I have 7 hens and 1 roo- mostly orps. He is a splash orp and I would love to let him stay with my blue/black hens. However, I have a friend who has 10-11 hens and 1 roo and her hens are BALD! Do breeding hens always get bald? I do not want my gorgeous girls all bald and irritated. He seems unaggressive so far, but is only 4.5 months old.
No breeding hens do not always go bald. Something else might be going on.... a moult? Perhaps some mites or lice on head? Another problem.... Check over in emergencies and diseases by a search....I remember seeing a few other things there.
This really depends on the rooster. Some are gentle with their girls, or are just more skilled in the lovin' department, and their hens don't suffer any ill effects. Others are rough with the hens, and really do a number on the feathers. Rooster damage is generally broken feathers around the shoulders, bare spots on the back and head, occasionally even lacerations under the wings. I got rid of one rooster who was fantastic with people because he was so rough with his harem. Got rid of another who was gentle with his harem because he decided to become a manfighter. Sigh. I'm raising up a couple of teenagers in hopes of finding the best of both worlds.
If your friend has 10 - 11 hens and they are all bald, it is probably not the rooster, or at least not only because of the rooster. What you are talking about as bald is normally called barebacked hens, but as Lauralou said, it is usually more than just their backs involved. There are several different things that go into whether a hen will be barebacked, how often they mate, the rooster's technique and energy, the hen's resistance, size difference between the rooster and hen, and several others, I'm sure. There are not many rooster's around with the energy to keep that many hens all barebacked, no matter how rough his technique or how much adolescent energy he has. Barebacked hens is not an unusual problem, otherwise there would not be so many of us that knows what it looks like. But not all hens with roosters are barebacked and not all breeding flocks have barebacked hens. Cubalaya's experience is not that unusual. Here is a link to another thread where some others with experience talk about it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=250327 None of us can tell you what will happen in your situation with your rooster and hens. They are all different. What I can tell you is that if your rooster is 19 to 20 weeks old and is with pullets that age or older, he is most likely already mating with the pullets or at least trying to.
