Hens pecking rooster - neck "armor"

[KranK]

It was probably rubbing him. Maybe try something softer.

I think its more because many aninals dont like things put on them. I can search for softer material like tshirt sleeve but it should be secured better so he couldnt take it off. I need to work out how to secure it in place

 

[KranK]

2 bullies got isolated. Hopefully after a few days they'll stop.

 

[Deepsea2EOD]

Hello to begin with i must say that my roo doesn't have much respct from hens. They don't squat when he approaches them etc. Some days ago 2 hens (sometimes other join the "play" but rarely) started pecking his neck feathers out. They only peck him and his neck (sometimes other parts but the neck is the only naked-pecked part) and sometimes even eat the feathers. They are horrible, he tries running away but they keep following and pecking his feathers out. He's isolated now but i was trying to put a sock with a hole cut out on his neck so it would cover the naked area and there would be no pecking but he got it down and uncovered the area. Any advice ? I don't want to keep him isolated for too long so i'd really appreaciate any idea similiar to mine.

I had feather picking problems in the past and looked around quite a bit for answers on how to stop it. The solution that has worked best for me was from an article that suggested sodium deficiency in a chicken’s diet and to put another free choice, small waterer out with a teaspoon or less of sea salt diluted in a liter or more of water. This stopped the feather picking within a day. I am told there’s a bit of blood in the base of the feather that has sodium in it, which is sometimes how it starts if there’s a deficiency in their diet. I noticed the same behavior you described with a couple hens pecking and eating feathers out of our rooster, Crotty’s neck. Putting out the diluted salt water every other day for a couple times seemed to stop the behavior. I just noticed it again this morning after a month of peace. Time to make more salt water. I hope this helps alleviate your issue. Please let me know if it does.

 

[Deepsea2EOD]

Here they are all enjoying the lightly salted water. I’ll repeat this in a day or two for a max of three times is all it ever took to stop the feather picking.

 

[KranK]

I had feather picking problems in the past and looked around quite a bit for answers on how to stop it. The solution that has worked best for me was from an article that suggested sodium deficiency in a chicken’s diet and to put another free choice, small waterer out with a teaspoon or less of sea salt diluted in a liter or more of water. This stopped the feather picking within a day. I am told there’s a bit of blood in the base of the feather that has sodium in it, which is sometimes how it starts if there’s a deficiency in their diet. I noticed the same behavior you described with a couple hens pecking and eating feathers out of our rooster, Crotty’s neck. Putting out the diluted salt water every other day for a couple times seemed to stop the behavior. I just noticed it again this morning after a month of peace. Time to make more salt water. I hope this helps alleviate your issue. Please let me know if it does.

Thanks for your will to help but rooster had to be culled. He kept mating and bullying limping hens.