Rooster Surprise Mounting?

[Sandwitch]

So right now we have chickens at the age where they are just about to lay. We have two roosters however one is a mini silkie rooster who hasn’t even crowed or anything. My main question has to do with our main rooster Ducky.

Recently he’s become very interested in mounting his ladies. However his technique is more surprise mating? He sometimes does the little happy feet mating dance but more often he just sneaks up behind them and grabs their necks. The hens aren’t exactly a fan of his strategy especially since it mainly just scares them. I’m hoping he will figure out a better mating strategy soon but I was curious to hear if this is normal or if we need to do something about it.

 

[aart]

or if we need to do something about it.

Not much you can do, other than get rid of him.
Do the girls let him mount?

 

[Sandwitch]

Not much you can do, other than get rid of him.
Do the girls let him mount?

They don’t have much of a choice? Their instinct is to escape lol

 

[CoopBoots]

Is Ducky the same age as your girls?

Rooster mating behavior seems to vary a bit based on personality and age. Wooing in particular seems to be an acquired skill they use more as they age while a hormonal teenager may just go for it with no preamble. If he's young, he might improve his technique with time. If he's an older guy, I probably would not bank on it.

 

[FunClucks]

Mine is a RIR mix - he kinda does the same thing you say yours does. I haven't really seen him dance for the hens, he just kind of jumps on top of them and grabs their neck feathers. A few squaks, some tail action, and he jumps off. The hens go about their way. A few of them might squak when he takes them by surprise, but once he's on there most of them calm down and wait. I only have a few who scream bloody murder the second he grabs their neck feathers and run away - They're a little young for mating yet, so I think in time they'll calm down too.

It seems a lot more violent to me, as a new chicken owner, than it probably actually is. They don't run away from him or avoid him. He tidbits for them and regulates the pecking order and calls them to bed. If they run away, he doesn't chase them much, and he lets them go.

I was surprised by how large my rooster is compared to my hens, but they seem okay so far. He's around 7-10 lbs, and I have a few girls that are probably around 3-4 lbs.

I'd say if your rooster's other behavior seems ok, give it a few months. You should know pretty quickly if he's terrorizing the hens, some are new to being mated, or it's just normal "I don't want to do this, but you caught me, so oh well" mating.

In a perfect world, my rooster would wing dance, and step gently onto his hens once they squat for him. I think. My rooster has never done that, but I've only ever had one rooster...

ETA, my hens and rooster are both 7-8 months old.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My rooster chases them until he grabs one my old rooster would sneak up I think thats how its suppose to be done as they bow for him

 

[Sandwitch]

Is Ducky the same age as your girls?

Rooster mating behavior seems to vary a bit based on personality and age. Wooing in particular seems to be an acquired skill they use more as they age while a hormonal teenager may just go for it with no preamble. If he's young, he might improve his technique with time. If he's an older guy, I probably would not bank on it.

Same age as most of the ladies (all but four silkies they are only two weeks younger though).

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah…assuming the roo is similar in age to the girls, he is kind of like a 10 yr old boy punching a girl he likes. At that age, most lack savoir faire. Most likely he will learn more finesse/tact, but it’ll be a rough couple of months for your girls. I hate that age. It’s personality based too. I’ve never had a “mean” rooster, but my little bantam Cochin roo didn’t treat the girls right until he was past a year old…he was a slow, clumsy learner….

 

[aart]

They don’t have much of a choice? Their instinct is to escape lol

So they try to run away instead of squatting down and letting him mount?
Does he let them escape or does he chase them down?

 

[Sandwitch]

So they try to run away instead of squatting down and letting him mount?
Does he let them escape or does he chase them down?

He lets them escape if they do try to run and afterwards just looks deeply confused