Barebacked Girls

[JodyJo]

I have a friend who has say, 30 pullets, and only 1 roo. This doesn't bother him, we gave him a gorgeous Australorp roo last year, but he died mysteriously.
My question is: are there particular pullets the roosters prefer?

I was visiting him the other day and heard what I thought was "egg song" from the coop so went to see...he had 3 pullets in there nesting, all 3 had completely skinned backs...it was gross, all without feathers. I knew it was/is from the rooster, but none of the other girls were like this...I personally think he needs to isolate those girls till they recover, or get a new rooster? They are BO about 1-2 yrs old.

Ideas from anyone? Like I said, not my chickens, but if it happens to me, I want to know what everyone else thinks?

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Oh, yes...roosters pick their favorites. Often times it is someone lower on the pecking order that will submit to him.

That can be a problem. Certain breeds of roosters are worse about picking favorites. If the rooster is picking favorites out of 30 pullets, I would say get rid of him and get a different breed for sure!

 

[LunarRayne]

My MIL had 3 hens and 1 rooster. When they got old enough to lay, he chased 2 away. When they would not leave he attacked and killed them. He is now in my flock. I have other roosters so he is leaving my hens alone. He refuses to mate with any hen that is not his wife. He will only mate with 1 hen and she runs from all the roosters except her husband. No joke they have mated for life.

My point is, sometimes they want a few and pick their favorites and will leave the others alone. I have a rooster that did. his wife is barebacked from all the mating. I am actually keeping them separate for the most of the day to give her a break. It is definitely helping her feathers come back, just not as quickly as I had hoped.

I think the hens will be fine, but I would separate them for at least part of the day. It will give them a break and help with the feathers too. Good Luck!

 

[Schrebergaertner]

Barebacked hens could also be from other hens picking on them. We have no rooster and several of our hens have different levels of bare patches on their backs.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
these are COMPLETELY stripped of feathers, and not just a few....all the way from head to tail and side to side...

Again, these are NOT my hens....just wanted to know if I was correct in the way it should be dealt with.

 

[cmom]

Yes some males will prefer to mate with certain females and completely wear the feathers off of their backs. Some people use chicken saddles to prevent this.

 

[Dutchgirl]

Get 'em saddles!

 

[cpwhip]

please post a link to chicken saddles, I have got to see this! yeeeeeeee hawwwwww.....

 

[TarainNC]

I had a a RIR and his favorites were my two smaller easter eggers. One was bald and the other I found with puncture wounds. I had to find him another home. It has been quite a few weeks and my light colored EE has grown her feathers back. My dark EE was a very sick bird for awhile. I had to separate her, give her lots of TLC, antibiotics, and she is finally getting better. It was so bad that both stopped laying. One has resumed laying and I am trying to fatten the other up so she will start laying again.