Does removing the Rooster's spur help with mating injuries?

[hayley3]

I am worried about my rooster situation. He is sorta my first big Rooster...although I've had hens for years.
He is a big gentle ben Rooster but he is REALLY hurting my hens backs. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they were attacked by a raccoon, the wounds are that bad.

I have been keeping them separate (I pluck the girls off the perch early AM and transfer them to another area so that they are separated all day)..However, one chicken flew into his pen!!!! and now she is re-injured.

He hangs out with the Polish chicken but last night I saw she was losing feathers and when I lifted them up, she has a circular injury the size of a golf ball!!!

So I clipped his nails and against my natural beliefs in chicken care, I removed his spurs after watching a youtube video. Now I have to let the girls heal, but does anyone know if removing the spurs will help keep his toes from slicing them open?

I did buy chicken saddles but I don't want to have to use them all the time. I plan on getting more chickens in May but he has all 3 of my chickens injured at this point, so if I had 6 they would all be injured so I feel I need to fix him, not the chickens.

Thanks,
Cheryl

 

[Eggcessive]

In my experience when I removed my rooster's spurs, they grew back in later with a more rounded tip. Check keep a check on them. I had to remove my roosters's spurs with pliers since one was growing into his leg. He had torn both of them off the year before. Usually I would normally just trim and file them to dull the ends, but mine grew too thick to trim. If he is young, you may want to remove him to a pen for a while to let the hens heal well, and for him to calm down a bit.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

Stories like this make me so grateful for my gentleman rooster (in my avatar). He has some good spurs on him, and I'm sure if he were a ruffian roo my girls would be tattered. But, he only mates them once a day and is very gentle with them. They lose a few feathers now and again but no real damage.

You may have to get a new roo. If he is a driven mater, then that is all he is going to do and unless you have lots of hens, they are gonna be injured. Even then, some roos pick their favs and overmate.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I did trim his nails too.
He seems gentle...he hops on and then hops back off, nothing rough at all.....and they don't seem injured. He is quite huge compared to them, although I got him at the same time as the hens. I read that when the roosters feet slide down, that is what causes the damage so that is why I removed his spurs. He is a very gentle rooster, which is why I like him so much.

Then you will need to manage him. Hens should not get wounds from mating. I personally have never seen it in any of my hens from any of the roosters. Some lose feathers, but never any wounds. Separate him out until you can get more hens or put those saddles on.

 

[hayley3]

He will be a year old in May. I was hoping it was the spurs that were doing the damage and since I got rid of them, he couldn't accidentally slice their skin anymore, I mean that was the purpose of doing that. I did read that some spurs grow in odd and maybe that is the reason his are so deadly to the hens. The only bad thing I've seen him do is peck their feet to move them off the roost. He is not rough. When it's warmer I will sit outside and observe more.

 

[Bonniebooboo]

Then you will need to manage him. Hens should not get wounds from mating. I personally have never seen it in any of my hens from any of the roosters. Some lose feathers, but never any wounds. Separate him out until you can get more hens or put those saddles on.

x 2! absolutely agree...

 

[Eggcessive]

He sounds like a good rooster. Just keep an eye on them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

6 hens won't be enough either. He's going to continue to over mate your hens. I would remove him either temporarily or permanently. In my experiences with poultry, nails do more damage than spurs. In your situation it's the constant mating.

 

[hayley3]

I did trim his nails too.
He seems gentle...he hops on and then hops back off, nothing rough at all.....and they don't seem injured. He is quite huge compared to them, although I got him at the same time as the hens. I read that when the roosters feet slide down, that is what causes the damage so that is why I removed his spurs. He is a very gentle rooster, which is why I like him so much.

 

[hayley3]

He is sleeping in a cage tonight within the stall where the hens are...