Advice for young rooster

[harleytater]

He is an 8 month old Favoreelle (-1 sp) mix. We have 8 hens, 4 are about his size and the other are smaller. I am new to having chickens but he is not what I consider to be to aggressive, but he is protective of the hens. The issue I’m seeing is all the hens have spots on their backs where he is performing his duty. They are all the same age and been together since hatching.

Will he outgrow and ease up on them? I hate to get rid of him but no sure how to calm him.

Advice?

 

[CluckerFamily]

He is a young cockerel who is very energetic in breeding, this is normal. He will mellow out as he gets older.
You may have to separate him from the ladies to give them a break, depending on how bad it gets.

 

[azygous]

No, that's probably his mating technique. Some wear out the back feathers of hens, some wear out the head feathers, others wear out the wing shoulder feathers. The best way to mitigate the damage is to limit his access to the hens.

 

[parvani]

No, that's probably his mating technique. Some wear out the back feathers of hens, some wear out the head feathers, others wear out the wing shoulder feathers. The best way to mitigate the damage is to limit his access to the hens.

Or put aprons on your hens' backs. Since you have a rooster, I assume you want fertile eggs. He's just doing his duty. Get aprons for your hens, and he'll grab the aprons and not the feathers. (In theory, anyway.)

I have some Faverolle (correct spelling) hens and roosters that were sold to me by a breeder who had too many. They are magnificent!

... But when we first got them last summer, one of the hens was so barebacked that she got sunburned. We named her "Fried Chicken".

Now she's all fluffy-butt and fully feathered, you wouldn't guess she was the same girl.

 

[Ridgerunner]

all the hens have spots on their backs where he is performing his duty.

Are you seeing bare patches or just some thin areas? Some loss of feathers isn't unusual but you should not be seeing bare spots. You said all of them. When I've had this type of problem it's been just one or two, not all.

The risk if the skin is bare is that he can cut them with his claws. At that age he probably doesn't have much spurs to worry about but some develop spurs early. If he slices them open the others can start pecking it.

Will he outgrow and ease up on them?

Probably. He's still a young energetic cockerel. They can be quite active with the girls. Usually when he matures a bit he mellows out and is less active. His technique could improve too as he matures. There is often a big difference in a young cockerel and a mature rooster.

My suggestion is to clip his claws if you are concerned about him cutting the girls. If he has sharp spurs you can blunt them too. If you cut too deep you'll hit the quick and it will bleed so don't go very deep. All you are after is to blunt the sharp tip so it is not dangerous. I wrap them in large towel to control him and use a Dremel tool and one of those cutting discs you use to cut metal. Someone else on here uses a Dremel tool with a grinder to take the tips off. Others use dog nail clippers.

For this the grinding tool sounds good, just round off the tip of the claws. With his scratching he will eventually sharpen his claws again but this might by some time or him to learn better technique.

Good luck!

 

[harleytater]

Are you seeing bare patches or just some thin areas? Some loss of feathers isn't unusual but you should not be seeing bare spots. You said all of them. When I've had this type of problem it's been just one or two, not all.

They are all showing loss of feathers, 2 of them are starting to go bare, they are a lot smaller than him.

Thanks for the tips. It was helpful.

 

[Mrs. K]

And remember, bare backed birds bother people more than it bothers chickens. Some hens's feathers are not real strong, and they will show the wear worse than other birds exposed to the same rooster.

It should get better. Look at how your hens act around the rooster, and go by that. Unless you see blood, then you got to do something else.

Mrs K