Mating injury

[Chickadee7790]

Good morning everyone. One of my girls is unfortunately being over-mated. She now has a bare spot on her back that looks a little "raw". I'm getting a saddle for her, but wanted to see if I should treat the wound before putting it on her. Do I need to let the wound heal some before adding the saddle or can I do both at the same time?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Good morning everyone. One of my girls is unfortunately being over-mated. She now has a bare spot on her back that looks a little "raw". I'm getting a saddle for her, but wanted to see if I should treat the wound before putting it on her. Do I need to let the wound heal some before adding the saddle or can I do both at the same time?

Pictures?

 

[Chickadee7790]

Well....I should have thought to take some! It would have been more helpful. I'll grab a few this afternoon when I get home.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well....I should have thought to take some! It would have been more helpful. I'll grab a few this afternoon when I get home.

Okay, sounds good.

 

[Shadrach]

As mentioned, pictures would help.
You use the word wound. Is the skin broken?
Bare patches tend to bother the keeper more than they bother the hen. Sometimes it's a question of bad technique on the part of the male (how old is the male she mates with?), other times a hens feathers are fragile and any mating produces some breakages.

 

[Chickadee7790]

As mentioned, pictures would help.
You use the word wound. Is the skin broken?
Bare patches tend to bother the keeper more than they bother the hen. Sometimes it's a question of bad technique on the part of the male (how old is the male she mates with?), other times a hens feathers are fragile and any mating produces some breakages.

I agree. Pictures would be helpful. The area on her back is near her tail and looks a little "wet", for lack of a better term. There are a few bloody-ish spots, but I think that's just where her feathers have been pulled out. My boys are 9-months old and still haven't quite figured out the "finesse" needed. I have 4 boys and 20 girls - probably not the best ratio, but that's what I ended up with after they grew from chicks. None of the other girls are showing this type of injury, but a few are getting a little bald spot on the backs of their heads. Again, my boys are still a little clumsy.

 

[Shadrach]

I agree. Pictures would be helpful. The area on her back is near her tail and looks a little "wet", for lack of a better term. There are a few bloody-ish spots, but I think that's just where her feathers have been pulled out. My boys are 9-months old and still haven't quite figured out the "finesse" needed. I have 4 boys and 20 girls - probably not the best ratio, but that's what I ended up with after they grew from chicks. None of the other girls are showing this type of injury, but a few are getting a little bald spot on the backs of their heads. Again, my boys are still a little clumsy.

Take a few pictures of the hen in question and a few of where they are kept (free ranging, part time ranging, fully confined?)
A short term solution is to isolate the hen getting the cockerels attention but isolate her with another hen she gets on with while you work out the best course of action.
The probability is that the boys will fight and you'll need to remove a couple from the group. This will help some.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Too many roos, that’s for sure. A saddle will help but they will still go after the “easy” girls and breed them more often. If they can free range and get away from the boys it might not get too bad but I’ve also seen my own rooster target one or two girls and chase them relentlessly while free ranging. Luckily he seems to of chilled out after molting season.

There will always be a little wear and tear with boys around but if more than a couple of the easy girls are getting a bit rough I’d be starting to look into rehoming or processing a few of the roos. I’ve kept 2 roos with 19 hens and it worked pretty well but they free ranged most the time. Each rooster had is own hens with the dominant one having the majority. Now I have 5 roos/cockerels with 44 hens and it seems they get on pretty well. I expect things to change once I start reducing numbers, the 2 young fellas grow up, and I have to lock them up again so they don’t completely destroy the garden. Then I get to do it all over again when eggs hatch and chicks start maturing