replacement rooster

[Stiggy]

Were at the start of the breeding season and I have my first eggs in the incubator from my previous silkie boy however I recently replaced my black silkie boy for a new white one of different genetics to add more variation and new blood into my line. My black boy had a patched history with the faverolles mix boy I have, however he did his job and the eggs in the incubator are from him. I worry about the new rooster tho, he seems to have no interest in the hens/ pullets who are all laying. Any suggestions? I really need him to preform so to speak .

if it helps he gets on fine with the other rooster and they hang out together all day and I've seen the other rooster mating the girls ( when I had the previous silkie boy)

He is also about 11-12 months old, a large boy of good weight, he is healthy and crowing .

Any help or thoughts would be wonderfully welcome

 

[rc4u]

just time...and you say the way i read the other was gone? if not that is why..

 

[bobbi-j]

Could be he has taken a subordinate role to your other rooster, which is why he won't breed your hens. Or, he could be breeding them when you're not watching - as you know, it doesn't take them long, and you could be missing it. If you want him to breed specific hens, can you separate him with the hens you want covered by him?

 

[Stiggy]

No he is above the other rooster in the pecking order, and the other rooster only has his eye on 4 hens. I realise it doesn't take them long to mate, and I have spent the last 2 weeks watching them almost all day and seen nothing, hence I find it weird. I know that to start with he was terrified of them and everything else but he seems fine now and they all follow him around etc etc.

I could but then it wouldn't be fair on the other chooks, currently I only have 2 small runs with large houses attached and they free range in the front yard all day ( they share it with the dog) and I don't like to shut them in, rather they do as they please in a group ( imagine just a big group of fluff moving across the lawn) . Once I get my new house and run built then I will be able to separate him and the girls.

@rc4u what do you mean? He briefly saw the other rooster as I picked him up and walked off with him, but he knows the other one isn't there and the other one isn't coming back since he made a meal for some friends across town....

 

[Stiggy]

Just an update on the rooster situation, After seemingly forever I saw him mate a hen or try, he got on and then fell off before anything happened 2 days later he tried it on with my dog who was not impressed.... . He is now penned up with 4 girls to see if he is doing anything, my other faverolles mix boy is running free as I am no longer collecting eggs fertalised by him. so any fertile eggs will be by him, however I do not have much faith and he has 1 month before I send him to become curry as he is an extra mouth to feed. however he may prove himself yet, I will know in a week if anything is fertile

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Just have to say, poor dog