- Jun 3, 2011
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I have a 9 month old Buff Orpington rooster and 10 hens in a 4x10 house and two 8x10 runs (one on each long side of the house, both accessible all the time). Roo is, shall we say, very enthusiastic about his rooster duties. All ten of the girls are losing all of the feathers on their backs and he is very unskilled when it comes to mounting them, often grabbing them by the back of the neck when they are too far away and then chasing after them like that. I'm starting to feel bad for the girls, and worried about the feather loss, and I am wondering three things: 1) is an over-enthusiastic rooster ever going to be less enthusiastic?, 2) will he eventually get more graceful about mounting the hens so they aren't so frequently subjected to the neck grab-and-chase, and 3) since he is at his peak enthusiasm first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, would keeping him separate during those times help, or would he just do the same thing when he got back in with the girls?
Oh, and an add on question, do any of your rooster sing the egg song when your hens do? This guy shouts out like he laid the eggs himself, which makes him one noisy fella, as he also crows about every half hour throughout most of the day and often throughout the night. (Fortunately we live pretty far from all of our neighbors!) Just curious.
Oh, and an add on question, do any of your rooster sing the egg song when your hens do? This guy shouts out like he laid the eggs himself, which makes him one noisy fella, as he also crows about every half hour throughout most of the day and often throughout the night. (Fortunately we live pretty far from all of our neighbors!) Just curious.
