venus williams blog: Hen's Sex Strategy

Hens would rather succumb to the amorous advances of cockerels in the morning than try and fight them off after a long day pecking at corn.

Scientists discovered that when female birds are outnumbered by males they offer the chance to mate first thing in the morning - seemingly calculating that they will be left alone for the rest of the day.

However, where females rule the roost in a community of fewer males, they are happier to mate in the evening - when both sexes are at their most fertile.