Some questions?

[Grace11]

Do roosters ever bother/eat the eggs? He seems interested in the nest box I fixed for the pullets, and the other evening he tried mating one of the unwilling pullets INSIDE the nest box. The giant rooster in there with a pullet had me worried because somebody could have been hurt banging around trying to get away from him. not to mention if there had been eggs in there, they'd probably have been broken

Is there a timeline from when the roo starts mating each different pullet to egg laying for that pullet? More and more are now not putting up a fuss when he tries to mate and are squatting for him.

There doesnt seem to be any coorelation between the pullets signs of sexual maturing (enlarging wattles, combs and reddening of same) and the rooster mating with them. He tries to get everybody regardless of outward signs of maturation.

WHY does the rooster start clucking like crazy when I appear and he starts picking stuff up like sticks and leaves and then dropping them? It looks angry to me but may be behavior related to me bringing food and hes telling all the ladies that the food bringer is here, maybe there will be food???? He does the same loud clucking but not the picking up and dropping when there is actually food/platters in my hands. He pretty much leaves me alone, but he does NOT like me holding the ladies- he will mate someone right in front of me if I have been holding one and often he will try to mate the one that was being held. He has in the past sidled up to me with who knows what intentions, but I have bonked him on the head several times for that and now he steers clear and hates being held. Hes the same age as the rest, just over 18 weeks, no spurs but the nubs are getting a little bigger. And way too much crowing. This bird has 19 pullets, you'd think he'd relax and have a ciggarette afterwards, but it seems all he does is prowl for the next one to try mating them!

And no eggs yet, but the ladies sure have been inspecting the nest box lately.

Flock consists of: 6 EE,(one is the roo), 4 SLW, 2 RIR, 6 BO and 2 Andelusians 1 buff, 1 blue

 

[sarahc511]

i have never had a rooster eat eggs but im sure they would if 1 was broken.
the chicks will only sit for him if they are a hen, look for them lifting up their tail no way a rooster would do that!
the noise he makes is to call the hens, he is getting their attention. so annoying especially when all the hens are in the house ready for bed and he decides to have a party! i think it also creates a bond as he will give up food for the hens to eat i suppose its the same as a mother hen and her chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You have to realize that you are dealing with living animals. Anything can happen. They have tendencies so we can go into what will probably happen or what might happen, but there are no absolutes. And you are dealing with adolescents, male and female. Their hormones are going wild and they don’t have great control over them yet.

Do roosters ever bother/eat the eggs?

Any chicken, male or female, is highly likely to eat a broken egg. Any chicken, male or female, can learn to break an egg to eat it, but that is pretty rare. I’ve only ever had one, a hen, that would deliberately break an egg to eat it. I’d imagine somewhere in recorded history a rooster has learned to break an egg to eat it, but it is not normal behavior. It’s not normal behavior for a hen either.

He seems interested in the nest box I fixed for the pullets

It is pretty normal behavior for a rooster to show a hen what he thinks is a good place to lay an egg. He’ll go into the nest box or whatever location he thinks is a good place, scratch around to make a nest like depression, and call them to show them what he found.

Is there a timeline from when the roo starts mating each different pullet to egg laying for that pullet? More and more are now not putting up a fuss when he tries to mate and are squatting for him. There doesnt seem to be any coorelation between the pullets signs of sexual maturing (enlarging wattles, combs and reddening of same) and the rooster mating with them. He tries to get everybody regardless of outward signs of maturation.

There are a lot of people on this forum convinced of that. They believe in absolutes for living animals. I think it is a strong tendency but from my experience, no there is not a definite timeline. The mating behavior is not just sexual. It is a ritual to show dominance. In a flock without a dominant rooster, the dominant hen is very likely to mount a subordinate hen. That’s not sexual. She is not warped. She is just showing her dominance. A mature dominant rooster is more likely to wait until a pullet is getting ready to lay an egg, but even the mature ones don’t always wait. You are dealing with an adolescent rooster. He has much less control over his hormones.

I’ve had a 13 week old pullet willingly squat for a rooster. She was nowhere near ready to lay. It was a dominance thing, not a sexual thing. If the pullets are willingly squatting for him, it is a good sign and it is high likely you will get some eggs soon, but it is not guaranteed. It is a strong tendency. But especially with an immature rooster, some pullets and especially mature hens may be laying but may not squat for the rooster if he is not strong-willed enough to dominate them.

WHY does the rooster start clucking like crazy when I appear and he starts picking stuff up like sticks and leaves and then dropping them? It looks angry to me but may be behavior related to me bringing food and hes telling all the ladies that the food bringer is here, maybe there will be food???? He does the same loud clucking but not the picking up and dropping when there is actually food/platters in my hands. He pretty much leaves me alone, but he does NOT like me holding the ladies- he will mate someone right in front of me if I have been holding one and often he will try to mate the one that was being held. He has in the past sidled up to me with who knows what intentions, but I have bonked him on the head several times for that and now he steers clear and hates being held. Hes the same age as the rest, just over 18 weeks, no spurs but the nubs are getting a little bigger. And way too much crowing. This bird has 19 pullets, you'd think he'd relax and have a ciggarette afterwards, but it seems all he does is prowl for the next one to try mating them!

He’s just a teenager. His hormones are going wild and he has no control over them. He’s trying to act like the flockmaster but hasn’t quite figured it out yet. That picking things up and clucking is probably food related. A good rooster will find treats for his ladies and call them to it. He’ll pick the food up and drop it in front of them. He’ll sometimes scratch, even of the food is lying on top of the ground in plain sight. I’m not sure why he does that when you show up unless he is anticipating food just from seeing you.

And no eggs yet, but the ladies sure have been inspecting the nest box lately.

Again, this is a really good sign. I really think you will soon be getting eggs, both from their behaviors and their age. It may still be a couple of weeks, but I’d think probably sooner. Some of these are indications that egg laying is getting really close.

Give your rooster time. It doesn’t sound like he’s that bad at all, just immature. And those pullets are also immature. They have some growing up to do too. Especially with the inset of egg laying, their hormones are running wild too. But they will figure it out.

 

[Grace11]

Thank you all for the thorough answers!


I forgot to say something about that roo. He moans when hes getting worried I am going to molest the ladies. He starts pacing back and forth and moans. Its pretty funny. I named him Mo because being an EE with the beard and cheek muffs, he looks like an owl so I named him Mr. Owl and then shortened it to Mo for short. I call him mo-mo-mo in the same voice and tone he uses when hes doing it.