Why Doesn't DaddyRoo Mount His 19 Week Old Pullet Daughters?

[Barry Natchitoches]

We currently have 1 adult rooster (10 months old), 5 adult hens who grew up with him from baby chickhood (also 10 months old, obviously), 1 two year old hen, two 19 week old pulletss, and two six week old chicks (don't know their sex yet).


The two 19 week old pullets are the offspring of that one rooster, who we call DaddyRoo. DaddyRoo is an Easter Egger. His harem consists of a mixture of buff orpingtons, barred rocks, and an Easter Egger hen. The two 19 week old pullets look to be half EE, half barred rock. They are a solid black color, which I understand to be what you usually find when an EE roo mates with a barred rock lady.


DaddyRoo is just like an adolescent boy when it comes to mounting the ladies. He began mounting his pen mates when they were just fourteen weeks old, and he's been sexually active with both those hens and the older hen since.


We merged his two daughters in with the rest of the group gradually, beginning on their 16'th week birthday. These two younger pullets now live with the older birds in a 7 1/2 foot by 13 foot by 6 foot tall henhouse with about 300 sq feet of ajacent chicken yard.


We have noticed that while the other hens pick on the two younger pullets, DaddyRoo does not. Even more than that, DaddyRoo -- while ready to mount any of the other ladies at any time -- has NEVER mounted these two new young pullets.


Is there some way that DaddyRoo might sense that they are his daughters, and be acting "fatherly" towards them?


As sexually active as that rooster is, we can't figure out why he respects them and plays with them, but does not mount them.


Is there another reason why the rooster might choose not to mount these two hens?


I'm not particularly eager to have him do it -- in fact, if it were up to me, he would not. I don't need inbreeding when Momma goes broody again and it is time to collect up eggs to let her sit on.


I'm just wondering why he is so reserved -- sexually speaking -- when it comes to these two young pullets?

 

[ChickenGeorge]

No he does not view them as "family." Animals do not have human capabilities. Unless you are with the two pullets 24/7 you can be assured he is doing the deed with his girls. He is an animal. He is controlled by his biological drives. As much as people want to think of them as family, they are simply animals and will do as animals are programmed to do.

 

[krcote]

Try some of those girls' eggs in the bator once they are laying and I bet you'll see he's been doing his job behind your back...

 

[ranchhand]

The other answer is that the pullets may not be ready for breeding yet. He and they will know when they are.

 

[LaSombra]

I have a few hens who I've never seen mounted before but their eggs are fertile. You just don't always see them being mounted.

 

[gryeyes]

My sexually active, adolescent roo TRIED to mount some of his pullet flock-mates in the past few weeks, but they were/are NOT interested at all. (About 18 weeks old.)

However, as soon as I added two laying pullets, he pounced on them right away. Got him some REAL wimmin, whoooo hoooo!

I dunno if the younger girls are relieved or disappointed, but there's only one of 'em that has secondary sex characteristics showing: redder comb and some actual wattles starting!

It's pretty obvious to me that the rooster knows who's "easy" and who isn't.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

A more mature roo (over a year) can tell when a hen or pullet is ready to start laying and he will start courting then. A young roo, full of racing hormones, just sees "female".

My older roo leaves the molting, non-laying girls and young non-laying pullets alone. He still feeds and watches over them, but he is not interested in trying to mount them. When he starts to be interested in mounting them again or for the first time, I know they will soon be laying.

 

[greathorse]

I think one of the ultimate insults to both man and beast is to humanize one of nature's most basic instincts to the point that we use human language to describe the act of animals mating.

Humans have sex, they make decision's about when and with whom to do that based on a myriad of inputs that come from social, religious, etc etc influences.


Animals breed they do it without any of the social considerations or gyrations humans go through. Males protect females based on instinct, not jealousy, roosters have their favorite hens, I don't know how or why but would believe there is some mating instinct that draws them from one to the other.

I am not sure why these woo woo, blinky eyes, coy euphemisms are so necessary for us to view this breeding thing with animals. THEY BREED, THEY'RE DONE. Yes some stay with the same mate for years and years and others simply do not. Nature has its reasons for that but for certain there is not a moral element associated with it.