Is it mites or overly amorous roosters?

[TwistedPines]

I've got technically 3 roosters, but really only 2 that do the majority of the mating around my place. They're both BIG RLBW boys and the third is a silver laced Polish. I've got 22 girls running with them, yes I know that's low for 3 boys and I'm working on that. However, I've noticed that quite a few of my hens, not all though, are missing serious patches of feathers on their backs and wings. I've gotten the hen saddles put on the worst of them thinking it was just the roos being roos, but now a few more are looking like they are loosing feathers. They got moved to a brand new coop less than a month ago and have been treated for mites,but I'm not sure that is the problem to begin with, and if it is, that I got 'em all. Anyone with any words of wisdom?

Thanks in advance.





One of the culprits; this is Cogburn. Even he looks like he's losing feathers.


The other culprit.

 

[eviemethugh]

The missing feathers above their tail are from hens that fight back while being "loved."

usually it doesn't matter he big the boy is, the hen should lay down and she will be fine, even small bantams against large roosters. The missing feathers near the vent....I can't say for sure because I've never seen it. However I will say, bright red spots like that sometimes encourage pecking from the other hens. You might want to buy violet spray to camouflage the redness.

 

[Shewolf3808]

Feather loss in the vent area is usually due to mites or lice, inspect them closely with good lighting, you should be able to see them if that's the problem. The back areas are probably from rooster treading/breeding. Although not harmful in itself, it can lead to feather pulling. Spray the area with Blue kote spray to camouflage it and give the feathers a chance to regrow.