making the breeding pair/trio happy

[Minky]

I have 4 breeding pens. In two of my 4 pens I have roosters and no hens (too many rooster syndrome).In the other two pens, I have put my hens in with their roosters. Each quad has its own pen, but they are all in view of each other. Each breeding pen is 50 sq feet has a dirt floor, roost, food, water, grit, oyster shell, some straw (deep litter method) and a nest box. My Orpingtons seem happy, calm, and I am yet to see him mate them.... eggs every day, no hen pecking. In my marans pen there is one hen who seems to get pecked at when she eats (by the other hens) and she is always awkwardly roosting on the top of the sloped nest box roof, so she doesn't have to roost with the others. The rooster doesn't peck at her, but also doesn't stop the mean hen from bugging her. (none of them are nice to her). She is blind in one eye, but has the most potential as a breeder.. I want to make sure she is happy enough to lay eggs. I also want to make sure the roosters are fertilizing all the hens. Is having an audience of bachelors a bad thing? Shall I put up some cardboard barriers between pens so they can hear but not see each other unless they are roosting? It has been about 8 days since the hens and roosters were put together. I am checking fertility and it looks like about half are fertile... maybe more, but not all.

 

[electrycmonk]

my gut reaction is to remove the mean hens asap. allow the Roo and the one eye some alone time as a test... IF you can, keep and eye on them.....

I'd put the cardboard/plywood on the outside of the bachelor pad to not give them a view of the females.

(rolls the dice) I might even put the mean hens in a pen with a Bachelor? As I have very large dog crates, its easy for me to quickly separate them.... Not sure where your at In ONT to suggest using craigslist or other stuff like local FB-stuff for sale? FWIW the usual wire dog crates I have can be found down here on craigslist for approx 50% of current retail prices... sometimes lower.

 

[Minky]

my gut reaction is to remove the mean hens asap. allow the Roo and the one eye some alone time as a test... IF you can, keep and eye on them.....

I'd put the cardboard/plywood on the outside of the bachelor pad to not give them a view of the females.

(rolls the dice) I might even put the mean hens in a pen with a Bachelor? As I have very large dog crates, its easy for me to quickly separate them.... Not sure where your at In ONT to suggest using craigslist or other stuff like local FB-stuff for sale? FWIW the usual wire dog crates I have can be found down here on craigslist for approx 50% of current retail prices... sometimes lower.

Hmmm. ok. I don't want to put my mean hen in with the bachelors because I'm breeding purebreds and my mean hen is a BCM and needs to be kept with the marans rooster I want to breed. She's not mean to anyone else.
I have other coops/pens/ but its much more convenient to have them in one spot then all over the place. Just want her to settle in and lay eggs-right now she seems scared and is spending all her time dodging pecks.

 

[sourland]

Provide multiple feed and water stations to assure that the bullied hen gets enough to eat or drink. Birds with impaired vision are usually picked on. Separation would be the only guaranteed 'cure'.

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

You could always make another pen for the vision impaired hen. Then more the rooster back and forth between pens as needed. He doesn't need to breed her every day. It's either something like that, or just let her continue to be beat up by the other hen. Because she probably isn't going to stop.

 

[Minky]

thanks for the ideas.

The rooster has sort of adopted her. She was right in there happily dust bathing with all of them today. She has been doing ok, but I will keep my eye on her.