Please explain overbreeding to me.

[aart]

I don't raise for production but as a hobby. I'm trying to navigate this because I enjoy having the boys around. Just don't want the hens suffering for it so I'm keeping an eye until I fix my ratio.

Are all your birds about 6mo?
FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is also a good thing to note.

Male birds are fun and beautiful, until they are not.....
.....then they are delicious, at least here they are.

The 'rooster' to hen ratio of 1:10 that is often cited is primarily for fertility efficiency in commercial breeding facilities.
It doesn't mean that if a cockbird has 10 hens that he won't abuse or over mate them.
Many breeders keep pairs, trios, quads, etc.
It all depends on the temperaments of the cock/erels and pullets/hens and sometimes housing provided.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't raise for production but as a hobby. I'm trying to navigate this because I enjoy having the boys around. Just don't want the hens suffering for it so I'm keeping an eye until I fix my ratio.

One way to “keep the boys around” is to have a bachelor pad. Create a boys-only area, no females allowed. If there are no females to fight over, a flock of all-males isn’t that different from an all-female flock in behavior. They will establish a pecking order just like a female flock but they can be very peaceful once they get that worked out. As always make the bachelor as big as you can, the more room the better, just like with an all-hen flock.

The mating act is a dominance behavior. It is a way the dominant chicken establishes and maintains dominance in the flock. Occasionally, if you have a flock of all hens or a flock with no mature dominant rooster, the head hen will go through the mating act with a subordinate hen all the way to touching vents. This doesn’t mean she is twisted or bent, just that she is dominant. The only time I’ve seen this was when I did not have a dominant rooster in the flock but did have an immature cockerel growing into that role. He was not yet mature enough to take over but I think the dominant hen saw him as a challenger. That’s why she “mated” in front of him, to show that she could but he couldn’t. If he tried she’d knock him off. That behavior, same sex mating, doesn’t happen often but it does happen. It can happen in an all-male flock. I have never seen it but I seldom keep the boys in a bachelor pad. I’m sure others have.

When that cockerel finally matured enough to take over, he was pretty cruel to that head hen for a couple of days. He would forcibly mate with her or just go out of his way to peck her. It was kind of wild for a couple of days but she was never injured. She finally accepted his dominance and they became best of buddies.

It is possible to get a chicken, male or female, that is an absolute brute even when they should have matured out of it, they all have their own individual personalities. But there is a reason for most chicken behaviors, even when they look cruel to us. As long as a chicken is not injured I interfere with those processes as little as I can so they can work it out.

 

[Rachael<3Chickies]

Aart you're right. I really don't have any adults they're all cockerels and pullets. 22-24 weeks.

If anyones wondering why I'm concerned if there haven't been any truly aggressive acts so far it's because I have four weeks left to close on my house and until then, my ratio is two pullets per cockerel. So. At 6-7 months even I know that could really go any way any day. In one month they are getting a big coop built and we are bringing in more pullets and probably using the current coop as a grow out pen or pad. Just gotta keep the pullets in good shape until then. They do have a getaway place and I have taken all the information presented here into consideration when checking on them so I think all should mostly likely be alright.

 

[lazy gardener]

Male birds are fun and beautiful, until they are not.....
.....then they are delicious, at least here they are.

 

[ROADMASTER]

Overbreeding happens when you have too many roos to hen ratio. Roos can gang up on a hen and force her to breed. They can cause injuries that can get infected. I don't think a hen just dies from being mated.

Actually yes. They can die from being mated too often. I lost 2 in 2 weeks from roos ganging up . They go into a strange shock like behavior. They don't eat, drink and barely walk . You cam walk up and pick them up. Then they just die hours or a day later.