Roos mate less with age?

[Mavrik]

Will roos mate less as they age? At what age is there a noticeable decline?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I don't know the answer, so I am just going to add a X2 to Mavrik's comment above. Our flock roo is getting up there in age, and this will be great information to know.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Like everything else to do with chickens I don’t have a magic number on this. It’s going to vary by individual, but yes as they get old roosters often lose vitality, energy, whatever you want to call it. At some point, just like the hens, the fertility and quality of the sperm or eggs can drop. It’s a good question but there is not a cookbook answer that covers all roosters.

When they notice a drop in fertility, a common trick of the operations that provide hatching eggs for commercial hatcheries, the ones that might hatch 1,000,000 chicks a week in incubators that hold maybe 60,000 to 120,000 eggs each, add young roosters to the breeding flock to stimulate the older roosters. It seems to help. I don’t know what age they just remove the older roosters. When they are hatching this many chicks, a small change in fertility or hatch rate becomes significant.

If you want to know if your rooster is doing the job, you can look for the bull’s eye. This thread has pictures that can help with that.

Fertile Egg Photos
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008&p=6

 

[Mavrik]

I'm not asking to insure viability of hatching eggs, my rooster is too enthusiastic doing his "job". I need to know when/if he will mello out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you maybe talking about an adolescent rooster when the hormones are running wild?

If so, it will vary. I've seen some mellow out by 5 months. I've seen some keep going strong for close to a year. They are living animals. There is no magic age for this either.

 

[Mavrik]

An adolescent is a cockerel, this is a rooster (over a year old)

I should rephrase the question; At what age did your roosters mating frequency decline?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

An adolescent is a cockerel, this is a rooster (over a year old)

I should rephrase the question; At what age did your roosters mating frequency decline?

Mine is still going strong at four. I really like this roo, and he is in with two 18 month old roosters, also. I will have to separate him with some selected hens for a few weeks to see if he is still fertile.