What is going on here? Mating confusion.

[Henrybetta]

Hi there,

So this is my third year with chickens. The first year, I had two roos and four ladies. They would do their little love dance, and mate. They were extremely aggressive towards people and were butchered.

Last year, I ended up with two new roos. So of my full grown flock this year, I had 2 1-year old roos, 3 1 year old hens, and 4 2 year old hens. These roos never did their little be dance thing, and one of them was way over breeding the brown hens, so I sold him 3 weeks ago. Now I have one broody who is sitting on 5 eggs. (All the eggs from yesterday when she decided to go broody.) I have never seen the remaining rooster mate. I'm not even sure if these eggs are fertile. I am wondering why he doesn't mate, and why the new roosters never did the outstretched wing dance thing. Thoughts? I was going to let my broody hatch those eggs, now I'm not sure it's a good idea. Any opinions or advice is appreciated.

 

[FreeRangeSpirit]

I think it is nothing unusual if they don't do the mating dance thing, some roos do and some don't. How old is the remaining rooster and what breed is he?

 

[Henrybetta]

I think it is nothing unusual if they don't do the mating dance thing, some roos do and some don't. How old is the remaining rooster and what breed is he?

I believe he is a one year old EE.

 

[fshinggrl]

I got a dozen fertile eggs from a friend. She had two roosters, a dominate big black thing and a banty submissive one. Two of the hatched eggs were from the little guy. (4 hatched) Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. You can certainly candle a few eggs in a week to see if there is any development. Good luck.

 

[Henrybetta]

I got a dozen fertile eggs from a friend.  She had two roosters, a dominate big black thing and a banty submissive one.  Two of the hatched eggs were from the little guy.  (4 hatched)  Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening.  You can certainly candle a few eggs in a week to see if there is any development.  Good luck.

Ok, thank you. I will keep my fingers crossed then.

I have another question if anyone has any thoughts on this. I moved the broody and her nest to a nest box that they never use. It is up off the ground and they prefer to lay on the floor or in floor boxes. Everyday when she leaves the nest to eat/poop, etc, she goes back to the main nesting box, I check on her often and move her back to her nest when she does that, where she stays until the next day. Is this ok? Do you think she'll eventually figure out how to get back to her nest? I don't want to accidentally break her broodiness.

 

[aart]

Can you put a fence or something around her floor nest...with some extra room for feed/water/pooping?

 

[Henrybetta]

I probably could. Is it ok to lock her in? I have a large wire dog crate I could move it into. That would require moving her and all her eggs again.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I got a dozen fertile eggs from a friend. She had two roosters, a dominate big black thing and a banty submissive one. Two of the hatched eggs were from the little guy. (4 hatched) Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening. You can certainly candle a few eggs in a week to see if there is any development. Good luck.

This is especially true of subordinate males who are going to do their mating on the sly so as to avoid detection and discipline from the dominant male of the group.

 

[Henrybetta]

Or, I guess I could wait until tomorrow when she goes into the wrong nest and move the whole thing into the crate, and swap out the eggs?

Also, that is sort of funny about the mating. If this guy is doing it on the sly, he is really good at it! I didn't know they could be so sneaky!

 

[Henrybetta]

She kept going back to the wrong nest and they were too close together to fence off, so I moved her, the eggs, and her favorite nest box to a large dog crate in the corner of the coop. We had talked about doing that anyway, but let me tell you, she was mad! I gave her some space and went to check on her and she was back on the eggs, but I have no idea if she was sulking or purposely sitting on them. Fingers crossed she keeps at it! There is a feeder and waterer in there with her.

Should I leave the door open or closed? Will I know if she decides to stop? Sorry for all the questions. We've talked about letting a broody hatch but she started before we were prepared!