Feather loss. Caused by a rooster or some other disease?

[fatimastic]

I have a flock of 1 roo : 8 hens of black Australorp.
My rooster is very aggressive, especially towards me. He doesn't allow anyone near his flock and attacks me a lot, which has caused me to observe my hens less.

After spring, the overall appearance of my hens has become somewhat messy and poor. 2 of his favorite hens are going through extreme feather loss. (First 4 pics)
Losing feathers on the head and the wings is a given, but they both also have broken feathers above their tails. Is that also due to the rooster?

All of my hens have a few feathers pecked out from their heads. (5th pic) And they all look dirty with broken feathers here and there.
They all used to look very shiny but now they all are dull looking.

Is this all due to the rooster or do we have a lice/mites situation?
Plus, I am finding a lot of feathers in their coop.

If it is due to the rooster, should we cull him and bring a new rooster? Aren't Australorps known to be docile, calm and polite?

 

[sdm111]

Thats from mating

 

[sdm111]

everybody here is going to say kill the rooster and eat it.

 

[fatimastic]

everybody here is going to say kill the rooster and eat it.

I am convincing my family to kill him and feed it to the poor but they are not agreeing.

Are all roosters like this? Will the next one also be this aggressive?

 

[coach723]

Every rooster is an individual. Some are rough, mean, nasty, etc. Some are not. I don't keep the nasty ones. If I can't walk into my coop or run without being attacked then that roo/cockerel becomes soup or stew. I keep the nice ones. I have two adult roo's right now, neither has ever gone after a human. They are both pretty sweet birds, they take care of the girls and cause no problems. I can pick them up and handle them when needed, and pick up and handle any hen. That's why they are here. I have some cockerels in my nursery pen now that I'm integrating that are 8 weeks old. At 7 weeks one ID'd himself as soup already. He charges me every time I go in there. There are way too many nice boys to keep and put up with the nasty ones, in my opinion. And breed is not necessarily an indicator of whether they will be good ones or not. I've had both good and bad from the same breed, so individual genetics plays a big role.

 

[fatimastic]

Every rooster is an individual. Some are rough, mean, nasty, etc. Some are not. I don't keep the nasty ones. If I can't walk into my coop or run without being attacked then that roo/cockerel becomes soup or stew. I keep the nice ones. I have two adult roo's right now, neither has ever gone after a human. They are both pretty sweet birds, they take care of the girls and cause no problems. I can pick them up and handle them when needed, and pick up and handle any hen. That's why they are here. I have some cockerels in my nursery pen now that I'm integrating that are 8 weeks old. At 7 weeks one ID'd himself as soup already. He charges me every time I go in there. There are way too many nice boys to keep and put up with the nasty ones, in my opinion. And breed is not necessarily an indicator of whether they will be good ones or not. I've had both good and bad from the same breed, so individual genetics plays a big role.

If I bring a sweet roo, will the condition of my hens improve? What is the sign that a rooster is sweet amongst many in a farm?

 

[coach723]

In my experience, the roo's that get out of your way, give you space, are a bit standoffish, end up being the keepers. When raising them from hatch sometimes it becomes apparent with the aggressive ones earliest. The friendly chicks, that let you hold them and pay lots of attention to you, often become the worst roosters. Those that are more standoffish, give you space, get out of your way, often become the better ones. It's very hard to predict and can be pretty variable, but those traits stand out to me. A bird that charges me, tries to peck, spur or flog me, isn't going to stay. As far as the hens, a boy that was raised around another mature, nice boy has an example of how to treat the girls. But for the first year they are really immature and hormonal and sometimes rough and rude. Some will calm down as they mature, some won't. If you are going to choose a mature roo from somewhere, I would walk through the flock, see how they behave. Do they get out of your way, or charge and posture, or worse? PIck up one of his hens and see what he does. Then pick him up, see what he does. When I pick up one of my hens my roo's watch, but they don't do anything else. You can see they are concerned, but they don't go at me in any way. I've had some nasty roo's that you literally can't turn your back on, and I've had some really good ones. If you bring one in you need to integrate slowly, hens do not always welcome a new roo warmly, and they can actually hurt him depending on personalities. Also, 8 hens to one roo may not be quite enough. Again, it depends very much on the individual birds in question. That number may work with some, but other roo's may over mate that number and they will get beat up looking. Once they have feather damage from a roo the feathers often don't fill back in until they molt.

