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Poultry breeding
Mating
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Mating is usually preceded by a rather growly sound from the male, accompanied by a shuffling side-stepping as he approaches the female. Then, it's a leap onto her back, grasping the feathers at the back of her head in his beak while he brings his cloaca to hers. The female will often squat slightly while the 'treading' is taking place, and then it's all over in a matter of seconds. There is usually a ruffling of feathers and the two then walk away from each other.
The sperm travels up from the female's cloaca into the oviduct and up to the infundibulum. Here, a sperm from the male can penetrate the blastodisc of the yolk and fuse with the female cell, forming a blastoderm. Technically speaking, it is now a true egg.
Sperms can live for up to three weeks in the oviduct so it is important to separate the breeds if they have been running together, and only take eggs for incubation after the hen concerned has been with the appropriate male for at least this length of time.
The male can cause damage to the female’s sides if his spurs are too long, so they need to be kept trimmed on a breeding cock. There is no truth in the old belief that his fertility will be affected by having his spurs trimmed. This probably originated in the time when long spurs were valued in fighting cocks.
Breeding hens that have a lot of fluffy feathers around the bottom may need to have some of them trimmed back in case the vent is difficult to reach.
The breeding ratio is the number of females accompanying a male for breeding purposes. It will vary depending upon the size and type of the breed. With light, utility breeds it may be as high as ten females to one male, with a ratio of eight to one for heavy breeds, although a lower ratio is common, particularly with rarer breeds. Here, trios or even pairs are more usual. Some of the breeds, such as Booted or Sabelpoot bantams, find breeding more difficult because of the large leg feathers.
Pen mating is where one male is penned with several females, while flock mating is where there are several males running with a larger flock. This is usually on a field scale so there is unlikely to be a problem of the males fighting. Fertility tends to be higher with flock mating.
On a small scale, if there is a problem of a 'lazy' male, he can be penned within sight of the females but not so that he can access them. Meanwhile, another male can be used. A few days of this will usually rekindle the interest of the confined male.
Copyright © Katie Thear 2005