Breeding or bulling?

[lleeme]

New chicken mom here. I originally bought 6 chicks back in March. Shortly after I figured I didn't want to wait 4 months for eggs and bought 2 laying hens and a rooster. Since then I have lost one to a fox and bought 2 more laying hens. The hens seem to be rather sparsly feathered in their backs, and I have noticed since my chicks have integrated that the older ones chase them off a lot, ie feeding or treats though the girls I can hand feed the treats to. Anyway, I was working in the yard today and noticed Foghorn chasing after some of the girls and one of the hens. At first I thought he was being mean but now I read a few feeds on missing feathers and I am wondering. Do I have a bad hen to rooster ratio? What can I do to help this. I have 28 chick's right now and I know at least 2 are roosters. Any advice?

 

[Battlepants]

So, putting together some numbers here...
1 rooster (or at least mature cockerel)
3 laying hens
26 non-laying pullets
2 immature cockerels
-this sound about right?

So, the main issue I see with this setup currently is the rooster to hen ratio. He's likely only attempting mating with the 3 laying hens, so they are getting a LOT of attention. Likely too much for them to handle. A generally good ratio is 1 rooster to around 8 hens to divide up his attention.

As a workaround, I would strongly suggest getting some hen saddles for your hens. This will give them a bit of armor to deal with his claws a bit better until the new pullets start to draw some of his attention.

If your hens are still getting beat up even with the hen saddles, it might be worth separating him from the flock for a couple days to let them heal. I generally don't like to completely remove chickens from their flock if at all possible, so putting up a divided living space is a good middle ground - they can still see and talk to eachother, but it stops the mating for a little while.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think there is 9 close to laying.

How do these older birds act to the rooster, do they love him, follow him around, listen to him, or do they hide in the chicken coop, stay roosted up and try an avoid him?

Bareback chickens bother people way more than they tend to bother chickens.

Do you have the chicks with the flock? You are going to need a pretty big set up, for close to 40 birds. Do you free range?

Mrs K

 

[lleeme]

I think there is 9 close to laying.

How do these older birds act to the rooster, do they love him, follow him around, listen to him, or do they hide in the chicken coop, stay roosted up and try an avoid him?

Bareback chickens bother people way more than they tend to bother chickens.

Do you have the chicks with the flock? You are going to need a pretty big set up, for close to 40 birds. Do you free range?

Mrs K

The run is 16 by 48. And you are right, it is 3 hens laying, 5 about to lay, and the newer babies are in 1 pen outside the run, a few on my porch to keep the twisted beak one company, and another 10 still in the house.

I agree I need more hens, but will have to wait for them to grow. I think he is chasing the girls to breed, I know at least one is laying because I am finding small eggs not in the nesting boxes.

My land is not fenced from the road but it is about 150 yards from it. I am just starting to let them free range. Only after getting my eggs for the day. I have found if I let them out in the morning I end up with no eggs!

 

[Tonyroo]

If your rooster is overly aggressive with the hens, I would put him in a time out space for a week or more.

This requires an extra structure only used for sick birds healing, bully birds, and maybe for chicks.

But if you decide not to separate keep attention to your hens for injuries and treat as needed.

 

[Mrs. K]

You might put the rooster where you have the chicks, and put the chicks with the hens is they are 3-4 weeks old. I have found, getting the chicks in there ASAP works much better in developing a proper chicken society.

Turn out you older birds, and lock your chicks in the main set up. Do make sure there are hide outs, and multiple feed bowls. After an hour or so, go down and give those chicks a mock chase into a safety zone. They are quick, they can out run a full size bird if they have somewhere to go. I find a pallet, up on low blocks, just a few inches off the ground, is accessible from multiple sides and works well.

Separating the rooster just might be enough to let those point of lay birds to grow up a bit, and some age on him? Not quite sure how old he is. Do know that not all roosters work out. Some are better than others, by quite a bit.

Mrs K

 

[lleeme]

I have attt

If your rooster is overly aggressive with the hens, I would put him in a time out space for a week or more.

This requires an extra structure only used for sick birds healing, bully birds, and maybe for chicks.

But if you decide not to separate keep attention to your hens for injuries and treat as neched

 

[lleeme]

Here is what they look like, a little shaggy but no wounds. I am not even sure if it is bad enough for saddles.

He is good with the hens, calls them with food, and when he thinks they need to return to the coop. He and the older ones chase the girls a bit.

Funny but this morning they hogged the feeder first, then when the older ones got tired of waiting they chased them off. The girls travel in a mini flock.