INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

She was dirty & needed a bath. Just put some red food coloring on a cotton ball while she was wet. Rinsed & it looked pink. DD has also used Crayola markers since they're also nontoxic. The silkied feathers work better. A friend used chalk to color her silkie. We never tried that.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

OMG How cute! no way to know their sex yet right?

Thanks! No will be a few weeks at least.

 

[Pollitos6]

Rooster question.-
I have a beautiful and friendly rooster who has more than twenty hens just for him. However, he is being very "active" with just a hand full of hens and my poor girls are becoming to get bold spots by their comb to the point that if I don't do anything about it they will start bleeding. I have put the rooster by himself in a kennel, at least until they hens heals. I really don't want to give him away, but I can't have my poor girls hurt. Has anyone experienced this issue with their rooster/s? if so, what do you do?

 

[Molpet]

Rooster question.-
I have a beautiful and friendly rooster who has more than twenty hens just for him. However, he is being very "active" with just a hand full of hens and my poor girls are becoming to get bold spots by their comb to the point that if I don't do anything about it they will start bleeding. I have put the rooster by himself in a kennel, at least until they hens heals. I really don't want to give him away, but I can't have my poor girls hurt. Has anyone experienced this issue with their rooster/s? if so, what do you do?

Hen saddles on the favorites
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-turkey-saddles.1338823/

 

[Pollitos6]

Hen saddles on the favorites
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-turkey-saddles.1338823/

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion, but the hens saddle are to protect the back right? The problem with my hens is the back of their head (behind the comb area) that's where they are getting bold and sore.

 

[Molpet]

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion, but the hens saddle are to protect the back right? The problem with my hens is the back of their head (behind the comb area) that's where they are getting bold and sore.

They grab that area to help hang on. It seems like they get a better foot hold on the saddle and don't have to hang on with the beak as much.... but the roos may already be in the habit so it might not help

 

[Pollitos6]

They grab that area to help hang on. It seems like they get a better foot hold on the saddle and don't have to hang on with the beak as much.... but the roos may already be in the habit so it might not help

It is worth trying it. Thanks so much!

 

[Faraday40]

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion, but the hens saddle are to protect the back right? The problem with my hens is the back of their head (behind the comb area) that's where they are getting bold and sore.

If he's a young cockerel, he may improve with age. (Develop a better technique)

 

[Pollitos6]

If he's a young cockerel, he may improve with age. (Develop a better technique)

This is his first spring and some of the big girls don't respect him yet, so I think that's why he is bothering so much the more docile hens. I really hope he calms done... in the mean time he is in a kennel .

 

[Faraday40]

This is his first spring and some of the big girls don't respect him yet, so I think that's why he is bothering so much the more docile hens. I really hope he calms done... in the mean time he is in a kennel .

That makes a lot more sense. My young orpington cockerel was hatched last summer, so this spring all of his orp pullets looked like naked necks. They finally grew back their feathers and are looking good again. Sadly, the hens he's covering are not giving me fertile eggs. He's been mating, but not mastered it yet. My orps mature very slowly, and it took his father a full year before his females were fertile.

I put hen saddles on a few pullets, because the boys always have their favorites.