50 Shades of Rooster

[kateseidel]

Because apparently, while he is a nice guy, he likes a little bit of rough play with the ladies.

I really like Fred, he is a beautiful Black Orpington rooster. He is not aggressive to me, seems to do a good job keeping an eye on the hens when they are free ranging, I love his crowing. But....I adore my hens and they are all sporting bare backs as a result of his over-enthusiastic attentions. I can't keep them all in hen saddles, all the time. Fred is just about a year old - is he ever going to ease up, do I need to get a dozen more hens to spread the wealth? Because I am about ready to get rid of him if he can't stop tearing the girls up!

 

[Sjisty]

I would get him a bigger harem.

 

[ShadyHillFarm]

How many hens do you have? I have 11 and just noticed one of mine sporting a bare back today.

I really didn't think I'd have that problem with so many ladies. I guess they have their favorites.

 

[kateseidel]

Currently down to 7 hens (bad year for hawks last year, hence the rooster!!). I have 8 chicks in the brooder, but they won't be joining the flock for three months or so, and I am just not sure I can live with this for another 3 months!! I have taken to separating them during the day, which is not making the rooster very happy...at all...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know what you mean by “tearing the hens up” or how bare your barebacked hens are. That black one in the photo doesn’t look that bad to me. It’s not that unusual for a hen to occasionally lose a feather during mating, but if the skin is bare, that is a dangerous situation.

Have you checked them for mites and lice? For roost mites you need to check after dark and just use a flashlight. Check in the vent area. Roost mites avoid light. Occasionally mites or lice are the problem. Occasionally feather picking can cause this too, but there is a real good chance it is your rooster.

Some hens just have brittle feathers. It’s genetic. Even if the rooster is doing nothing wrong, those hens can be barebacked. If it’s just one or two hens in the flock, I’d suspect this. But it looks like you have a genetic mix of hens so if it is all of them, it’s not brittle feathers. If the entire feather comes out, it will grow back, but if part of the shaft is left, it won’t grow back until the molt.

It is possible the rooster’s technique is bad. He’s still a little young so there is hope he can get better, but he is getting old enough to get his act together. What I suggest is that you give him a pedicure. Blunt his toenails. As long as you avoid the quick, it’s like trimming yours or mine. His quick does grow out partway so if you cut maybe 1/3 of his toenail off straight across, you can maybe stop the damage and give his a little longer to mature and improve his technique.

I use a Dremel tool and those discs used for cutting metal. I wrap him in a towel around his wings and take them off. It just takes a few seconds per nail. If you get too deep he may bleed a bit but that really doesn’t do any long-term harm. He may not even flinch and probably won’t bleed much anyway even if you do hit the quick, but keep some flour handy to throw on to stop the bleeding just in case. The speed of the disc will heat up and cauterize the wound if you cause one. I know I’m making it sound like you’re going to have blood everywhere, but that’s not really the case. If you don’t get too ambitions and just take off the sharp point of the claw, you will probably see zero blood.

You can also take off the tip of the spur the same way. As long as you don’t get too deep you’ll probably not see any blood. Some people will try to tell you that all the damage is done by his spurs, but look at his leg and foot. Check the number, size, and sharpness of the spurs on that leg and the number, size, and sharpness of the claws on that foot. If you were trying to balance and hold on what would you use, the spurs or the claws, and reach your own conclusion of what you might need to trim. There is nothing wrong with trimming both.

I assume your hens are the same age. It’s possible the hens and rooster will “mature” their way out of this situation, or it’s possible the rooster will never learn good technique. Good luck with it.

 

[kateseidel]

Thanks - this photo was taken before things got bad. It is definitely not the spurs, which are really not very big yet. The damage is from the nails - gonna have to give some thought to the trim.