My Hen Won't Mate My Rooster

[centrarchid]

Consider isolating rooster from hen so she can be conditioned (weight put on). During this time rooster will undergo final stages of maturation needed to hen will give him more consideration. Based on image he is close to being mature enough. If hen is allowed to interact with rooster through pen you will see a marked change when her mood changes.

 

[ANNAS MAQSOOD]

You might be right on this one as he still needs to go through some maturation ....... i will put them in separate pens so they could see only see each other and by the way i had one more question ... will my hen ( she is my avatar ) go broody soon ?

 

[centrarchid]

What breed is she?

 

[ANNAS MAQSOOD]

I can upload any pics now but most have sad she is a mix of leghorn and game but could u please go to my profile and see her pic ( her pic is my avatar )

 

[centrarchid]

The game side will promote broodiness but the leghorn side is the opposite. If game side prevails you can likely get her to go broody within three weeks of the first egg laid. Going longer will not increase number of chicks hatched. If leghorn side prevails then she may not go broody or will only do so infrequently, usually when she drains herself through heavy laying.

My confined games I can get to go broody easily without special effort but adjust the feeding regimen after about 8 eggs are in the nest. After egg eight is laid I cut feed back to about 2/3's what she wants and that seems to speed the onset of broodiness. Same approach appears to work with American Dominiques that do not go broody as easily.

 

[centrarchid]

If possible, make so hen has a rooster-free area to nest so as to reduce stress. Then allow him to mate with her once a day. You will find they both can be trained easily to go where you want with a little enticement with food.

Do you have pens that can be moved? If only on can be penned, then do hen with nest.

 

[ANNAS MAQSOOD]

They both stay in the same pen but when she had to lay an egg she would sing the " egg song " so i open her and thats when the most interesting thing happens ....... she has made a habit to lay an egg while sitting on my sister empty cream bottle ( it is shaped like an egg ) and she makes slight sounds like a broody hen but those features only stay until she has laid the egg . I find that funny to see but can you tell me why that happens

 

[centrarchid]

They both stay in the same pen but when she had to lay an egg she would sing the " egg song " so i open her and thats when the most interesting thing happens ....... she has made a habit to lay an egg while sitting on my sister empty cream bottle ( it is shaped like an egg ) and she makes slight sounds like a broody hen but those features only stay until she has laid the egg . I find that funny to see but can you tell me why that happens

She is looking for a bowl shaped depression and rooster at some point may have pointed it out to her.

With time you will note the sound is not the same as she will produce as a broody hen. Purpose of calls appear to maintain contact with balance of harem. Under normal conditions rooster does play a role with respect to nest site and she indicates when she goes to it. Normally rooster plays a key role in nest site selection but that is hard to observe since is occur only once for each brood produced. I suggest you make so hen has her own pen then allow them to mate each day before returning them to their respective pens, You can keep the pens side by side. Close confinement like provided by a pen makes so rooster is more likely to be a hindrance than a help.

Are these by any chance house chickens?

 

[ANNAS MAQSOOD]

Quote: Yep ! They are house chickens ... others are always in the garden and they have their own coop and rooster where as these two have been brought up in the back terrace of my house as my brother likes to keep them there ( never get why really ) and i have arranged a separate pen for my hen but she has been doing this egg thing before the roo came and when she has to lay , i bring her in my room where i keep an old fluffy cloth on the floor and then the egg on it and she sits on it to lay her egg ...... this actually started when she first saw the egg shaped bottle under my bed and went to it and started to make those "purr" kind of sounds like a broody hen ... i thought that she was broody but after about 10 minutes she laid an egg sitting on the egg bottle and then was normal .... only she gets to come in the house to lay while others lay in the nesting box in their coop ... and no roo has never come in the house so he could not have shown her the egg bottle ...... i dont get this . the other thing that i dont understand is that laying while sitting on a egg shaped bottle and make the broody sounds means that she wants to sit on eggs or is it just the excitement of the egg that has to come ?

 

[centrarchid]

I currently do something similar to house chickens with a group in the garage. As a kid I got much closer by allowing a hen full access to my basement level bed room where she could come and goes as she pleased. I placed a nest on dresser she adopted as a nest. For just over two weeks she came in ever day to deposit an egg. Then she brooded for three weeks. I had to help brood to window where she led them off. Each evening she brought chicks back to roost in window until chicks were big enough to roost in tree. I missed rooster coming in to indicate his choice in nest site. Hen was as close to potty trained as I have ever seen since when vacating nest each day to forage and drink she delayed defecation until she flew out into yard.