FACTS ABOUT THE SEXUAL LIFE OF A CHICKEN THAT FEW PEOPLE ONLY KNOW

1. SEX AND THE CHICKEN
12/2016 1Nikitas Vougiouklis

2. • Why?
• Some friends ask me why I spent my time preparing these papers/presentations. The answer
is simple; I try to fill gaps in my knowledge on subjects for which I have curiosity and
interest. So someone can say that I write about issues that I knew nothing or at best issues
for which I had insufficient knowledge.
• I always find as the most effective learning process for me, keeping written notes from my
readings witch in these cases are transferred (cut & paste) in a Power Point Presentation
format. Therefore it should be clear to the reader that I do not do primary research but I
present only in some organized form, the information that I draw from my sources.
• Hoping that some of my friends may have interest in learning about these subjects, I
distribute these presentations to them with the knowledge that in the worst scenario they
will DELETE it.
With best regards
Nikitas Vougiouklis
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN

3. • The beginning
• It happened like this. I was with my
children, grandchildren and friends at
a village in mountainous Corinthia and
while dogs, cats, chickens and goats
were roaming freely around and
between us, my youngest
granddaughter asked me suddenly
how hens give birth to chicks.
• I gave a general answer about sitter
and eggs but at the same time I
realized that I really did not know.
• Therefore I decided to find more
details about the matter and here are
the results of my research.
• Flirting
• As in human relationships sexual
intercourse begins with flirting. The
rooster’s flirting with the hen may not
differ from some human practices.
• The roosters initiates courtship by
offering food to hens and showcasing
dancing skills with a little dance in front
of them.
• If the hen shows interest then sexual
intercourse may begin.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN

4. • Sexual intercourse
• Hens ripen approximately between 3
and 6 months after birth. At this point
starts their sexual life.
• The sexual intercourse, of a hen with
the rooster is visually similar to the
mating of cats.
• The hen lowers to withstand the weight
of the cock while he climbs up on her.
He puts his legs where chicken wings
are attached to the body and this
causes her end to bend forward
exposing thus her cloaca.
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TYPICAL HEN
SEX AND THE CHICKEN

5. • The rooster then flexes his tail and his
cloaca is "kissing" the hen's cloaca
and discharges his sperm inside.
• Shortly after, the cock does a short
“victory” dance and the two birds
continue their daily routine. The entire
process lasts very little.
• But what if the hen is not inspired by
the dance of the cock and does not
give her consent;
• The worst scenario is when the rooster
decides to impose himself on her. The
hen does not have the power to resist
attempts for mating but has the last
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
ROOSTER STANDARD TYPE

6. word.
• When mating is done without the
consent of the hen then she
expresses her anger by sprinkling the
Rooster with his own sperm, spending
it entirely and making therefore
impossible the fertilization of an egg.
• On average a cock is pairing up to 12
times a day. This number is affected
by several factors.
• The season is one of them. The
Rooster during winter is pairing fewer
times and more times during spring.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
ROOSTER BANTAM TYPE

7. • With technical lighting we can
deceive them into making think that it
is spring and thus increasing the
production of eggs fertilized or not.
• The age of the rooster is also a factor.
Greater age means fewer pairings and
also with advanced age the rooster
loses his ability to fertilize.
• Another Important factor is the breed
of the bird. There are two main breeds.
Bantam and Standard. Bantam is a
petite version of the Standard.
• Bantam cocks are much more
energetic. can fertilize 10-15 hens.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
per day while Standard cocks only 6-8.
• Reproductive organs
• I was surprised and I thought as being
ironic when I found out that the
famous for its sexual activity rooster
lacks penis. In reality the male birds
have just testes and sperm ducts while
only ostriches, swans, ducks, geese,
have penis.
• Most birds have a small amount of
erectile tissue known as the papilla.
• Flying female birds in order to reduce
their weight, have only one ovary –

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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
THE DANCE OF THE ROOSTER

9. SEX AND THE CHICKEN
usually left, which produces
wonderful yolk eggs.
• The rooster’s butt, similarly with he
hen’s butt, instead of penis has an
opening. This opening is called
"cloaca”.
• While the cloaca of the hen and the
cloaca of the Rooster are externally
identical, differ markedly inside since
the Rooster has well hidden testicles
which are somehow connected with
the cloaca.
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MATING

10. 1/2017 Nikitas Vougiouklis 10
• z
• Egg production
• The hen picks up the rooster’s sperm
in her cloaca and stores it in a warm
bag called creation sac .
• When the egg is released from the
ovaries and passes in the fallopian
tubes, then the hen sprinkles quantity
of the stored Rooster ‘s semen and
fertilizes the egg.
• The hen’s egg is in the center of the
egg (yellow substance), which rolls
along the fallopian tube where is
covered with white albumin while at
the end of the pipeline calcium buildup
SEX AND THE CHICKEN
HEN’S REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS
ROOSTER’S REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS

11. hardens the egg.
• Note: The albumin, refers generally to
any water soluble protein, which has
moderate solubility in concentrated
saline solutions and undergoes
thermal coagulation. Substances
containing albumin, such as egg white,
are called albuminous (alboyminoeidi).
• The final hardening happens after the
exit of the egg from the cloaca and its
contact with the atmosphere.
• The hen does not “fool around” and
does not allow other pairing while
there is sperm in her creation sac.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
• The stored sperm lasts about a week
which means that the frequency of
sexual intercourse for the hen is
approximately weekly.
• If there are no roosters, chickens will
lay infertile eggs suitable only for
consumption.
• The birth of an egg requires about 24
hours from the time of release from the
ovary until the appearance into the
atmosphere.
• Looking at the slide # 12 we can
follow the egg movement towards
the end of it’s travel to freedom.

