Do I need more hens for my roo?

[FelixFelicis]

Hi, I have a blue Orpington Rooster, one orpington hen, and three welsummer hens. The two orpingtons are about 8/9 months old and the welsummers are nearly 2 (and are significantly smaller than the orpingtons).

My Rooster is a lovely boy and absolutely beautiful, but he's also very big and is wearing away the feathers on my hens. All of them have worn back feathers (though no bald spots here) so I'm making saddles for them, but the worst affected areas are their necks. Molly, my orpington hen, is nearly completely bald on her neck and the other hens have severely damaged neck feathers.

Part of the problem is feather pecking- I've seen them at it. One hen will lay down and just let the others peck at her feathers. I've started using anti-peck spray and increased the protein in their diet to help combat this but it's not getting any better. So I'm thinking that maybe they're just being over-mated? Is 4 hens enough for one rooster? or should I get a few more?

 

[N F C]

In my opinion, 4 hens is not enough for 1 roo. I believe the recommended ratio is 8-10 hens per rooster, otherwise you get the over-mating and stress related issues you're seeing.

If you have room for more girls, try adding them. You might still have a couple of favorite girls the roo goes after but chances are he will spread the love around more.

Good luck.

 

[Mrs. K]

You might check under their wings and near their vent for parasites. You might add peepers to prevent feather picking.

Often times feather picking habit is caused by the stress of keeping the birds in too small of an area, adding more hens will make that worse. You should measure your coop and run and make sure that you are not over crowding.

Often times, I see pictures of wide open runs, just an empty rectangle, in which birds can only use the floor level. When you state that a hen just lays down and takes it, it might be because they have no other place to go to get away from the other birds?

Leaning a pallet up against the wall so that both ends are open so as not to trap a bird. Putting a pallet up on cement blocks will actually add square feet to your run, as birds can get on top of it and below it, and it gives a little shade. Put a couple of roosting bars kitty corner in the run, mine love to roost up there in the late afternoon. This allows birds to get away from each other. Gives them some exercise jumping and flying up to these.

The bare backs are often caused by roosters and feather brittleness. Some hens have brittle feathers. But that is not the same as feather picking.

Mrs K

 

[Free Feather]

If things improve after doing what Mrs. K suggested (and they probably will), I would add a few more hens. Do you free range?

 

[FelixFelicis]

No I don't free rage as I have a border collie who's a bit too fond of them, so they're confined in a run. The run is currently 12ft by 8ft giving 96 square ft of space, roughly 19 square ft per bird, so I don't really think it's a space issue but I am going to doubly the width of the run anyway making it 192 square feet. The coop is enclosed in the run but it is on stilts so it doesn't take up any floor space and gives plenty of shade. the coop is actually a modified wooden playhouse complete with porch, it has a fence along the front edge which they like to roost on in the afternoons. Extending the run will give me space to do as you said and add a bit more interest to the run, I suppose that will help. I'm making chicken saddles too for the hens so I hope that helps too! They're currently moulting and beginning to grow their new feathers and replace the ones that have been pecked out so fingers crossed if I make these improvements their lovely new feathers will stay lovely! Thanks for the advice

 

[N F C]

Good luck to you!

 

[aart]

The run is big enough, but how big is the coop?
Agrees 1 rooster and 4 hens may be the problem.
When feather are chewed, bitten or broken off, they won't grow back until they molt.

 

[FelixFelicis]

They're actually going through the moult sow so they are starting to get their feathers back at last! I'm just hoping they're gonna be able to keep them! The coop is aproximitly 5.5ft by 6ft. they have two nest boxes and two raised roosts on two different levels. At the moment there's enough room for all of them to be on the floor of the coop without getting in each others way too much and loads of spare roosting room- usually they all sleep on the top roost and there would be room for two more to sit next to them up there. If a added a few more it would be a bit cramped on the coop floor if all of them were standing on it at the same time, but I'm up early enough to avoid that most days. On days where I'm late opening the coop the Rooster is usually pacing infront of the door crowing, but the hens tend to stay on the roosts preening themselves and waiting patiently lol.