Mating or dominating

[CHIC]

I got my chickens from someone who didn't know the sex, breed, or age of the chickens. From looking at them, I guessed they were between 8 and 12 weeks old. I'm no expert. Today when I let them out to free range, one of them was pulling anothers feathers and looked to be attempting to mate. I thought they were too young for this. Will they mate before the pullet is actually laying eggs, or is this just showing dominance?

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I have read of people putting pullet eggs (first ones even) in the bator to hatch. Your young cockerals are starting to fill up with hormones. Most likely it's a bit of both. They're practicing.

 

[delawaregirl09]

Haha. A cockerel or rooster doesnt care whether the chicken is young or not, just as long as its a girl (though in rare cases, its not even that), But they do seem to young. I'm no expert, but if they have seen an older bird doing it, they usually try themselves, at least thats what mine did. But, in the long run, its probably just to say "Hey, I'm the alpha here."

 

[CHIC]

Well I don't even know if these chickens are standard or bantams so they could be older than I think, right? And they have no older chickens to mock. This is the first day he has done this