My chickens are 20 weeks old and just recently I've witnessed my cockerel doing his thing with the girls. The only girls he does this with are my BA's which are more developed than the others and have very large red combs and waddles. Could this mean they are getting close to laying, is it any sort of sign when a male starts mating?
Yes, from what I know, once you see mating going on it won't be too long before you see eggs. We saw eggs a month after seeing the mating. Plus, your hens are 5mos old which is a general beginning laying timeframe. Best of luck to you! Edited to say: since you've said the hen's combs & wattles are bright red, that's another sign of them getting pretty ready to lay, just not a guarantee.
I have to agree with the above poster, after we saw mating in our flock it was a couple weeks later that we started to get eggs.
When I saw one of my pullets actually crouch for one of my roos, without him doing his little dance or anything, I figured she was ready to lay. She laid her 1st that week. Good Luck!
Hmm, I havn't seen any of them squatting around me like I've heard people talk about. They do squat for him though.
Just the rooster trying doesn't really mean anything except that he's got hormones kicking in. My alpha was trying at 10 weeks old and obviously a pullet is not going to lay at 10 weeks old. Once the pullet/hen starts squatting for him (and stops fighting like her life depends on it), then yes that's a good sign that she's close.
