Rooster

[Morgk]

When will my rooster start crowing and doing his job with the ladies?

 

[Severne]

3-8 months.

 

[aart]

They can start crowing as early as 2 weeks.
They will become sexually mature and attempt to mate at about 3-4 months.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I love how we can have so many different opinions on here, but that should be expected. We have difference experiences.

I can't remember the youngest I've seen one try to crow. Not two weeks, Aart may have a record on that. Probably around 4 or 5 weeks for me. But I believe Aart has seen that. Most of mine don't start trying to crow until maybe 4 months of age, but there are exceptions.

When does a cockerel start trying to fertilizing eggs? A few variables there. How old are the ladies? Mature hens often will not allow an immature cockerel to mate. Until they start to lay most pullets don't cooperate either. The ladies have a part to play in this.

I've seen a cockerel as young as 12 weeks try to mate pullets. Can't say I've ever seen one that young ever bother a mature hen but I could believe some would try it. I tend to have around 10 cockerels growing up in the flock at a time. Usually around 15 weeks some get real active with the pullets and may try a mature hen. Others may wait until they are over 5 months before they start. With that many together you get different interactions than if you only have one cockerel.

I have had a cockerel as young as five months that was accepted by all of the mature hens, but that is rare. I had one cockerel that did not win over the last mature hen until he was 11 months old. Most of mine can do that at around 7 months. I think the personality of the cockerel and the personality of the mature hen both lay a part.

If you don't have mature hens but only pullets the same age, cockerels can be a pain with their mating antics any time from 12 weeks on. Usually mine wait until 15 weeks or so but you never know.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by "doing his job with the ladies"? A cockerel will often start trying to mate long before he is allowed by the ladies to actually fertilize eggs. Most will be producing sperm by 15 weeks but may not be given a chance to deliver it until quite a while later.

 

[aart]

I can't remember the youngest I've seen one try to crow. Not two weeks, Aart may have a record on that.

Had seen a couple vids....but still was pretty amazing to have one in my coop.

 

[Possum chicken farm]

I love how we can have so many different opinions on here, but that should be expected. We have difference experiences.

I can't remember the youngest I've seen one try to crow. Not two weeks, Aart may have a record on that. Probably around 4 or 5 weeks for me. But I believe Aart has seen that. Most of mine don't start trying to crow until maybe 4 months of age, but there are exceptions.

When does a cockerel start trying to fertilizing eggs? A few variables there. How old are the ladies? Mature hens often will not allow an immature cockerel to mate. Until they start to lay most pullets don't cooperate either. The ladies have a part to play in this.

I've seen a cockerel as young as 12 weeks try to mate pullets. Can't say I've ever seen one that young ever bother a mature hen but I could believe some would try it. I tend to have around 10 cockerels growing up in the flock at a time. Usually around 15 weeks some get real active with the pullets and may try a mature hen. Others may wait until they are over 5 months before they start. With that many together you get different interactions than if you only have one cockerel.

I have had a cockerel as young as five months that was accepted by all of the mature hens, but that is rare. I had one cockerel that did not win over the last mature hen until he was 11 months old. Most of mine can do that at around 7 months. I think the personality of the cockerel and the personality of the mature hen both lay a part.

If you don't have mature hens but only pullets the same age, cockerels can be a pain with their mating antics any time from 12 weeks on. Usually mine wait until 15 weeks or so but you never know.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by "doing his job with the ladies"? A cockerel will often start trying to mate long before he is allowed by the ladies to actually fertilize eggs. Most will be producing sperm by 15 weeks but may not be given a chance to deliver it until quite a while later.

You seem to be very well informed. So I have a question; I have 4 hens who are a little over a year old. I just got a cockerel I was told was 6 months old. He looks full grown and has tried to mate with one of the hens already. The two at the top of the pecking order won't have anything to do with him. They're all free ranging together and spent the night on the roost in the coop last night together. My question is whether he will get larger yet or is he pretty much at his full size now? He is considerably larger than even our brahma hen. He seems pretty calm and gentlemanly so far. He hasn't been aggressive with the hens, our dogs, cats or us. As he gets older is this likely to change or at 6 months is he showing us what kind of roo he will be? Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My question is whether he will get larger yet or is he pretty much at his full size now?

They are all different but on average I'd expect a 6 month old to get maybe 20% to 25% larger. That's just a guess, I've never actually measured it. @oldhenlikesdogs @Folly's place @Mrs. K @aart are you willing to venture a guess?

As he gets older is this likely to change or at 6 months is he showing us what kind of roo he will be?

They can change at any time but so far it sounds pretty good. He's still a little immature, otherwise he would be dominating those two. It's not about size, it's about maturity and the spirit of the chickens involved, male and female. When he does mature enough to try to take over from those two it may be such a smooth transition you don't even notice until you see them willingly squatting for him. Or it could get violent for a bit. Even if it gets violent for a day or two, when he take over and they accept it things usually get really calm.

 

[Folly's place]

Mature size is breed dependent too; a Jersey Giant may grow for another year, for example!
My Chantecler cockerels usually add another 25% (or more) after six months of age, and I don't consider any six month old cockerel anywhere near adulthood.
I don't often weigh the bantams, except to say that they do grow a bit more too.
Mary

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Roosters, especially bigger ones can take up to 2 years to fully mature and fill out. The first year they usually reach their full height by 8-12 months, and it takes another year to fill out, and mentally mature.

I had a young cockeral fake mating the pullets in his group at about 4-5 weeks of age. Most don't try until 3-6 month otherwise.

I've heard crowing at 2-8 weeks, but most don't start until closer to 4 months.

 

[Folly's place]

My one Fayoumi cockerel started crowing at 28 days of age, it was adorable!
Usually it's much later, along with mating behaviors. I have both mature roosters and hens with the youngsters, which does help modify behavior somewhat.
Mary