My Hens Have Broken Feathers On Their Backs

[Helena B.]

This has been happening for a while and I figured that I should ask on here. All of my hens, some more than others, have part of their wing and back feathers broken and the skin is constantly red in that spot. I think that my rooster is causing this, but somebody told me that It could be a protein deficiency. I am hoping that I could get a solution for this, but if it is my rooster's fault then if there is a way to solve the problem without getting rid of him. Thank you soooo much!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Your roo is over mating them and his nails/spurs are scraping the feathers off you either have to many roos per hens or not enough hens per roo

 

[Pyxis]

Definitely sounds like rooster damage. How many hens do you have? You should try to have ten hens per rooster to avoid damage like this.

 

[Helena B.]

I have 6 hen that my 3 roos can currently mate with but 2 of the roos don't bother then hens.

 

[Helena B.]

Is there something that I can do about the nails/spurs?

 

[Pyxis]

The other two are definitely mating with your hens. You just don't see it because they are very sneaky about it - they have to be, or the dominant one would stop them, so they do it on the sly when neither you nor he are watching. 3 roosters is way too many for six hens. You need to rehome at least two of them or get enough hens so that they all will have at least 5 to themselves, preferably ten. In the meantime, I'd get them some hen saddles until you can get the actual problem fixed.

 

[keesmom]

Three males for only 6 hens is far too many. At least 2 need to go. Can you separate the lot of them to give the poor hens a break?

 

[Deltabwa]

I have the same issue. Posted this awhile ago. The pic I posted was nothing compared to what it is now. Two weeks after this post I butchered 1 rooster, so I had 1 rooster with 17 hens. I even bought aprons, which actually made it worse because his feet were scraping down the sides and then the apron itself was rough on the feathers. I will take a pic when she comes back in later but i have 2 that are horrible, and 4 that you can see a scrape line across their back and feathers, in a straight line. I have been trimming their toenails as well as the spur and makes no difference. I am going to have to get rid of him because it is doing way too much damage.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-wing-protection.1168341/

 

[Helena B.]

I one of my 3 roos is depressed since we we got a batch of chicks this year and they only hung out together but recently an animal killed all of them except my roo he doesn't crow or hang out with the rest of my chickens but as for the other roo I know that sometimes he is sneaky but now I noticed that he doesn't crow as much or mate with them unless he is just getting really sneaky but he won't be a problem for much longer since we are getting rid of him soon

 

[Helena B.]

I have the same issue. Posted this awhile ago. The pic I posted was nothing compared to what it is now. Two weeks after this post I butchered 1 rooster, so I had 1 rooster with 17 hens. I even bought aprons, which actually made it worse because his feet were scraping down the sides and then the apron itself was rough on the feathers. I will take a pic when she comes back in later but i have 2 that are horrible, and 4 that you can see a scrape line across their back and feathers, in a straight line. I have been trimming their toenails as well as the spur and makes no difference. I am going to have to get rid of him because it is doing way too much damage.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-wing-protection.1168341/

my hens all have backs much worse than what the picure has too, 1 of them has half of her back completly bare 2 of them 1/3 is mostly bare 2 have ok backs and one of them is just regrowing her feathers and right now she is sitting on eggs so she isn't getting bothered by the roos.