What age do roos start mating?

[norcal]

We have 4 Rhode Island Red roos that are 14 weeks old and separated from my yr old hens.
At what age do the roos start doing their business?

I have a BR hen that has gone broody. Is she broody because of the new roos that are running around outside their run? I'm worried because she won't leave the nest and it gets HOT in that coop.

She ate some mashed potatoes that I brought her this evening, but only a couple bites. I'm at work during the day and can't keep an eye on her.

 

[norcal]

Okay, I feel like a novice. Online searches were way too variant for me to believe any of them.

 

[pgpoultry]

Roosters start to mate at different ages depending on their type. Your 14 week old RIR's may well be trying to do so if introduced to the hens. Your hens may not be too impressed by adolescent males, though, and may give them a peck for their impudence.
My Brahmas were about 6 months old before they managed to mate with my hens, but this is typical of old type breeds.

Hens do not need for a rooster to be within a hundred miles of them to go broody. They will sit on fertile eggs, infertile eggs, golf balls, stones, or just their own rumps. Your hen either needs to have fertile eggs to hatch or her broodiness to be broken with a dog crate etc. If you decide to have fertile eggs maybe you could move your broody to a cooler place to incubate.

Good Luck,
Sandie

 

[elmo]

Do you want to discourage her from going broody? If so, your best bet may be to confine her in a wire bottom cage with no nesting materials of any kind (but with food and water, of course). Give her a chance to get out and exercise every day and then you can see whether she makes a beeline for her old nesting box, or not. When you see she's given up being broody she can go back to her usual accommodations.

 

[Serrin]

Broodiness is not necessarily a bad thing. Look at it as a vacation for your hen from all of the hard work she does to produce an egg for you every day. EVERY DAY!! (or very near it

) Think of it this way: Would you want to go to work every single day of your life, with never a single, solitary day off for the next three or four years minimum? Not only having to go to work, but then to keep up on all of your other domestic work as well? This is kind of what it's like for egg producing hens. But for when they go broody, their poor little bodies constantly have an egg at one stage of production or another. All day, every day.

I say, let her go broody. It gives her sweet little body a much needed rest from all of the constant egg production. Not to mention it probably means that they'll have a much longer and more productive life for it. Though yes, it's frustrating when you have one of those hens that go broody every other month. I call those hens "mobile incubators"

 

[alaskachick]

How long are they broody for? I have 10 Delawares all hatched same time. Will they all go broody at the same time?

 

[alaskachick]

Okay, I give up. Not on chickens!, but due to my inexperience with chickens (this is my first coop), I can't tell if I have a rooster or not. I bought what I thought was 10 chickens and 1 rooster, Delawares. They are 11-12 weeks now and all look identical. None have a prominent comb or development of saddle feathers. I am wondering if the Seller goofed. I mean I should be able to see the male by now, right? I may have to go buy one to put my mind at ease. If I do not end up having a rooster, is it wrong to put a younger or older rooster in the coop with the young girls. I don't want them to beat up the younger roo, and I don't want an older roo to take advantage of the young girls.

 

[norcal]

Thanks for the, uh, answers.

We've just been letting her brood. It's going to be 100* today and 103* tomorrow. I am still worried about her, if it's that hot, in the late afternoon/evening it will be 110* in the coop at least.

 

[Mahonri]

I've seen roos get frisky at 4 months.

It will be 111 here today and over 110 every day until the 4th of July. C'mon monsoons!!! We need a cool down.

 

[norcal]

Do you do anything to cool down your chickens during those heat waves??
Or have you found that it's not necessary, that they survive?