Question about growth.

[Darius123]

Hi! I have a short question that i was curious about after a Brahma farmer told me that if the cockerel goes and does the did with the ladies too fast like 5-6 months it slows they growth and decreases the final fully potential size of the bird, compared to cockerel that started the did a bit later in his life.
Is this a thing , or just nonsense ?

 

[NatJ]

Hi! I have a short question that i was curious about after a Brahma farmer told me that if the cockerel goes and does the did with the ladies too fast like 5-6 months it slows they growth and decreases the final fully potential size of the bird, compared to cockerel that started the did a bit later in his life.
Is this a thing , or just nonsense ?

Probably nonsense, but I can see how it might look sort-of true.

I'm pretty sure that mating does not slow down the growth of a cockerel. So if you kept him in a pen with females, or kept him in a pen with no females, he should grow the same amount.

But some cockerels do mature earlier than others. They usually start mating sooner, and stop growing sooner-- not because of the mating, but just because they grow up sooner. So maybe the farmer was noticing birds that matured slower (kept growing longer, and also started mating later.)