Help, please! My cuckoo is cuckoo

[flopsy]

I bought 3 cuckoo maran chicks in late February. One is a rooster (I'm told) and the two hens have begun laying. The rooster is not crowing nor is he being amourous with the hens. They were hatched in early February. Could there be something wrong with his rooster genes? I moved him and the two hens into the big flock about 5-6 weeks ago and all is well as far as them and the rest of the flock. Uh, one more thing . . . one of the hens is not laying in the nest, but under the roost. Any ideas there would be so greatly appreciated, too. But my roo, my cute as a button roo, is he . . weird?

 

[Uppity Peon]

Don't worry...
Be happy!

 

[justusnak]

If there are other roosters in this flock, he may not be the "top roo" and not allowed to...do his thing. As for the hen laying under the roost....is she getting picked on? Maybe she is the bottom of the flock, or maybe there are not enough nest boxes per hen?

 

[flopsy]

Hi, he's the only roo in this flock, although there are other roos crowing in other coops/runs nearby. There are 7 nest boxes for 18 hens . . not enough? Any more ideas on this roo?

 

[cmom]

Average is 4/5 birds per nest box. I also have golf balls in my nest boxes. Some people use fake eggs.

 

[flopsy]

bumping to hopefully get more help on what's wrong with my cuckoo roo . . .

 

[MIKE555444]

I think I read that often the roo will begin to mature several months later than the pullets

 

[scooter147]

He should be mating by now. I suspect he is and your just not seeing it. Been doing this for 40+ years and by his age he knows what to do.
I have two amerecana roos that hatched April 3 and I had to kick them out of the run each day. TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE and they were hassling the hens to their wits end. They go to freezer camp this fall.