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This study shows that even though the males are physically dominate, the females behavior, stress levels, and receptiveness still plays a huge role in the overall mating process.

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As the rooster begins the courting process, he will start strutting around the pen and begin to be very vocal.

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chicken breeding: information on pairing and setting up chickens for breeding

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Chicken Breeding, bird breeding, pairing chickens up, chicken aviaries, chicken care, chicken runs, chicken cages, chicken perches, cage chicken, chicken breeding, training chicken, feeding chickens, housing chickens, chickens in my yard, garden chickens, chicken eggs

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In chapter 9 of the textbook, it discussed that cattle breeders use markers to see which females have been mounted. Chickens do not have this option because any kind of foreign material or object on the bird will cause it to be picked on and could result in hurting the bird.

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To start courtship, a rooster (male) will circle the female (hen) with one wing to the ground before approaching her.

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In the video, the roosters performs his mating dance. As he does so, the hen moves away from him each time showing she is not receptive. If she would have need receptive, the hen will crouch down into the receptive position. (see picture below)

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There are two different types of rooster behavior when it comes to courting:
1. Tries to impress the female with his "dance" before initiating mating
2. Just goes for it without any dancing or impressing.

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This article covers things you never wanted to
know about rooster reproductive anatomy and chicken mating, including up-close
and personal photos. Soon you will be well equipped to impress friends and
business associates at cocktail parties with an alarming amount of information about chicken
copulation. For starters, roosters have a bit of a physical challenge in the romance
department because all of their reproductive anatomy, male parts, equipment is inside their bodies. A fair amount of physical agility is required to get
everything where it needs to go to close the deal and it's not always pretty to
watch. In fact, the uninitiated may not even be aware of what's happening when
they witness chickens mating- it happens in a matter of seconds and it's
remarkable that it works at all given the absence of the usual male appendage.

COURTING BEHAVIOR-Chicken Speed Dating

There are no flowers, no dinner and a movie, so how does a rooster impress the
chicks? Some roosters don't even bother trying, they'll simply take
charge of their mate, but the more romantic types have a few go-to moves they
rely upon to dazzle the ladies, which can include any of the following:

This patent-pending rooster move is clearly
intended to attract a hen's attention and mesmerize her with his size and
beauty. The rooster fans his wings flamboyantly while dancing around her in the
same way a matador fans his cape to attract the bull. I made that name up, but
this move is commonly referred to as: the wing drag, wing drop or wing
flicking.

In conjunction
with the wing drag, a rooster will often dance in a circle, trying to position
himself behind her to assume the mating position.

This video shows Brutus impressing the ladies by tidbitting.

Picking up
actual or pretend morsels of food while calling the hen over to investigate is the oldest trick in the book.
When she comes over to see what's up, that's when he makes his move.

With apologies to Hasbro and my daughters whose Play Doh I pirated for this illustration, I present you with a rudimentary model of the rooster reproductive system. Parts are not to scale. ☺

Here comes the "too much
information" part of the program, folks.

A rooster's sexual organ is called the papilla, which is located inside the bird just inside
the wall of his cloaca. It looks like a small bump and is not at all similar in
form or function to a penis except the extent that semen exits through it.

The photo above is as close as any of us are likely to see the reproductive organ of a live rooster and I had NO intention of capturing this image on film.

Sorry for the invasion of privacy, Caesar, it's for a good cause.

The hen inverts her cloaca to meet the rooster's presentation of his and accept the semen into her reproductive tract.

So..how DO they do the deed?

The rooster gets into
position, which resembles a piggy-back ride, standing on her back, holding her
neck feathers with his beak and steadying himself with his feet. This activity is known as treading. The hen crouches down, spreads her
wings to the side for balance and lowers her tail in a position I call the
submissive squat.

Since the papilla is located inside
his cloaca, (vent area) his cloaca must touch hers to transfer the sperm from
his body to hers.This touching together of cloacas is commonly referred to as
the "cloacal kiss." That's all there is to it- he hops off and she shakes out
her feathers and each goes about his or her business. Ain't love grand?

Treading can cause feather damage,
bald spots and skin damage to the hen. A cloth apron, also known as a hen saddle, can be worn by the hen as protection from too frequent or
too aggressive treading. Learn more about hen saddles here.

A hen does not need a rooster
to produce eggs. A hen will lay eggs with the
same frequency regardless of the presence or absence of a rooster in the flock. Learn about how a hen makes eggs HERE.

Facts and myths about fertile eggs can be found HERE!

Bantams roosters (small
breeds) can successfully mate with large fowl hens. Learn about rooster fertility HERE.

Sources & further reading:

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Chicken Mating: How Does That Work? | The Chicken Chick®

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This article covers things you never wanted to know about rooster reproductive anatomy and chicken mating, including up-close and personal photos. Soon you will be well equipped to impress friends and business associates at cocktail parties with an alarming amount of information about chicken copulation.

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During copulation, the rooster stands on the hens back while biting their neck feathers or comb to keep them still.

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3 types:
Male-Male
Female-Female
Male-Female

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Some hens become the roosters favorite and they copulate frequently. When this occurs, the rooster often pulls out the hens neck feathers or even breaks skin. If he causes the hen to bleed, it leads all the others to flock to her and peck her to death.

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Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

You don't need to keep a rooster in order for a hen to lay eggs. She'll lay them on her own, but they won't be fertilized. For that, a rooster is required. Be prepared -- if you keep a rooster with your hens, every night (and day) becomes a hot time in the hen house. A rooster copulates with his hens several times a day.

Courtship Behavior

Roosters court a hen with a series of ritualistic movements. First, they drop a wing and "dance" around the hen in circle, with the dropped wing held inside. If receptive, the hen lowers her back. The rooster then mounts her, grabbing her by the back of the neck with his beak to steady himself during copulation. However, if a rooster has a lot of hens to service on a daily basis, he might not perform a courtship dance, but get right down to business. The courtship dance might be reserved for a new hen in the flock.

Author

Jane Meggitt has been a writer for more than 20 years. In addition to reporting for a major newspaper chain, she has been published in "Horse News," "Suburban Classic," "Hoof Beats," "Equine Journal" and other publications. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from New York University and an Associate of Arts from the American Academy of Dramatics Arts, New York City.

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You don't need to keep a rooster in order for a hen to lay eggs. She'll lay them on her own, but they won't be fertilized. For that, a rooster is required. Be prepared -- if you keep a rooster with your hens, every night (and day) becomes a hot time in the hen house.

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In every coop, there is a pecking order. This research study explains the dominance between two roosters when they are penned together with hens. You will alway have a dominant rooster that will be more productive. The "subordinate" rooster have just as many mating attempts as the dominant rooster, but will be less productive because the dominant rooster will interfere.

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Dominance Relationship and Mating Behavior of Domestic Cocks: A Model to Study Mate-Guarding and Sperm Competition in Birds on JSTOR

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A random-bred strain of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) in single-male and two-male mating groups was used as a model to study strategies of mate guarding and...