Scientific insight into natural mating
Extension poultry scientists from the University of Georgia explain info on mating behavior that is significant to game fowl breeders.
Natural Mating and Breeding
Fertilization in chickens is usually the result of natural mating. However, in very rare cases, artificial insemination is practised.
The completed mating in chickens is the culmination of a sequence of behaviours. The rooster will initiate mating by exhibiting courtship behaviour: dropping one wing and dancing in a circle (the lowered wing will be on the inside of the circle dance). The hen will crouch (dip her head and body) to indicate receptiveness to the male. The rooster will then mount the hen and grab her comb, neck feathers, or the skin on the back of her head or neck to help hold onto the hen's back. The next behaviour is the tread (the rooster walks quickly in place on the hen's back) and finally the completed mating of the behavioural sequence. The completed mating occurs when the rooster dips his tail to the side of the hen's tail and spreads his tail feathers so that their cloacae come into contact. At this point the rooster's ejaculate is released directly into the hen's vagina via her cloaca. Chickens are polygynous but certain males and females selectively mate regularly. Some females in the flock will show avoidance to specific males, and therefore are rarely mated by those males. The rooster usually ejaculates between 100 million and five billion sperm at a time with greater concentrations produced at the beginning than at the end of the day, when depletion occurs after many matings. First ejaculates average about 1 ml but after several ejaculations, the average volume will be reduced to 0.5 ml or less. These data were obtained from semen collection as done in artificial insemination.
The frequency of mating follows a diurnal pattern with mating frequency reaching peaks early and late in the day. A rooster may mate from 10 to 30 or more times per day, depending on the availability of hens and competition from other roosters. However, the number of sperm per ejaculate is seldom less than 100 million which is the minimum required to maintain high fertility. With natural mating, better fertility will result when mating occurs after the hen has laid a hard shell egg. However, if the hens are mated frequently (daily), there is unlikely to be a noticeable difference in fertility regardless of when the matings occur. An understanding of the natural mating behaviour in chickens can help the breeder to observe the mating behaviour sequences in their flocks to assess whether their flock fertility should be good, average or poor. Since mating behaviour generally follows a diurnal pattern, the best times to observe the flock for mating behaviour are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. (Univesity of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environ mental Science; posted Feb 2009, The Poultry Site)
