Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[ronott1]

I have a Australorp rooster that I love, he's not aggressive, doesn't over mate but when he dose mate since he's huge/heavy weight he's cutting off girls back feathers with his feet and he's not making the girls bald backs but cutting the feathers in half he keeps putting his feet on there back and not there wings when mating, FFS.. It's like he's giving the girls a haircut on there backs. Any help? Or get a new rooster? He's makes a good breeding cock but can't show half the girls since he gave them a haircut on there back with his T-Rex legs.

A lot of people use Saddles. There are patterns somewhere on BYC for making them and some sell them in the BST section.

Best!

 

[hellbender]

I have a Australorp rooster that I love, he's not aggressive, doesn't over mate but when he dose mate since he's huge/heavy weight he's cutting off girls back feathers with his feet and he's not making the girls bald backs but cutting the feathers in half he keeps putting his feet on there back and not there wings when mating, FFS.. It's like he's giving the girls a haircut on there backs. Any help? Or get a new rooster? He's makes a good breeding cock but can't show half the girls since he gave them a haircut on there back with his T-Rex legs.

Sounds like a keeper to me! Let him 'love'em and leave'em', once his job is done.

 

[Arielle]

I would try the saddle first as well. Though I haven't had much luck with the girls keeping them on. Not sure why. I would give them a try though. I looked up a pattern on line,and construction is very easy.

Otherwise, I did read of someone that rotated the rooster from pen to pen, living one day at a time with each hen . . . that method has it's pros and cons.

 

[Vamvakas]

Yeah, I may look into the saddle but I have a feeling it wont work.. As for the breeding pens I don't have a lot of pens like that I only have 1 small coop for the birds for meat/culls for the freezer, 1 mid size coop for the Naked Necks, and 1 large coop for the Australorps. I guess wont be showing many Australorps any time soon, only Naked Necks cause he mates right without ripping feathers.

 

[gjensen]

Sounds like a keeper to me! Let him 'love'em and leave'em', once his job is done.

What do you mean? You do not select for nice, well behaved roos? LOL.

 

[gjensen]

Yeah, I may look into the saddle but I have a feeling it wont work.. As for the breeding pens I don't have a lot of pens like that I only have 1 small coop for the birds for meat/culls for the freezer, 1 mid size coop for the Naked Necks, and 1 large coop for the Australorps. I guess wont be showing many Australorps any time soon, only Naked Necks cause he mates right without ripping feathers.

Maybe you can set up some cheap pens, that can act as conditioning pens and temporary quarters? Your pen only has to be as fancy as your ego requires. I see a lot of effective, economical pens. Sounds like you need some seasonal arrangements. Probably would not cost more than saddles and diapers. LOL.

You can modify those spurs to.

The cock birds are going to put wear on the females. Especially the favorites. It is helpful to separate them for periods of time.

 

[gjensen]

 

[Vamvakas]

I know what he hellbender means... The rooster is nice, and he doesn't mean to rip feathers, but he can't help it, and it just happens. It is what it is.. Sadly lol..

Edit: Just a suggestion, but I think we should make a TeamSpeak channel to discuss more better from audio for the Heritage Large Fowl Thread, real voices are better then internet talk.

 

[MagicChicken]

That sounds great if you only have one batch of eggs in the incubator at a time. I've been setting eggs every week to ten days. There are usually eggs of different stages in my incubator at the same time. As soon as one batch goes into the hatcher the remaining eggs get candled, moved to a different section of the incubator, and a new batch goes into the open spaces. Couldn't really cool one set of eggs without cooling all of them. That would probably be counterproductive.

Sarah

 

[MagicChicken]

I know what he hellbender means... The rooster is nice, and he doesn't mean to rip feathers, but he can't help it, and it just happens. It is what it is.. Sadly lol..

Edit: Just a suggestion, but I think we should make a TeamSpeak channel to discuss more better from audio for the Heritage Large Fowl Thread, real voices are better then internet talk.

Is it partly a feather quality issue with those particular birds? Can you work on strengthening the feathers? Might take a few years of experimenting with conditioning feed and selecting for females with stronger feathers, but it could help in the long run.

Sarah