Is my rooster ready to mate?

[bowiebenson]

I have a barred rock rooster that just began to crow (still pretty sad sounding). How do you knwo when they are ready to mate?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
When he starts acting like a teenage boy attending his first dance.
Seriously, if he's crowing then mating shouldn't be far behind.

 

[bowiebenson]

Quote:
When he starts acting like a teenage boy attending his first dance.
Seriously, if he's crowing then mating shouldn't be far behind.

He does not seem to have too much interest yet, but when he does.... is it healthy for any chicks he makes? I'm hatching out a few eggs from all the "crosses" just for the fun of seeing what i get. I didn't know if there was a certain amount of time I should force him to eh er... keep it in his feathers!

 

[sixinva]

I also have a barred rock (98% all hens...) rooster. He is about 10 weeks old now, and a very odd sounding crow, but he is getting there....now, excuse my 'newness' to all of this, but seeing that the other 5 hens wont be laying for quite some time yet, will he still be mating with them? Does that help speed along the egg laying process? All these new things i need to consider...here I thought I was going to be just a simple egg farmer with my 6 hens. But ive prepped the neighbors, and its roomy enough around here, i dont think the crowing will bother anyone, so as long as he doesnt get too mean or aggessive, he can stay out of the freezer.

 

[Rennie]

From my own experience with mine , The Roo wont mate with the hens that are not laying ( I also asked this question on here and got the answer ..he knows not to waste his time and effort)

My roo has only recently started treading the hens I have but only does 3 out of the 4 .. He is around 6 months old and been crowing about a month, Im not really sure he is actually "doing it right" because from what I have seen he is missing, I do however believe that with the amount of time he tries to tread the girls there is no way he can be missing all of the time though .. That and Im certain the egg i got the other day was fertile...

If you spend time with the birds you iwll know when he is ready because he drops one of his wings and walks around in circles scratching the floor... After he has done the "cockerel dance" He will try and grab the girls as much as possible.. It looks like he his hurting them but I dont think it does

If you need to know more i can describe it in detail for you as im seeing it very often at the minute .. but if you watch him for the next few weeks you will see it yourself

 

[Why and Dotte]

You'll know when he's ready.
My roo is 2 months old and is testing his limits with the hens, he jumped a pullet a few days ago but he realized she wasn't accepting so he backed off. My 12yr old sister had her friend over today and they claimed that the rooster was attacking the hens... I just told her he was being a boy and left it at that

 

[gryeyes]

AND some hens/pullets just might not let him tread them. So he'll have his favorites.

Just so's ya know, the process (yah, that's a word for it) takes mere seconds. Literally.

 

[Tala]

Just wanted to say that it is true that a mature rooster who knows what he's doing will only mess with the laying (or about to lay) pullets/hens.

A juvinile cockerel who doesn't have a clue yet may try ANYTHING (even males and non-chickens) I had to put mine back in the bachelor pad this week when I saw my 15 week Dominique cockerel trying to get on a 7 week pullet

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
So true. When my brahma flock were still babies and the first roo was ready at 10 weeks old

he drove the same age pullets crazy with his attentions. His brother watched and decided to try to get in on the fun. It was a free-for-all. Once the girls got closer to laying age and indeed a few did started laying, the boys mainly concentrated on those girls.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
When he starts acting like a teenage boy attending his first dance.
Seriously, if he's crowing then mating shouldn't be far behind.

He does not seem to have too much interest yet, but when he does.... is it healthy for any chicks he makes? I'm hatching out a few eggs from all the "crosses" just for the fun of seeing what i get. I didn't know if there was a certain amount of time I should force him to eh er... keep it in his feathers!

If the pullets he mates are the same age he is I would wait awhile before incubating their eggs; not because of his age, but because of the pullets. Let her eggs get some size on them first. If he's mating grown hens and is successful at it then sure, incubate them.