How long for feathers to grow back?

[Ninjasquirrel]

Ive had to seperate my roo due to overbreeding. He has a specific favorite and despite saddling her she continued to loose feathers. The final straw was when he ripped her saddle off. I put coconut oil on her skin to sooth the irritation and the redness has gone down. I might have to keep them seperate all winter but I prefer not to. Shes molting right now so Im wondering how long it will take for feather regrowth? Shes on feather fixer nutrena.

 

[Mrs. K]

A lot of the feather damage could be due to the fact that they are old feathers, and she was about to molt, but roosters can leave marks.

If I read your post correctly, you have removed the rooster, and kept the hens together. I hope that is right. It will be relatively easy to re-add the rooster in when you want. But adding a hen that has been by herself, is very difficult. I very seldom separate birds because it often causes more problems that it solves. And it can be a lot of monkeying around.

So if you want, you probably could put the rooster back in now. If she is molting, she will probably regrow the feathers, and look just fine for several months. You might check the rooster's feet, specially his feet, and toe nails. Many people file them to keep them from being so sharp.

And you might take a good look at your run. Is it a bare open space, whereas a chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time. Well then you might add clutter, and hideouts to your run giving your hen space to get out of the sight of the rooster.

As to your question: some birds molt fast, and grow back fast, and some do not, and about drive you nuts. People do feed higher protein and in theory that should help, but really I have found it more to be 6 fingers on one hand, half a dozen on the other.

If your rooster is too aggressive, you might remove him permanently. Consider why you have him. Sometimes they are not worth the disruption to the flock.

Mrs. K

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

A lot of the feather damage could be due to the fact that they are old feathers, and she was about to molt, but roosters can leave marks.

If I read your post correctly, you have removed the rooster, and kept the hens together. I hope that is right. It will be relatively easy to re-add the rooster in when you want. But adding a hen that has been by herself, is very difficult. I very seldom separate birds because it often causes more problems that it solves. And it can be a lot of monkeying around.

So if you want, you probably could put the rooster back in now. If she is molting, she will probably regrow the feathers, and look just fine for several months. You might check the rooster's feet, specially his feet, and toe nails. Many people file them to keep them from being so sharp.

And you might take a good look at your run. Is it a bare open space, whereas a chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time. Well then you might add clutter, and hideouts to your run giving your hen space to get out of the sight of the rooster.

As to your question: some birds molt fast, and grow back fast, and some do not, and about drive you nuts. People do feed higher protein and in theory that should help, but really I have found it more to be 6 fingers on one hand, half a dozen on the other.

If your rooster is too aggressive, you might remove him permanently. Consider why you have him. Sometimes they are not worth the disruption to the flock.

Mrs. K

He just doesnt have enough girls. Hes really sweet actually. Hes just too horny. We seperated him for now. He was irritating her skin with all his mounting. I'll look into trimming his nails and spurs. We have a dog clipper so I'll have to have DH hold him ehile I do it. We only have 9 hens and we need him for breeding the next batch.