Roosters

[chickendude2711]

is there any way to get my rooster to mate with my hens, at the moment he is showing no interest and is actually being bullied by them and he is over double the size of my biggest hen... what can i do?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

He will either be the strong hulking type who has a way with the ladies or he won't - is it possible that he is too young? Sounds like what happens when you put a young cockerel in with older hens who won't even hear of it.

If you just put them together, I'd wait for him to grow up if he is young. He will probably work his way up the pecking order and win the ladies over with repeated tidbitting calls and bossing them around, doing the wing dance. Then they will submit to him, assuming they are old enough to be laying eggs.

 

[donrae]

How old is he, how old are the hens and how long has he been with them? If he's young and they're old, he just needs time to mature and get their respect to mate. If he's a slow to mature breed, you just have to wait. Actually, that's pretty much the answer. No way to force birds to mate.

 

[chickendude2711]

he is around a year old now, all the hens are the same age and all laying. he seems to be fully matured as he has huge spurs, comb and waddles and he crows constantly, he is a mix between a leghorn and a barred rock

 

[donrae]

Have you checked your eggs for fertility? I had a real gentleman rooster and I never saw him mate, but all my eggs were fertile, so he was doing it sometime!

 

[chickendude2711]

i check every egg and so far not one has been fertile

 

[donrae]

What criteria are you using to determine fertility? If you're not seeing a bullseye, and you're sure in your heart he's not mating the hens, and you want fertile eggs, sounds like you need to get another rooster.

 

[chickendude2711]

i have put lots in an incubator and not one of them hatched, my hens have went broody many times and none hatched and i check the yolks and no sign of fertility in them

 

[hdowden]

did you candle the eggs to check for development? the weather can be affecting them i haven't seen any of mine mate at all in the last few months due to the weather

 

[browning6]

I wouldnt worry too much. My roosters were over 5 months old before they every showed interest in the ladies. my older hens would chase them around and peck them and now they are about 7 months old. they rule the roost and breed any hen that lets them sneak up behind them. he is probably just young.