 

[fatimastic]

In my experience, the roo's that get out of your way, give you space, are a bit standoffish, end up being the keepers. When raising them from hatch sometimes it becomes apparent with the aggressive ones earliest. The friendly chicks, that let you hold them and pay lots of attention to you, often become the worst roosters. Those that are more standoffish, give you space, get out of your way, often become the better ones. It's very hard to predict and can be pretty variable, but those traits stand out to me. A bird that charges me, tries to peck, spur or flog me, isn't going to stay. As far as the hens, a boy that was raised around another mature, nice boy has an example of how to treat the girls. But for the first year they are really immature and hormonal and sometimes rough and rude. Some will calm down as they mature, some won't. If you are going to choose a mature roo from somewhere, I would walk through the flock, see how they behave. Do they get out of your way, or charge and posture, or worse? PIck up one of his hens and see what he does. Then pick him up, see what he does. When I pick up one of my hens my roo's watch, but they don't do anything else. You can see they are concerned, but they don't go at me in any way. I've had some nasty roo's that you literally can't turn your back on, and I've had some really good ones. If you bring one in you need to integrate slowly, hens do not always welcome a new roo warmly, and they can actually hurt him depending on personalities. Also, 8 hens to one roo may not be quite enough. Again, it depends very much on the individual birds in question. That number may work with some, but other roo's may over mate that number and they will get beat up looking. Once they have feather damage from a roo the feathers often don't fill back in until they molt.

Thank you.

We may dispose of him or give him away.

 

[Raylegbar]

I have a flock of 1 roo : 8 hens of black Australorp.
My rooster is very aggressive, especially towards me. He doesn't allow anyone near his flock and attacks me a lot, which has caused me to observe my hens less.

After spring, the overall appearance of my hens has become somewhat messy and poor. 2 of his favorite hens are going through extreme feather loss. (First 4 pics)
Losing feathers on the head and the wings is a given, but they both also have broken feathers above their tails. Is that also due to the rooster?

All of my hens have a few feathers pecked out from their heads. (5th pic) And they all look dirty with broken feathers here and there.
They all used to look very shiny but now they all are dull looking.

Is this all due to the rooster or do we have a lice/mites situation?
Plus, I am finding a lot of feathers in their coop.

If it is due to the rooster, should we cull him and bring a new rooster? Aren't Australorps known to be docile, calm and polite?

Well have raised a backyard flock, many breeds for 35 years. My experience on feather loss is: molting, mites\parasite s, roosters, other hens, and never had what I thought was a diet problem. Always look for mites (bugs, Parasite s) every month even if there is no feather loss and you don't have to look at EVERY chicken. Molting is a natural growth and can be severe or mild. Breeders back is often spotted with bloody scratches on the back, a few loss of neck feathers is often associated with roosters breeding. if it's only a couple of hens with breeders back and loss of neck feather, suspect a rooster has selected "favourites" he over breeds with. Observe if there are overly aggressive hens that badger a hen with feather loss. I have On occasion increased feed protein to 22 percent. In each case, they all came out just fine. But it can take up to 3 months to get those feathers back. Treat, the suspected cause, see what happens. Observe carefully the behaviour of your flock. Feather loss in my flocks over 35 years ,, has been 90% due to molting, 5% bugs, 5% roosters or other hens.

 

[Raylegbar]

Well have raised a backyard flock, many breeds for 35 years. My experience on feather loss is: molting, mites\parasite s, roosters, other hens, and never had what I thought was a diet problem. Always look for mites (bugs, Parasite s) every month even if there is no feather loss and you don't have to look at EVERY chicken. Molting is a natural growth and can be severe or mild. Breeders back is often spotted with bloody scratches on the back, a few loss of neck feathers is often associated with roosters breeding. if it's only a couple of hens with breeders back and loss of neck feather, suspect a rooster has selected "favourites" he over breeds with. Observe if there are overly aggressive hens that badger a hen with feather loss. I have On occasion increased feed protein to 22 percent. In each case, they all came out just fine. But it can take up to 3 months to get those feathers back. Treat, the suspected cause, see what happens. Observe carefully the behaviour of your flock. Feather loss in my flocks over 35 years ,, has been 90% due to molting, 5% bugs, 5% roosters or other hens. I Never, ever, keep an aggressive rooster...it takes the FUN Out. And can be dangerous. I always, have nice friendly roosters, now that's fun.