Can chickens survive the winter without feathers

marvun22

Songster
7 Years
Jul 8, 2012
680
20
124
North Dakota
My rooster is destroying a hen and I'm wondering if she'll even be able to survive the winter. My temperatures can get as low as -50, but they usually don't.
 
My rooster is destroying a hen and I'm wondering if she'll even be able to survive the winter. My temperatures can get as low as -50, but they usually don't.

remove rooster or add more females
idunno.gif
.....They have chicken sweaters you can buy
 
I'd get rid of the rooster.
I don't know what to say about that stupid rooster. He is the best defender and most human-friendly rooster I've ever had. Yet he has 11 hens for himself and he rips up 11 of them. 1 (the one I posted about) is in terrible condition. I'll get a picture of how hurt she is.
remove rooster or add more females
idunno.gif
.....They have chicken sweaters you can buy
I'll look into the sweater. I'm looking into rehoming it.
 
Here's my pictures of what has happened to my poor Buff Orpington



These are 2 pictures of her back.

Here's her left side.

And here's her right side.

Poor hen, I feel really sorry for her.
 
YEAH with a ratio of 1:11 and still looks like that!
somad.gif
I agree with above poster-get rid of that roo!!!! and find the poor little love a sweater until she molts and can grow them back
 
Hello there!


How cold are your winters? I'm in the north of England and over here and things are always pretty cold and miserable, I've rescued ex-batts in winter with less feathers then your girl (almost oven ready) and they have done absolutely fine, just make sure they have places to go to get out of the wind/rain/snow.

I honestly wouldn't recommend the sweaters, I have friends who have used them for their ex-batts and they've actually got caught up and very stressed in them - you also have to make sure they do not get wet at all, as that is worse for the hen. And hens are hot little critters so you also don't want them to over heat in them either.

You can get saddles for hens with a randy rooster - not known anyone personally who have used them but they look a bit safer than the sweaters.

Best of luck :) x
 
I use saddles on some of my girls. I have one hen in particular who seems to be the favorite and always has a bare back and sides if I don't keep a saddle on her. Occasionally I will take it off of her for a day, but then I have to keep her separate from the rooster. She has several, so when one gets wet or too dirty, I will switch to another. She doesn't mind it at all.

 
I use saddles on some of my girls. I have one hen in particular who seems to be the favorite and always has a bare back and sides if I don't keep a saddle on her. Occasionally I will take it off of her for a day, but then I have to keep her separate from the rooster. She has several, so when one gets wet or too dirty, I will switch to another. She doesn't mind it at all.



Yes they look much better than the woolen sweaters. Bless your little hen!
 

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