young rooster mating...

[charlotteda]

I saw my plymouth rock roo mating a pullet today.. is this a good sign that I am almost ready to get eggs... or is the rooster just having a good time !

Charlotte

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Good Morning! How old is the rooster? If he just started it still could take a while before he will be fertile. My frizzle roo is 4 months old and he has been "trying" to mate, but the eggs have been clear. Give him a little longer if he is young. There is a thread on here with great pics of a "bullseye" on a fertile egg. When you use the eggs for breakfast, take a closer look.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
He's "having a good time," as you call it. It's what he does; it's all he knows and lives for. It is his sole purpose in this life. The pullet, for her part, is ambivalent. She does not need the cockerel to mate her in order to produce eggs.

If he's mating her, she will likely produce fertile eggs soon enough, though. There is little guarantee as to the quailty of the mating between cockerel and pullet, however.

 

[charlotteda]

Sorry guys, I guess I didnt explain enough. I raised bantams for years and I understand the roo/hen situation... LOL

All my chickens (Plymouth rocks) are about 18 weeks old, none of my hens have begun to lay. She I saw the roo mating the blue hen... I wondered if he knew something I didnt and she might be getting ready to be the first layer

 

[mrsgibber]

I'm wondering the same about my 14 week old white silkie roo. He's been trying to get on the back of my BSL pullet (of the same age) this past week. She's the only one he bothers with but he's not quite big enough to get her to cooperate. Wondering if he knows she is ready to begin laying before my others.

 

[vortec]

One of the roos I just gave away was a 16 week old barred rock and he jumped on a 10 week old barred rock pullet for a ride. He waited until she was eating to surprise attack. It was funny, but it was then that I decided that the roos had to go to relieve the hens for awhile until they get older.

vortec

 

[BJ_BOBBI_JO]

Last night my 10 week old cornish rock rooster tried mating with an adult isa brown.

It sure looked that way anyways. It didnt look like they were picking on eachother due to the pecking order. He came out of nowhere and got her and she did not squak or carry on like the chickens do when they are being attacked during a pecking order session.

Doesnt 10 weeks seem kind of young to start mating?

He is the biggest rooster. The only roosters are him and 3 others his same age.

 

[TexasVet]

My personal experience is that the roos don't touch the pullets until they've reached maturity (point of lay). I don't have a clue as to how they know that, but they do.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[Rootball]

Regarding true chicken wisdom I have no answer to your query. However I can provvide some insight from my viewpoint as a man. My sexual urges are not in anyway subject to knowledge or intuition about the probability of fertility of potential females of interest. I have an uncle with a tortise who will mate an overturned salad bowl or a football helmet or whathave you. I put on no airs, If I were a tortoise, Im sure that I would be much the same, and as a member of the male fraternity I suspect your cockerel is in the same boat.

 

[TheRidingLibrarian]

Funny answer!! Although, I believe I've read things about pheromones and such in humans that might suggest otherwise. Annnd when a human male becomes "interested" in females, is around the same time we start our cycles.

In other words, you might know..you just don't know you know.

As for my situation, my gals are 19 weeks old, my "oops" Splash Cochin Roo started trying to work his charms at about 17 weeks. No eggs here yet.