Hello Naturesparadise,
Yes the females display like the males, they might not have such lovely tails but they're still very pretty! Looking at your lovely photo, it looks as though your birds are around a year old so the male won't be sexually mature yet...although that won't stop him courting and covering the hens. When he's a couple of years old he will become fertile although his tail won't be fully grown till around 3-4 years old! I have a splendid 5 year old male whose tail is a sight to behold. My hens are 2 and 3 years old and my young male is 2 and just started to get a little colour in his tail this year. He still thinks he's the most handsome beast and shows off all the time...to me, to the hens, any sparrow he sees on the grass and, sometimes, just for the hell of it with no obvious audience!
Your hens will probably lay and nest despite their eggs being infertile. If you watch them, theyll find some long grass to make a nest and lay alternate days. You'll notice a change in their behaviour and they'll disappear for a few hours to lay, usually in the afternoon. My young hen just laid 3 eggs last year and sat for about 6 weeks before deserting them, bless her! My mature female laid...17 eggs but, unfortunately left the nest when 3 had hatched so those starting to hatch got too cold before I realised what had happened. Only one of the hens is laying at the moment, could be another month before they're all laying.
Enjoy your birds, we love ours, they give us endless laughs and follow us around like little dogs, coming when we call etc!
Judi
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May 17, 2008, 13:55