# I have question about courting behavior



## BuddyD (Jun 4, 2009)

The male ( Drago) I have is normally very aggressive with his mates ( Momma and now Sweetie) . He all but jumps on them at first meetings. I have seen him nibble on the hens necks , But today after I removed the nest box and relocated their cage I saw him duck his head and Nuzzle it against the hens belly over and over , almost continually.

Do you think this is a Bonding behavior or courtship ( it's a little late for those.LOL, or a sort of Teil foreplay.

I hope that didn't sound too risque. But I am trying to anticipate them Mating again with out me seeing the actual act.

BUDDY


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

Just curious, do you have the one male breeding with two females at the same time?

As for the belly rubbing with his neck, he may be trying to encourage her to scratch his neck. That would be bonding behavior.


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## BuddyD (Jun 4, 2009)

*Thanks for the reply*

Obviously my poor writeing skills have once again caused some confusion. The Answer to your question IS NO! What I was referring to when speaking about the males behavior with 2 different females Is that that male Drago was mated with our first female and they remained so until just a few months ago when the hen Momma passed away from what seemed like egg binding even though they hadn't produced any eggs since they where left in our flooded home in Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.In Fact we had seperated them because they laid so often and the hen had been a chronic layer before with no fertilization. ( they where our Miracle pair since they stayed in out flooded home for 5-6 weeks even after the search party from the NG had opened their seperate cages we left on the loft in the second story of our home and they remained in their own cages till we were allowed to return.

But since the male seemd to Pine so with the passing of his ONLY mate we bought another breeding age hen ( sweetie ) and they almost immediately bonded and mated and have produce two clutches in very rapid succession . Of these two only one chick has hatched(UNO) and one egg was DIS . But after removing the chick and taking down the Nest box. I witnessed that aforementioned behavior and as concerned that they may be mating inmy abscence. Which has happened with the second clutch laid 2-3 weeks into the development of that first Chick.

I have heard that it isn't just egg laying that is the real cause of egg binding ( as I think my first hen PROVED when she laid infertile for a longtime almost continually with NO CHICKS and no signs of egg binding even when she became fertile. However the stress of subsiquently rearing any chicks, especially if they hatch sequential chicks with no breaks. But I must admit I am not sure egg binding was the cause just from my uniformed experience it sure looked like it. But still with this new hen 's very first 2 clutches in her LIFE, and even with there only hatching ONE/UNO chick and laying a second clutch of 4 and only one egg was DIS, I am very desirous to keep this hen from becoming like the other and laying eggs ( fertile or not) like some chicken. But like everyone else I am not with them every minute and they could mate at any time less I seperate them . But even though the chick was removed because thay PLUCKED it very hard they call to it constantly and yet they don't want it in their same cage.

Hopefully you understand better now , and hopefully I have given you TMI/ LMAO.

But I don't want to have another on this forum think I am some Teil abuser.
BUDDY


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

I am sorry for the misunderstanding. :lol: I was just making sure. I wouldn't of called you an abuser, some people in fact don't know. I would only be angry if you didn't listen to any of our advice and continued such breeding practices. 

I am sorry for the loss of your past hen. Egg binding is pretty serious and is very common. Luckily, I have not had an issues with it. Many people here have. Any sort of calcium deficiency could also be the culprit. 

I'm sorry if I read anything else wrong, but if you would like to discourage breeding you could also try to shorten their days or rearranging their cage. Taking the nest box out, which it sounds like you have already done is the first big step to it. 
Usually the first clutch or so for a hen may result in a low if any number of survivors. It is also very common for the first clutch to be infertile as well. I'm sure the number of surviving chicks will increase as time goes on if they are all kept healthy.


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## BuddyD (Jun 4, 2009)

Cheryl If I seemed to be singling you oroyur reply out with that "ABUSER" reply I am sorry. But in my inital few post It became very apparent to at least me that either my questions or methods where not being understood . If youdo some research I am sure you may rememebr why i say this. 

However I do find a lot of advise from different reponders to be confuseing if not even self contradictory. An example in which I am not pointing any fingers but saying I didn't get the info I wanted was when i asked. Was when I asked what supplimental foods I should try that my teils might find irresitable . I asked this with out mentioning what I hade tried and immediately I was told that my birds problems where POOR NUTRITION. But when I tried to clarife my question I mentioned all the fresh foodsand fruits , even eggs I had tried and asked what mightwork betetr and I got told to check out the all incomposing list of dos and don't foods.

Still more confuseing to me was my misunderstanding of the Light requirements of multple laying pairs. I wanted to discourage a third clutch so much I put the cages in toal darkness after 8 Pm . Only to learn that with out some form of light the nesting pair may have unintenionally stepped on the near piping eggs and breaking them too early.

Still more confuseing is the postion that laying over and over is what leads to Egg binding and run down conditions of breeding hens.Only to be find out that while laying doesn't helpitis the clutch rearing , especailly if done reapatedly that really runs down a hen and the clcium loss from egg laying is a small part of the problem. Prrof I can attest to is my first hen before being breed laid more regularlythan most Chickens( almost every 6-8 weeks .But she never experienecd any noticble ill affects. But after sucessfully rearing 8-9 chicks ina few clutches I seperated the pair and did keep the hen in less day lgt only to after 4 years of non-breeding to have them mate again and she wentdown hill fast ( maybe IMO from egg binding) But maybe from a cold/ flu since she started sneezeing right after winter temps and continued downwardly even as the male in thesame cage showed absolutely no symptoms. She did perk up when I raised the temp in the garage and added some antibiotics to her water and lubricate her vent with Mineral oil ,and she begain to show signs of recovery only to pass very rapid whenthe heat in the area they wherehoused seemed too much and I stopped it.

So Iguess mostly my point is my efforts are no less due to lack of effort and/or digging for info but when I try to get more input I was told I was lucky any bird of mine survived.

Never noteing that I had breed and reared clutches for 3-4 years to the point that I gave away 9 young teils since I couldn't sell them not haveing been hand feed , but weaned by their parents of which he male was and still is a better Brood hen than the female. But none of our 11 teil showed any sign of male nutrition poor health or mistreatment. But now after 4 -5 years since katrina and the passing of our original Hen I now feel I need some rehashing and I have learned I don't have a clue. 

My biggest regrets are that i lost many volumes of books on the subject and the great source of supies and GNO bird club when we moved from our storm ravage home parish. 

But thankfully ther are great forum memebsr like yourself and SRteils that aren't so condiscending and want to reducate me for the sake of my birds.

THANKS and I hope all will read between my lines to undersatn I am tryingas much as nayone.
BUDDY


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