Chicken Mating: How Does That Work?

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 DatingThere 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:

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The MatadorThis 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.

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

TidbittingPicking 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. ☺

BOY PARTSHere 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 to 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.