How to stop a rooster from breeding and ripping feathers off hens backs..Spraddle leg method

[milkweedz]

Well ladies,
I have had one too many hens the have their back feathers ripped out from the rooster breeding. I had a spraddle legged baby chick and found the bandaid to be quite helpful. I have Cochins so the feathers go right down to the toes.....I placed 2 bandiaids together...face to face and formed a soft and wide leg brace....then attaching the open face sticky part that attached after going around the leg.....my baby hen was corrected and she no walks almost pefectly...she has a bit of af loppy gait but she is ok.
Now......for the rooster... I was brainstorming after the baby cochin was walking on her own and was being faced with the idea of my hens's backs being torn up again...after the feathers just grew back
....I was thinking , if I made a HUMUNGUS bandaid type spraddle leg brace with duck tape.....it would be wide andwouldnt cut into his legs and cause irritation...while being storng enough to stay on for a week or so....and if need be I coud take the old one off and put another one on.
I measured about 5 inches in the middle and 4 inches off to the side and then 2 inches to wrap around........I placed duck tape in that 9 middle inches face to face.......leaving 2 inches sticking out....I wrapped the duck tape around each leg and making sure no sticky met up with feathers.....and overlapped the remaining 2 inches to stick in the middle...
A spraddle leg duck tape brace is now on my silverlaced Cochin rooster....
Now he walks about just fine with 5 inches beteen his legs...and a bit of a floppy fitting of soft duck tape....not tight...around his legs
....I saw him attempt to breed one of the hens...not only could he not jump up to mount the hen...but she is able to get out of his way...by simply walking faster than the rooster. I placed a nice ramp from the bottom of fhis coop so he can go up on a gentle slope and sit with the hens when he is in there at night.....so he isnt left on the floor by himself in the chilly night.
all in all...my duck tape spraddle leg brace is working just fine. He is there to protect the hens...and I dont have to worry about him ripping more feathers out.
I have about 8 hen saddles.....but he was so ruff with the hens...it sometimes was flipped about and he was able to dig at their wing feathers.....so the saddles just werent enough.....at least with this rooster....
We will leave the DUCK tape brace on for about 4 weeks.......once the girls have their feathers back..I will give him a break and remove the brace.....3 weeks on...3 weeks off...this gives him some pleasue in life...ad my girls keep their feathers thro the winter.
any one needing any advice or adding your experiences will be welcomed
feel free to email me.....milkweeds 61 at ya hoo

 

[chooks4life]

Well, that's one way to deal with it, lol! I've used a very similar thing to you, called it a 'shackle', but only used it temporarily on violent animals I needed to transport or can't yet cull for other reasons. Well, I used to, haven't in ages. I give them enough room between the legs to walk normally, scratch, mate, jump up and down from perches etc, but if they want to sprint after a victim they fall on their faces.

I wonder, though... How's he going to protect them when he can't even mate? If he can't run or jump, he's effectively useless as anything more than an early alarm system (which is pretty much all most roosters do anyway in terms of 'protection', despite the dashing tales of battles one hears... They're prey animals, reliant on flight not fight as they're not equipped to kill their average predator, and most roosters who are aggressive enough to attack all potential predators without any hesitation don't tend to last long, never mind actually protect the hens, lol... Just the first to die).

I cull hen-abusive roosters, not breed them, because that mentality is very heritable; I often run a hen/rooster ratio of up to 50:50, all together from chicks to adults, and the hens don't get 'overmated' (abused) because I culled out abusive males; it really is that simple.

Best wishes.

