong with him. i thought he was sick so i put him in another cage away from the girls. sooo i guess what he was doing is normal? so it is called the chicken dance. i am new to this sorry!

i guess i can put him back with his girls?

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
I'm betting that he blew in her ear.

 

[TaLani]

Granted I am still a newbie, but from what I understand, generally when you notice mating starting to occur it's a sign that they are maturing. But, don't be surprised if your girls don't lay for another month or 2! My gals are 18wks old and 23 wks old and no egg yet. I believe 6 mos is a general time when most hens start to lay, but NOT a definite time frame. All you can do is...

I suppose.


Many won't lay until 6-8 months old! They will just lay when they are darned good & ready no matter how much we want them to lay.

I started to talk about making chicken soup around my girls this past wkend. He he he!

 

[hawtchick]

I saw my rooster doing this as well, but then he did his litle dance to my 4 year old daughter...........

He must be really hard up. I just laughed.

 

[joebryant]

Our rooster does the dance for Anne and it creeps her out.
He won't come near me though; in fact, he stays a distance from me ever since I picked him up a couple of time. One time I had to put him in a coop by himself for a few days. He has never forgotten what I did. I told Anne that she should corner him and pick him and hold him long enough until he realizes that she's the boss, not him.

 

[ILoveJoe]

Possibly Months?

I had thought at about 22 weeks give or take (Thanksgiving week for me) I would see some eggs.

 

[ILoveJoe]

Quote:
I thought the same thing when I first saw Hoss do his 'smooth moves'. Then I read on here (THANKS GAWD for BYC) that it was normal. I don't know if it IS called the chicken dance...it certainly isn't the same thing dance done at wedding receptions in my family, but it sounds appropriate don't ya think?

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
You know we women can be. Totally unpredicable!

They will lay in due time.
We call it the "Rooster Dance".

 

[ILoveJoe]

Quote:
I'm betting that he blew in her ear.

He may have, I am not sure if he is as suave as all that.
Is too late for me to sit her down and have 'The Talk' but I will use her as an example for the other girls.