12. 1/2017 12Nikitas Vougiouklis
SEX AND THE CHICKEN

13. • After being released from the ovary to
the first part of the oviduct the yolk
(yellow) remains 15 to 17 minutes in
the infundibulum for fertilization.
• As the yolk follows the designated
path, it arrives at the second part of
the oviduct called magnum where it
remains 3 hours, during which time the
thick albumen (egg white) forms.
• The third section of the oviduct is
the isthmus is where the inner and
outer shell membranes form. The
developing egg remains here for 75
minutes.
• The next section of the oviduct is the
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shell gland (or uterus). In this
section, the shell forms on the egg.
The shell largely is made of calcium
carbonate. The egg remains here for
20 hours or more.
• Finally, the egg is covered by a layer
of mucus to help your bird in the egg's
release.
• Once a hen is aged 20-24 weeks she
is capable to lay eggs. In total
annually a hen lays about 240 eggs
and in her life about a 1000.
• The hen after time, looses the old
feathers and turns out new and has
reduced egg production or even none
SEX AND THE CHICKEN

14. at all.
• During the winter egg production is
reduced unless a controlled lighting
system is used. Another cause of
reduced production is the infection or
diseases caused by insects.
• The hen lays eggs every day with a
little delay from the previous day until
the evening when it stops and restarts
the next morning.
• The cock is paired with the hens as
often as they want and controls the
amount of semen discharged in
connection with social and
environmental factors.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
SITTING HEN

15. • The two most important factors are the
competition with other cocks that
mating with the same chicken.
• The cocks allocate their semen
strategically in relation to the breeding
value of hen. The cocks estimate the
reproductive value of the hen by her
comb. If the chicken has large comb
then the hens do a lot and large eggs.
• Impregnating these eggs are for the
Rooster a great success. In
competition the dominant cock spends
more and more sperm since increased
amount of sperm means increased
chance of fertilization.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN
WELCOME TO THE WORLD !

16. • It is always better to have only one
Rooster per Coop. Farmers know that
with time the cock is bored to pairing
with the same hen and hens feel the
same.
• So either add new hens either
changing their rooster. When new
chickens are added in the Coop the
cock discharges more sperm on them.
• Birth of a chick
• The hen will sit with her eggs for 3
weeks. Eggs must be swiveled 2 times
a day in order to allow the fetus to
develop.
• If the eggs are not swiveled as it
should then the yolk will float to the top
and the increased pressure will kill the
fetus.
• The yolk contains the necessary
nutrients for fetal development. The
right temperature for the development
of the fetus is 40 C or 104 F .
• After 3 weeks the chick will break the
shell and will start its path towards
freedom.
• The hen doesn't have teeth and uses
her stomach to transform the food in
small bites so she can swallow and
•
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN

17. digest. In this effort she uses also
small pebbles which are absolutely
necessarily for the chicks
• During the process of aging, the chick
will lose their baby feathers known as
"down" which will be replaced with
adult feathers known as "contour
feathers".
• The young birds grow quickly and
have voracious appetites, which can
causes their parents to make up to
1000 trips a day to give them the
necessary food.
• Most birds lay their eggs in a nest and
T he hen is sitting on them until they
hatch.
• The chicks (and the ducklings) when
hatch are relatively well developed and
able to look for their own food.
• My work on this theme did not helped
me answer the question “what came
first the chicken or the egg ' .
• Maybe one of those few who will read
this presentation can illuminate me on
this subject.
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SEX AND THE CHICKEN

18. • How do hens and roosters mate? | Reference.com
https://www.reference.com › ... › Chickens
• Πόσα αυγά μπορεί να κάνει μία κότα μέσα σε έναν χρόνο; | iefimerida.gr
www.iefimerida.gr/.../πόσα-αυγά-μπορεί-να-κάνει-μία-κότα-μέσα-σε-έν...
• Anatomy of the Chicken - Poultry Hub
www.poultryhub.org/.../anatomy-of-the-ch.
• How do roosters fertilize eggs? | Reference.com
https://www.reference.com/.../roosters-fertil...
• Rooster - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster
• Avian Reproductive System—Male - eXtension
articles.extension.org/.../avian-reproductive...
• Avian Reproductive System—Female - eXtension
articles.extension.org/.../avian-reproductive..
• Sex-Links = short life span - Backyard Chickens
www.backyardchickens.com/.../sex-links-s..
• Γιατί η κότα κάνει αβγό και δεν γεννά ζωντανά τα μικρά της; | Ζωάκια
zwakia.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post_105.html
• How many times does a male chicken mate in a day? | Yahoo Answers
/https://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid...
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REFERENCES