Will all the roosters in my flock mate with the hens?

CHICKENX2005

Songster
Feb 2, 2024
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Hi, I have a large flock of all different breeds and I have 4 adult roosters right now. 3 of them I hatched in 2020 so they are the same age and one I hatched last year. I'm trying to figure out which one is dominant. The 3 I hatched last year are a grey one, a black one, and a red one. The one I hatched last year is a Ameraucna cross. Anyway from biggest to smallest I think it go's
Grey, Ameraucana cross, Red, and Black. But I'm pretty sure that from most to least dominate it go's.
Grey, either Black or Ameraucana cross, and last Red.
Anyway I'm wondering will all the roosters mate with all the hens or do they all have their own hens or do only the dominant roosters mate with the hens. I'm asking out of curiosity and also because I wondering if I want some of the chicks that hatch to be from the non-dominant rooster will I have to separate him and give him his own hens will the hens even let him mate with them?
Thank you
 
Anyway I'm wondering will all the roosters mate with all the hens or do they all have their own hens or do only the dominant roosters mate with the hens.
They all going to try. If they are living as a single group then you already have a senior rooster. Some senior roosters are more tolerant of other group males trying to mate the hens than others.

They do have favourite hens and they do mate their favourites more than other hens in general. In fully enclosed keeping conditions it may be difficult to decide who are which males favourites but free ranging it becomes more obvious.

You will have to seperate him and confine him with the hens you want him to mate.
 
Anyway I'm wondering will all the roosters mate with all the hens or do they all have their own hens or do only the dominant roosters mate with the hens.
Yes, yes, and yes.
Each of those is true in some flock situations, but I cannot say about your specific flock.

I'm asking out of curiosity and also because I wondering if I want some of the chicks that hatch to be from the non-dominant rooster will I have to separate him and give him his own hens will the hens even let him mate with them?
If you want to be sure you get chicks from the non-dominant rooster, then yes you will need to separate him with some hens. They will probably let him mate, but you can find out for sure by watching them sometimes. If they do let him mate, you will eventually see it happening. Or if you have him separated with those hens for 3+ weeks, and the hens are laying fertile eggs, you can be pretty sure he is mating with them. 3 weeks is usually long enough for sperm from previous matings to be gone from where the hen's body stores it.
 

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