All my hens are bald!

[sadies0111]

I've read about hens having bald spots on their backs from being a favorite of the roo...but I have 4 hens to 1 rooster, and they all have huge bald spots, some even have feathers worn off of the tops of their wings. Is this normal, or is my rooster a little crazy? Non of the girls seem to be hurt, or mind having him mate with them so often, and they are all laying everyday. It live in WI, so it is starting to get cold, and I don't know if I should make saddles for all my hens or to make Sal into chicken soup. Any suggestions would be good. Thanks.

 

[chicmom]

It is normal, but I personally like a pretty hen, so I'd make him soup, if you don't want to breed or hatch eggs.......

Maybe if you bought five more hens, then he'd have more girlfriends and it would be a bit less trama for each hen...

 

[AZBootsie]

Quote:
Sounds like a winner to me. More chickens is Always the way to go!!

Seriously though, you could do the saddle thing or maybe trim his spurs and nails.

 

[sadies0111]

Adding hens is a good suggestion, but our coop is pretty small, so even though they have an enormous run, I don't want to crowd them, since they spend so much time inside during the winter months.

 

[moetrout]

More hens,saddles for the hens you have, or cull that rooster.

 

[sadies0111]

Okay, I was just reading through some other threads, and some people said that sometimes feathers won't grow back until after they molt. This is my first batch of chickens, and they are all nearing a year old, and have been laying regularly for 6-7 months. When can I expect them to molt?

 

[chicmom]

They usually have their first full molt during their second Autumn.

 

[pgpoultry]

You have the answers. This type of chicken saddle works well.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

It seems to me like some breeds have more feather breakage than others. One flock with multiple breeds and only the delaware sex links end up half bald! For right now there is only one breeding age roo and 23 hens so lack of hens is not the problem....

 

[paceysgl5]

How do you know if it is a roo doing the pecking vs. other chickens?

We have a number of our hens (maybe 5 or so) with bald spots above and around their tails. Never seen the actual pecking though, so we've been allowing them 100% free range during the day, trying the blukote, etc but nothing seems to be helping. I hadn't even thought about the roos - we have 2 roos and 17 hens. Would the roos peck the hens like that (around the tail, inc tail) or in another way?