Rooster lays on eggs

[silkies mama]

I have a bonded pair of silkies. My rooster, ''Bradley Cooper'', waits till his wife ''Candy'' lays an egg and he goes and lays on it. He actually picks up bits of straw and fixes it under him. He carefully rolls the egg under him and settles down. Is this normal behavior? I pull the egg right away when I see this, becaue I don`t want to start any incubation right now. But he could be on them for hours because I see his wife Candy popping around without him. Then I go out looking and sure enough hes egg sitting. I didn`t think that roosters would sit on eggs for any length of time. Anyone else have a broody rooster?...Oh and hes a good stud too. I have some BEAUTIFUL babies from this pair. So is this normal? None of my other regular roosters do this. Only my silkies. I have another male rooster that made himself a nice nest in the hen house and he lays for hours in his nest, but with no eggs. Is this just a Silkie thing?

 

[silkiechicken]

Silkies can be odd. LOL The most I've had a rooster do is squeeze into nests and arrange them to call the hens over to lay their eggs. They usually only spent 10-15 minutes in there a day though.

 

[gocrow77]

My OEG bantam roos do this as well. The roos call the hens over or will "prepare" a nesting spot for her - sometimes the hen approves, sometimes not. Both of mine will also "eggsit" for their ladies. But I think this is more the norm...or at least it used to be. My roos will also feed chicks and call them over for food almost as much as the hens will. IMO this is what was typical behavior before broodiness and parenting instincts were "bred out" in favor of high production traits. I look for it in my roosters I want to keep, personally I also look for a very watchful and protective roo, but one that also doesnt fight ME. IMO you have an AWESOME rooster - congrats!

 

[Kelsie2290]

I've got a BLRW roo that does this a lot also. I think he spends more time in the nesting boxes than his girls do. It is funny watching him squeeze his fat butt into a box and sit there rearranging things and clucking to the girls, who usually look like they wish he would just get out of there so they could actually lay an egg.
Interesting gocrow77 that you mention that about the chicks, this rooster is also very attentive to chicks, much more than my other roosters.