Is this normal rooster behavior?

[somanychickens]

We bought all our chicks last spring, and they've all grown up together. I have one rooster in with about 25 hens. He's a barred rock, and the hens are all different breeds. Last summer he killed a banty by breeding her to death.

He has his favorite hens, and most of them have little or no tail feathers left. He has made one hen bleed fairly severely as well, in the past. Right now, he is missing a lot of feathers around his vent, and the skin is very red. We tried putting him in a large outdoor rabbit hutch to give all of them a break, but it didn't work out too well. Several of the hens right now have large areas of feathers around their vents missing--the size of the palm of your hand or so. Is this normal? Do we have a bully rooster? We had planned on hatching chicks this spring, but it really is a lot of extra work, seperating the battered hens, not to mention their state of minds! Any advice?

 

[mamaKate]

I would separate him or .. I started to say re-home but that wouldn't work. He'd just do it somewhere else. How are his spurs? Could they be the problem?

 

[Wynette]

He should certainly be able to handle 25 hens and none of them really ought to have feathers missing...have you checked for mites? They'll pull feathers sometimes when they have mites...it's very hard to find them, but if they have them, it'll drive them nuts if it's a bad infestation.

 

[somanychickens]

I don't think it's mites--some of the hens are completely untouched, and his favorites are always bloody and/or bald. When we seperate the hens and thier tails grow back, when they go back to the chicken house, it's just a matter of time before they're worn off again.

What should I be looking for as regards to his spurs? They're maybe 1/4 inch long. Do I need to despur or something? This is my first flock, sorry if my questions are silly!!

 

[rancher hicks]

First I have the same problem w/ Nearly Headless Nick. I recently put one hen back in but she would drop to be mated at any movement. I personally don't recommend hatching non pure eggs. I do keep Del hens and Nick who is a Del and am selective. There are a number of hens of other breeds in w/ them. 20 total.
Sometimes it's the setup that is the problem. She has no where to go to get away from the roo.
If you have a run you might consider A. making it bigger or B. putting another on the other side of your coop so you have two. You could either divide the coop in two as I have done and move you roo from one side to the other every few days.
You could trade you roo out for one who is older and less you know.
I have Eric in w/ 5 hens. They are CM's but none of Erics girls are showing signs of balding, Eric is younger same age as the hens. So could it just be your particular roo? Some breeds have more aggressive roos. RIR being one. Don't know about barred rocks.

 

[somanychickens]

I personally don't recommend hatching non pure eggs.

I have two barred rock hens that I was only planning on hatching eggs from with him, not all the hens.

So could it just be your particular roo?

I'm thinking it might be--he chases me in particular, and has scratched my 4-yr-old. I'm not sure he's worth all this trouble!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you sure it is the rooster? When a rooster is over-breeding certain hens, it is not the tail feathers that are missing but a bare patch in front of the tail feathers. Certainly check for mites and lice, but to me it sounds more like you have a feather picker and that is probably a hen.

 

[somanychickens]

Certainly check for mites and lice, but to me it sounds more like you have a feather picker and that is probably a hen.

Yikes! I'd never thought about that, but it makes sense now! We added oats to their feed--we heard that diminishes the canabalistic tendency somehow, but there's probably nothing else to do but cull the perpetrators from the flock, is there?​

 

[Ridgerunner]

If it is the problem, and that is a big if, you can try isolating the guilty party for several days to bring him/her down in the pecking order. That may or may not help.