What age did your Roos start to crow? Does breed make a difference?

[ChickieChickAv]

I'm curious... I got some day old chicks from mypetchicken.com that hatched on July 25th which wouldnput them at almost 7 months old now I suppose (wow that was fast!) I got a variety of chicks, a bantam polish, a regular polish, a mills fleur bantam and a white Cochin. The whole Cochin is the only male I have. The pulleys have let to lay any pulley eggs yet, nor has the roo crowed (not that I've heard any way) could this just be related to the season here in NJ? They are inside when it's super cold, but I have been letting them roam the backyard with my adult flock of hens. The pullets follow him all over- he's clearly the leader of his little flock but at this age, I thought he'd be acting more rooster-ish. He's pretty docile around the rest, hasn't tried to mate with any of them either.. but like I said, I haven't seen any eggs from the pullets yet so I don't know if maybe that will trigger the behavior? Any input from the chicken pros out there?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

It really does depend on the bird - some cockerels are crowing while still in the brooder (under 5-6 weeks) and others can go months without making a sound....it can carry into their adult life too, with some being much more "crow-y" than others. With spring coming on he may well get a little surge in hormones and decide to give himself a voice.

ETA - meant to add that the bantam cochin roosters I had in previous flocks were never to inclined to a lot of crowing. My little "Champ" (barred male of a pair I used to show for 4-H many years ago) is one I don't know that I ever heard crow.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

If your rooster was older,that would have something to do with the situation of why he is not mating,mature roosters will not mate with hens who do not lay/produce eggs,young cockerels could care less.

Most of the roosters I have raised did not crow till 4-8 months.I do think the faster maturing breeds (Like cochins) do begin earlier then some of the slower breeds.From what I can tell,bantams mature faster a lot earlier.I have also heard of many bantams crowing earlier then standards (Like maybe just 4 weeks or less.)

 

[ChickieChickAv]

Thanks for such a quick reply! I was thinking that too.. I've already had an increase in eggs from my veteran layers so I was thinking maybe once spring is in full bloom he may start acting a bit more "cock-y" (pun intended) hehe

 

[ChickieChickAv]

My Cochin roo isn't a bantam but two of the girls are.. but other established flocked of 6 hens (I think they are maybe around 2 years of age) I am in the process of trying to combine the two little flocks together and he tends to co-mingle with the older hens while the pullets are pretty skittish around them still. So, he does spend time with nature laying hens.. but still nothing. I didn't get him for the purpose of breeding (though im not opposed to it, obviously). I got him more for the purpose of protecting the girls.. he also is nice and big and fluffy as Cochins typically are, but his tail feathers aren't as long as I'd expect to see on a roo.. I'm almost starting to wonder if they sent me a female by mistake! That'd be funny and would explain a bit lol

 

[dekel18042]

My Cochin roo isn't a bantam but two of the girls are.. but other established flocked of 6 hens (I think they are maybe around 2 years of age) I am in the process of trying to combine the two little flocks together and he tends to co-mingle with the older hens while the pullets are pretty skittish around them still. So, he does spend time with nature laying hens.. but still nothing. I didn't get him for the purpose of breeding (though im not opposed to it, obviously). I got him more for the purpose of protecting the girls.. he also is nice and big and fluffy as Cochins typically are, but his tail feathers aren't as long as I'd expect to see on a roo.. I'm almost starting to wonder if they sent me a female by mistake! That'd be funny and would explain a bit lol

You could post a picture. In some cases roosters will start to crow if they hear another rooster, sort of a challenge. In other cases if cockerels are raised within a flock and are down the pecking order they may.....or may not.....be quiet for a while. Since you have no other roosters, if he hears none, he may not feel the need. Perhaps when he goes outside in the spring he will be more apt to crow. I've had great variation in the amount of crowing a rooster does and the age at which he starts.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

My boys play at crowing around 4-5 months. Once hitting puberty only the dominant boy or two will continue to crow as they are all with the pullets and hens then. If the dominant gets culled then the next steps up and does the crowing. So in reality I've currently got a 10 month old boy that's never crowed as he's not the dominant of the two left.

 

[ChickieChickAv]

The chicken in the front is him (he's the only male out of the ten) and those are his girls in the background.. I'll find a better picture

 

[ChickieChickAv]

 

[Egghead_Jr]

That's a pullet.