 

[milkweedz]

The fence around my chickerns is 10 feet high , they are in a pen about 60 feet long and 20 feet wide, with tons of maple trees ...and in 13 years I have never seen anything get in there...not even cats. Because the chicken wire and chain link fencing is too hard for them to climb......Even my cats wont scale the fencing.....
And they- Russian Blue cats( 2) appear to keep everything out succesfully.My cats grew up with the chickns and when they were tiny they could slip in when I was feeding, the chickens would run after the kittens......and care them have to death.
.......he is the only rooster for the time being....so he is the only game in town. The hens like him around , when I put him in the play pen to separate them, they always gather around him like some beloved husband. He isnt what I would call abusive...but he is rough when breeding. For 2 years we have tried everything...and this seems to be the only method that will work for us. My husband gets to keep his roster...I get to have my girls with their back feathers....and everyone is happy....
It may sound a bit unorthodox......but we had to throw away the book and punt...or Mr. Rooster was going to be slaughtered and put in the freezer.....this way everyone is happy.....but the rooster.
Duck tape is the only way to go in keepig him from breeding for weeks with no irritation to his legs since duck tape is wide and a very soft material....and no feather pulling....
Loving animals as I do...I cannot bear to have them hurting in any way.....no one or anyting has ever died from lack of copulating

LOlolollol
jean

 

[Nksg75]

Hi, I know this post is very old, however I was wondering how this turned out over time.
I have a Ayam Cemani rooster, whom my husband absolutely adores. (So options of get rid of him are out) He is a young hormonal thing, and has his favorite hen, which happens to be my favorite hen. I am in the process of sewing a hen saddle for her, but need options if it doesn't work.
I am getting ready to finish intergrating 15 more girls for him.(they have been in a divided enclosure for over a month, so they have had plenty of time in the "see but not touch" stage). The 15 new ones are only 17 weeks, so still not of laying age. I would like to prevent him from mating with them just yet, as there will be enough stress on them.
Anyway if you could just let me know if this ended up working for you, I would apprieciate it.

 

[chickwhisperer 17]

Well ladies,
I have had one too many hens the have their back feathers ripped out from the rooster breeding. I had a spraddle legged baby chick and found the bandaid to be quite helpful. I have Cochins so the feathers go right down to the toes.....I placed 2 bandiaids together...face to face and formed a soft and wide leg brace....then attaching the open face sticky part that attached after going around the leg.....my baby hen was corrected and she no walks almost pefectly...she has a bit of af loppy gait but she is ok.
Now......for the rooster... I was brainstorming after the baby cochin was walking on her own and was being faced with the idea of my hens's backs being torn up again...after the feathers just grew back
....I was thinking , if I made a HUMUNGUS bandaid type spraddle leg brace with duck tape.....it would be wide andwouldnt cut into his legs and cause irritation...while being storng enough to stay on for a week or so....and if need be I coud take the old one off and put another one on.
I measured about 5 inches in the middle and 4 inches off to the side and then 2 inches to wrap around........I placed duck tape in that 9 middle inches face to face.......leaving 2 inches sticking out....I wrapped the duck tape around each leg and making sure no sticky met up with feathers.....and overlapped the remaining 2 inches to stick in the middle...
A spraddle leg duck tape brace is now on my silverlaced Cochin rooster....
Now he walks about just fine with 5 inches beteen his legs...and a bit of a floppy fitting of soft duck tape....not tight...around his legs
....I saw him attempt to breed one of the hens...not only could he not jump up to mount the hen...but she is able to get out of his way...by simply walking faster than the rooster. I placed a nice ramp from the bottom of fhis coop so he can go up on a gentle slope and sit with the hens when he is in there at night.....so he isnt left on the floor by himself in the chilly night.
all in all...my duck tape spraddle leg brace is working just fine. He is there to protect the hens...and I dont have to worry about him ripping more feathers out.
I have about 8 hen saddles.....but he was so ruff with the hens...it sometimes was flipped about and he was able to dig at their wing feathers.....so the saddles just werent enough.....at least with this rooster....
We will leave the DUCK tape brace on for about 4 weeks.......once the girls have their feathers back..I will give him a break and remove the brace.....3 weeks on...3 weeks off...this gives him some pleasue in life...ad my girls keep their feathers thro the winter.
any one needing any advice or adding your experiences will be welcomed
feel free to email me.....milkweeds 61 at ya hoo

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