mating process

[chicken1268]

I'm new to the whole chicken thing we bought 16 chicks this year and have recently got a rooster for the hens just wondering when he mates with them at night or through the day ,will we he mate with them all in one day or over a period of days and how often does he mate with them.

 

[limited25]

At night they will all be roosting (chickens cannot see in the dark) so mating will be done during his waking hours. He will lower one shoulder and do this little dance in front of whomever he wants to mate. Might or might not happen ... she might run from him, peck him, etc. Doubt each hen will be mated equally as he will have favorites ... but our rooster mates multiple times during the day. He bites her comb and holds on to keep his balance and jumps on her back. The actual mating doesn't take long, but it can also look like rape. It goes better when the hen squats for him. A hen usually starts squatting when she is old enough to lay an egg ... but doesn't always cooperate.

 

[donrae]

Mating happens during waking hours. Quite often, a rooster is very amorous first thing in the morning and will mount most of the hens. This depends on how many hens there are, and how much the rooster likes each of them. A rooster can mate a single hen several times a day, or if there are more hens he may mate each hen every 2-4 days. Younger roosters are more active, my older guy is more settled and not so demanding anymore.

A hen stores the sperm internally for around 2 weeks from a single mating. So, she can lay fertile eggs that long (and even longer, possibly).

If I have a rooster in my flock and under 20 hens, I count on all my eggs being fertile.

 

[MeepBeep]

The roosters will mate all day long as opportunity arises, and it usually starts out with a full out marathon until the rooster is exhausted as soon as they wake up...

Some roosters are gentlemen and will get permission from the hen, others just jump right in on anything that stands still long enough willing or not...

 

[MeepBeep]

A hen stores the sperm internally for around 2 weeks from a single mating. So, she can lay fertile eggs that long (and even longer, possibly).

It should be noted that she can store it or she can use her built in birth control and dispose/expel it, her choice...

 

[limited25]

Mating happens during waking hours. Quite often, a rooster is very amorous first thing in the morning and will mount most of the hens. This depends on how many hens there are, and how much the rooster likes each of them. A rooster can mate a single hen several times a day, or if there are more hens he may mate each hen every 2-4 days. Younger roosters are more active, my older guy is more settled and not so demanding anymore.

A hen stores the sperm internally for around 2 weeks from a single mating. So, she can lay fertile eggs that long (and even longer, possibly).

If I have a rooster in my flock and under 20 hens, I count on all my eggs being fertile.

Donrae ... at what age does this happen?

It should be noted that she can store it or she can use her built in birth control and dispose/expel it, her choice...

Wow ... never heard of that before!

 

[donrae]

In my experience they settle down a bit in the second year. They're pretty much always more active in the spring. So, if you get a cockerel in spring 2016, he will hit maturity fall 2016. He will be pretty active until say fall of 2017. He will still mate and cover all the hens, but not so vigorously. Spring 2018 he will get more active, then again taper down a bit.

This is by no means a hard and fast rule, it's been my general experience with dual purpose roosters over the last 20 years or so.

 

[MeepBeep]

In my experience they settle down a bit in the second year. They're pretty much always more active in the spring. So, if you get a cockerel in spring 2016, he will hit maturity fall 2016. He will be pretty active until say fall of 2017. He will still mate and cover all the hens, but not so vigorously. Spring 2018 he will get more active, then again taper down a bit.

This is by no means a hard and fast rule, it's been my general experience with dual purpose roosters over the last 20 years or so.

Yeah, generally after that 'teen' hormone rage of the first 6 months of maturity where all they do is try and breed anything they can catch all day long, most roosters do calm down, but some can still remain quite aggressive towards the hens, others become perfect gentlemen...