How Do Chickens Mate? Let’s Take A Look
How do chickens mate? If you’re looking to breed chickens, or not, then you need to know about the process and results — for example, did you know that chickens can lay fertile eggs up to a month after mating? I didn’t. So let’s explore chicken mating behavior and the fascinating aspects of it. I’ll also show you a video of chickens mating and the rooster dance of seduction.
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The cloacal kiss refers to the transfer of rooster sperm to the cloacal during chicken mating. The rooster typically mounts the hen and adjusts himself to ensure that both cloacae align. In the hen’s cloaca, the rooster injects the sperm. The mating act is very brief but a rooster can mate multiple times daily.
Chickens’ mating is not sex in the manner we often think of it because hens and roosters don’t have the same sexual organs as mammals do. Here is a closer look at how chickens mate, including rooster behavior, whether chickens mate to lay eggs, and the mechanisms that make mating feasible.
Right off the bat, you should know, if you don’t already, that hens do not a rooster to lay eggs. Chickens will lay eggs just the same, they just won’t be fertile.
All About How Chickens Mate
If you have chickens and have observed them, you may have seen cockerels running around and chasing hens. Or even doing a funny-looking dance.
It is almost as if they are playing a game. Although roosters are typically ready to mate hens all the time, as it is basically their job to fertilize eggs and continue their flock, mating typically ramps up in the springtime.
Courting becomes quite the thing during this time.
For mating, waste removal, and egg laying, chickens only have one hole that does the job. A rooster who wishes to begin a mating will circle a hen with one wing down. For the rooster, the hen should ideally squat, flatten its back, and remain motionless. The rooster will then mount her while supporting himself by grasping the feathers on the hen’s head.
For their cloacas to touch, the hen’s tail will be raised, and the cockerels will be lowered. The entire ordeal only takes a few seconds. Although the event is quick, it includes some intriguing acrobatics on the rooster’s part with all those feathers. Furthermore, even if the hen doesn’t crouch down for the cockerel, it will frequently seize the hen and mate her.
When the hen yields to the rooster by crouching on the ground, letting him climb upon her back, and rubbing his cloaca against hers, the actual mating process occurs. Therefore, a rooster will mount a hen, tuck his hind end under hers, and they simply bump cloacas to complete the mating process.
Ejaculation is then discharged by the rooster and absorbed by the hen. The sperm can be kept within the hen for around three weeks and fertilize its eggs. Even if the hen doesn’t mate again, this will cause her forthcoming eggs to be fertile, perhaps for as long as a week.
Numerous times every day, a rooster will mate with a hen. Because roosters frequently mate with their hens, there is a fairly constant supply of fresh sperm. All mating ends when the hen chooses to cease laying eggs and instead hatch the ones she already has. The hen becomes puffy, screams, and stays in her nest. Other chickens avoid her for however long she is in this broody state.
Do Chickens Mate To Lay Eggs?
Can hens lay eggs without a rooster?
Yes!
It is a common misconception that hens and roosters need to mate for eggs to be produced.
However, that is not the case. Eggs can be laid by chickens without them mating. Hens generally lay eggs once daily, and they lay less frequently as the weather becomes colder. When chickens reach sexual maturity, they begin to lay eggs. This will happen at around twenty weeks of age in most breeds.
Countless microscopic, undeveloped eggs, or ova, are present in a female chick at birth. An ovum will be discharged into the oviduct once it reaches maturity and starts developing. A productive hen will always have eggs in various stages of development in its reproductive system.
The eggs that have just been released from the ovary are only little yolks, while the eggs that have moved further down the oviduct get bigger and more developed. The time it takes for an egg to get to the vent for laying depends on when the ovum leaves the ovary, which is usually about 25 hours.
While surrounded by egg white, enveloped in a membrane, and enclosed in a shell, the yolk will expand throughout that time.
The final stage of egg formation is the coating of pigment on the shell. This is where all of those fun chicken egg colors like green eggs, or pink eggs happen. It should be noted that blue eggs are blue through and through, it is not merely a bloom or pigment that is deposited.
If sperm is available, fertilization of the yolk will occur before albumen deposition.
If no sperm is available, then those eggs will not be fertilized. As a result, there won’t be any baby chicks, yet if a rooster’s sperm had been transferred to the yolk, it would have developed into a chick. If the egg is incubated or kept with the hen, the yolk will develop into a chick and hatch in around 21 days.
Be aware that even fertilized eggs won’t hatch into chicks unless incubated or nurtured at the right humidity and temperature for 21 days. No development has started before at least 24 hours of incubation. As can be seen, a hen will begin laying eggs around four to five months of age, dependent on the breed, and she doesn’t have to mate to do so.
How Does The Mating Behavior Of A Rooster Affect Hens?
Mating can be harrowing on hens. Since a rooster can be much larger and have sharp claws and spurs, the mating act can be particularly damaging to the hens.
Favorite hens, which are frequently those who squat with the least resistance, frequently have bald spots on their backs and on the backs of their heads from where the rooster is holding them in position. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that some hens do not wish to submit.
It is your responsibility to ensure there are the appropriate amount of hens to roosters to make mating easy on your chickens.
For most breeds, this should be 8-10 hens for every one single rooster.
You can also buy something called hen saddles which they can wear without discomfort to keep their feathers from being ripped out from mating.
Some roosters are also simply more aggressive. I don’t keep mean roosters around — I learned that lesson with my Bresse chickens.
I now keep one dark Olive Egger rooster and one large English Orpington for protection and breeding purposes. They are gentle and kind to the hens.
Breeding Chickens
If you have more than one breed of rooster and maintain a mixed flock as I do, you need to be aware that a hen can have fertilized eggs inside of her for up to one month.
To make sure you’re breeding only the specific breeds you want, you may need to separate the roosters from the hens for a period of time and then reintroduce them and keep them in separate breeding pens to obtain the fertile eggs you want.
You can use a broody hen to hatch the eggs and raise the chicks, or play it safe and incubate and hatch the eggs yourself.
Brooding and raising chicks is easy and fun, and before you know it your baby chicks will go outside permanently.
This is easy to do with a metal dog crate. The rooster still gets to be outside on grass, he just can’t access the hens as he wants.
See Also:
How to Incubate & Hatch Chicken Eggs
Chick Care: Raising Baby Chickens The Right Way
When Can Chicks {FINALLY!} Go Outside?
Videos
Here is a compilation video of chickens mating, in case you need to see it multiple times.
And here is a video of a rooster doing a mating dance to impress his hen before the act of mating.
I have also heard that wild chickens and jungle fowl are gentler and much more likely to dance for their mates.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this answers your questions on how chickens mate. To reproduce and excrete, birds only have one bodily entrance. The rooster can position his entrance on or very near the hens. At this point, he essentially ejects sperm into her body. The production of eggs by the hens does not require the presence of roosters. Roosters are only required for fertilizing eggs.
The Ultimate Guide to Homestead & Backyard Chicken Keeping
