How to keep rooster from injuring hens during mating?

[esme13]

Saddle apron can help for the hens. I’m thinking he isn’t balancing well or is a large cockerel ?

 

[NatJ]

You can also separate him for a week at a time. Once mated, the hens will lay fertile eggs for at least 2 weeks.

I would try to let him mate with each hen at least once a week, to be more sure about all eggs being fertile. (I find several studies where they let a hen mate once, and then counted how many days she laid fertile eggs: the fertile eggs generally stopped by day 10.)

 

[WillowMoonWyandottes]

Saddle apron can help for the hens. I’m thinking he isn’t balancing well or is a large cockerel ?

He is very tall so maybe balancing is the main issue

Where do I find the saddles?

 

[esme13]

He is very tall so maybe balancing is the main issue

Where do I find the saddles?

I purchased mine off of Etsy. It probably is a balancing issue + hormonal. Give him time, but the apron will help the hens a lot.

 

[McChooky]

My big Delaware roosters hurting my Dominique hens so I ordered 4 Delaware pullets for him. I also ordered a Dominique rooster for my girls and hope he won't grow to be a 10 pounder like my other guy. Chicken math is doubling my flock size....

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If I accidentally hit the quick how do I treat it just in case?
That’s interesting about them being fertile for 2 weeks, I actually didn’t know that. I may separate if nothing else works.

Most avian species are unique in that they can retain viable sperm at body temperature for a long time after a single mating. It is 2 to 3 weeks in chicken hens and 10 to 15 weeks in turkey hens.
Upon mating, sperm is retained in sperm storage tubules at the junction between the uterus and the vagina. It stays there until the next egg passes, squeezing some out so it can venture up the oviduct to the infundibulum where it is again retained in more tubules until it is able to fertilize the next ovum that drops from the ovary into the infundibulum. Theoretically, some continues to become released from the utero-vaginal junction each time an egg passes.
A cubic millimeter of rooster semen contains 3 to 5 million sperm.

Last paragraph in the oviduct section.
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/
More info.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3944358/

 

[3KillerBs]

"It is 2 to 3 weeks in chicken hens and 10 to 15 weeks in turkey hens."

I have 3 black pullets to prove that even 4 weeks is possible.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/24428758

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I would separate the rooster keep all the hens together and just bring a hen over to him when needed to. Ive done this with my black ameraucana rooster as he doesnt live with hens because they will pluck his muffs and beard out so hens are brought to him to quickly mate then back to the pen

 

[ChickenCanoe]

"It is 2 to 3 weeks in chicken hens and 10 to 15 weeks in turkey hens."

I have 3 black pullets to prove that even 4 weeks is possible.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/24428758

Brilliant.
I always recommend people wait at least 3 weeks before attempting to hatch from a replacement rooster's mating. If the breed and variety are the same as the previous rooster, there is no guarantee.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I haven't had to use a saddle, but I saved several patterns just in case I needed them. Some require sewing and some do not.
http://www.linnacresfarm.com/2014/04/how-to-make-simple-hen-saddleapron.html
https://www.walkerland.ca/amp/chicken-saddle/
https://hellosewing.com/chicken-apron-hen-saddle-pattern/