Rooster mating

[aurajean515]

Out of curiosity, will a rooster mate with the hen that raised him?
I have a hen who hatched and raised a brood of about 14 chicks, 3 are male and 2 have begun crowing and mating.
I've seen males mate with females from their same brood, but will they pursue their mom?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes

 

[The Angry Hen]

Most people use line-breeding as a way of returning to a past generation in their flock. I prefer not to do so when I can avoid it, but when a hen raises a rooster... and they stay in the same flock, then yes, they will breed.

If the hen is the biological mother of the rooster- it can be of worry during breeding season, if you're concerned. If she isn't the hen the laid the egg of which the rooster hatched, there are no worries.

 

[FortCluck]

Yes, the rooster will breed with it's mother. There's not too much concern on it unless you keep doing it for generations, which can start to cause issues. You should always freshen up your flock by adding new ladies for your rooster from a different flock. I'm adding a chick from my rooster into my flock, he will breed with her but I'm only doing it because my RSL only live so long and I don't want to lose my best layers breed.

 

[sourland]

Yes - without hesitation or guilt.

 

[FortCluck]

Yes - without hesitation or guilt.

this made me chuckle. Roosters honestly have zero guilt about anything they do

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As @sourland noted, without guilt. Chickens are unlike mammals in that, just because a hen raised a cockerel, it doesn't mean she is his mother. Mammals coming out of a womb are a different story.
Any number of hens can contribute eggs to a nest. So the chicks that hatch may be the offspring of any bird in the vicinity, both hens and roosters.

 

[aurajean515]

Most people use line-breeding as a way of returning to a past generation in their flock. I prefer not to do so when I can avoid it, but when a hen raises a rooster... and they stay in the same flock, then yes, they will breed.

If the hen is the biological mother of the rooster- it can be of worry during breeding season, if you're concerned. If she isn't the hen the laid the egg of which the rooster hatched, there are no worries.

I also prefer not to use line-breeding. I'm unsure whether the hen that raised my rooster is his mother, his base coloring is black and I have 3 black hens. I pretty much figured that roosters don't care, I was just curious.

 

[aurajean515]

Yes, the rooster will breed with it's mother. There's not too much concern on it unless you keep doing it for generations, which can start to cause issues. You should always freshen up your flock by adding new ladies for your rooster from a different flock. I'm adding a chick from my rooster into my flock, he will breed with her but I'm only doing it because my RSL only live so long and I don't want to lose my best layers breed.

I'm actually unable to tell if the hen that raised one particular rooster is actually his biological mother. The other two definitely aren't hers. But inter-breeding isnt a huge concern with a flock of over 70 chickens, almost all of which have zero relation to one another

 

[aurajean515]

As @sourland noted, without guilt. Chickens are unlike mammals in that, just because a hen raised a cockerel, it doesn't mean she is his mother. Mammals coming out of a womb are a different story.
Any number of hens can contribute eggs to a nest. So the chicks that hatch may be the offspring of any bird in the vicinity, both hens and roosters.

Of course, I know this all too well. Only 2 of the 14 chicks my hen raised were ones she hatched herself. The rest were in an incubator. I'm pretty sure none of the 14 chicks are hers biologically. There is one, one of the three roosters, who could potentially be hers but it's difficult to tell