What age do roosters begin to mate hens?

[Edin]

I have a 14 week barred rock rooster. I am wondering when I can expect them to start mating. He has been raised with the hens since a day old and is very sweet to them. I am hoping that he is not too rough on my girls. He’s a great rooster and we love having him. They are in one coop together. I don’t have the luxury of building him a separate coop. I just want to be ready with hen saddles if I need to when all of this starts happening. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

[AidKD]

My rooster started mating the girls at around 27 weeks.

 

[BlueBaby]

When I first had my cockerel and his hormones started kicking in, I put him in a wire dog crate for a couple of month's until he settled down. I would let him out with the hen's every couple of week's to see if he was getting better, but if he wasn't then I put him back in the dog crate. Make sure that he has his own food and water.

 

[Sonya9]

I believe 18 weeks is the age of maturity for most breeds. As far as him over-breeding your hens, if you have enough hens (8-12) and a decent sized run that usually isn't a problem. Too few hens is another matter though.

 

[Sally PB]

I had a bad experience with 3 straight run BOs that ended up being cockerels. They and the BA pullets all got along until the guys hit puberty and the hormones kicked in.

At 14 weeks, two of them were harassing the pullets. Four days later, it was to the point that the girls stayed in the coop, on the roost. I had to go in several times a day to give them feed and water while they stayed on the roost.

At 15 weeks, enough was enough, and I culled them.

The remaining cockerel seems to be a decent fellow. I don't know how often he mates with the pullets. I have not seen feather damage and only occasionally hear any squawking.

My take away from this is that it depends on the individual bird and how the hormones affect him. Just like puberty in teenagers. (Oh my, remember those years?!)

Best of luck,
Sally

 

[aart]

IME, cockerels will start trying to dominate and 'mate' as early as 10-11 weeks.
Saddles won't help much as their first move is to grab the neck feathers.
Soup or separation to give your girls break is a good idea.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wonder how many and what breed hens the OP has.
I get the impression they want him to breed the hens, not eat him or keep him in jail.
Keeping a cockerel in a dog crate for a couple months is no way to enhance quality of life for him or even the other birds.
Plymouth Rocks are one of the fastest maturing breeds (after Jaerhons) at from 12-16 weeks so he is nearing sexual maturity. That fast maturing trait is likely why White Rocks won out in the race to find a meaty fast maturing cross by pairing with White Cornish to develop the Cornish X Rock to dominate the broiler industry.
Since he grew up with adult hens it may take him a bit longer to assume a dominant breeding position. I wouldn't be in too big of a hurry though. If they are running together, he'll mate in his own time. 20 weeks would be a good age for best fertility.
If you have a sufficient number of hens, saddles should be unnecessary.
I'm not sure why people tend to anthropomorphize livestock and pets.
Ascribing human traits, like being sweet or mean to the girls is unrealistic.
Give the chickens fresh air, food, water, space to forage and let them be chickens, they will mate in their own time, be it what may seem to humans as aggressive or passive as they will.
https://protecttheharvest.com/news/anthropomorphism-greatest-threat-animal-welfare/