Types of Mating in Poultry Birds | How a Rooster mates with a Hen?

Natural mating is typically used in commercial poultry farming for the breeding flock. However, artificial insemination is routinely practiced in turkeys due to intense genetic selection for confirmation and body weight. This article is all about types of mating in poultry birds. Before going into the detail, let’s have a look at how a rooster mates with a hen.

How a Rooster mates with a Hen?

In chickens, the successful completion of mating results from a series of behaviors. The rooster will start a mating ritual by wooing, including dropping one wing and circling (the lowered wing will be on the inside of the circle dance). The hen will stoop (dive her body and head) to show that she is ready to mate. The rooster will then mount the hen and cling onto the hen’s back by grabbing her comb, neck feathers, or skin on the back of her head or neck.

The rooster next performs the tread, which is a brief, stationary walk on the hen’s back. The rooster dips his tail to the side of the hen’s tail and spreads his tail feathers, bringing their cloacae into contact to finish the mating. At this stage, the hen’s cloaca allows the rooster’s ejaculate to be delivered directly into her vagina. In this way, the rooster mates with a hen.

Lets have a little quiz here. How can you tell whether Chicken Eggs are Fertilized or not? Know your answer here.

Types of Mating in Poultry birds

The types of mating in poultry birds are

• Natural Mating
  • Pen mating
  • Flock mating
  • Stud mating
  • Shift mating
• Artificial insemination

Pen Mating

A single cock mates with the hens that are confined in a pen. In terms of keeping records, this kind of mating is important. Preferential mating has an impact on fertility.

Note:

• The mating pens are 8ft x 6ft in size.
• The male-to-female ratio is 1: 10 or 12 for light breeds and 1: 8 or 10 for heavy breeds.

Flock Mating

The breeding cocks are allowed to remain within the entire flock of hens. Competition among the males results in more frequent matings and better fertility.

Note:

• This strategy typically results in a greater male-to-female ratio, with one male for 12 to 15 light breed and 10 to 12 heavy breed females, respectively.
• The eggs’ parentage cannot be determined from the standpoint of pedigree hatching.
• In this arrangement, the aggressive males may occasionally scare the other males away, preventing mating. The flock should be free of such domineering males.
• Additionally, unlike stud or pen mating, this method gives the birds the option to mate with the partners of their choosing.
• Since fecundity is often high, rearing chicks for commercial purposes is highly desirable.

Stud Mating

In this type of mating the male is kept separately in a coop or pen (2 ft * 3 ft size). The females are picked up from the pen one by one and put in the coop. After the mating is accomplished, another female and so on replace the female.

Note:

• Compared to flock or pen mating, it involves more work and labor.
• A sire with high merit can produce more progeny.
• This technique enables the mating of one male with several females.
• The hen should be stud mated at least once a week in order to ensure optimal fertility.
• This strategy produces more productivity than a flock or pen mating.
• If the birds are kept in cages, this method of mating can still be used.

Shift Mating

This is another type of mating in poultry birds in which the sires are moved about the breeding enclosures during this sort of mating. This technique can be used in breeding programs when it is necessary to examine the breeding potential of a large number of men in order to identify truly superior males. A female can mate with multiple males simultaneously by moving the male, which allows for a more accurate assessment of her breeding value.

Note:

• Since the progeny’s parentage can be imprecise for up to two weeks after the cock is removed, this is the biggest obstacle to relocating males into breeding pens during the breeding season.
• By throwing away the eggs for a week following the change in males, this challenge can be overcome.
• The key benefit of this approach is the ability to test lots of males in a small area.
• With the exception of the mates being moved sequentially from one pen to another, pen mating is identical to this system.

Artificial Insemination in Poultry Birds

Artificial insemination (A.I.) is the process of depositing semen into a female’s reproductive system using a method other than natural mating. It begins with the collection of male semen, which is then examined for motility, viability, and concentration before being deposited into the female reproductive system.

It is more useful in heavy-weight birds such as in turkey, where poor fertility is encountered. If you are interested, how AI is to be carried out in turkeys or other poultry birds then you can check it out.

FAQs about Mating in Poultry

The most frequently asked questions are:

How many times, does a rooster mates with a hen in a day?

Depending on the availability of hens and competition from other roosters, a rooster may mate anywhere between 10 and 30 times per day, or even more.

How much a rooster releases sperms in one ejaculation?

Typically, the rooster produces between 100 million and five billion sperm every ejaculation. After repeated ejaculations, the average volume will drop to 0.5 ml or less from the initial average of 1 ml.

Can we cryopreserve the poultry semen?

Poultry semen shows a poor response for cryopreservation so AI is done as soon as semen is collected.