My Tom is an idiot....he bloodied the hen.

[Cindiloohoo]

My hen FINALLY let him mate early last week and now he's being an overzealous jerk to her. He bloodied her head twice today! Is that normal for mating season? Should I seperate him and let him cool off or what? I have another unrelated question too if anyone knows the answer...that tom is getting fat..I noticed yesterday his breast jiggles when he walks. I think they are Eastern Wild or Bronze, but maybe they are another breed? I thought BBB but he's 11 months old and not dead yet and not THAT huge...so I dunno. Any help is appreciated.

 

[AVizcaya]

Bloodied her head? Did you see him do it? By pecking? I would definitely separate him from her. I can deal with it when my boys draw blood on each other but no one touches my girls harshly. My toms have NEVER been aggressive with my girls so I can't be of much help but my philosophy is "always protect the girls at all cost."

As for the tom getting fat, do you let him free range? I noticed when I butchered my first batch that didn't free range and where on an all grain diet that there was a huge fat deposit just in front of the breasts where they puff when they strut. My two boys that I have left are free ranging and are starting to loose a little bit of the jiggle but I don't know enough to explain the "why's." These are bourbon reds, never knew they could get fatty.

 

[MandyH]

Mine have never bloodied a hen's head, but they do have the jiggly boobage. Mine are blue slates and free range 100%.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Yes we saw him do it. They do range now. I did have them in with the chickens, but have put them out in the last few weeks so that they can build a nest and brood. I guess it's just too much excitement for Tomboy. I only have a pair...I guess he's just really overzealous and needs a break. He is put up in the brooder coop now, and will stay in there for the rest of the day. We'll see if he can behave himself tomorrow. Thanks for the info!

 

[chickenzoo]

Watch your chickens too as an overly excited male will try to breed hens too..... or a blanket in the middle of the yard.... or a shoe...... or a poor defenseless duck..... LOL

 

[thaiturkey]

Quote:
Ours are still too young to mate but the stags-to-be are taking an unhealthy interest in the cat. They strut right up to her standing tall and the hens follow. She doesn't even like other cats so I don't know where this might lead!

The fighting story is worrying. The general advice seems to be to leave them to it unless it gets really nasty. Am I right?

 

[pdpatch]

Yes it's that time of year when the young Tom's get over excited.

The Tom's and Hens only need to be together once every 14 days or so as, the hens can store the sperm that long in the bodies. With really small flocks the Tom's are more likely to damage a hens then in larger flocks. So if they Tom's are over aggressive and injure the Hen then you need to plan on separating them but some injuries can happen no matter what you do. But after a few weeks the calm down some.

If the Tom's are fighting all the time it is possible for them to injure a Hen, just because she got in the way, many times fighting is not that serious.

If your ratio of Tom's to Hens is less then 1 tom to 10 hen's, and in a closed space there is a greater possibility of injury and your more likely to hover of them and watch them more closely.

But they do heal up. so unless it's really bad let then settle it them selves.

 

[ljewell]

My tom was a little rough with the ladies, he ended up "slicing" the underside of her when he slipped .I guess So to stop this I bought "turkey saddles" from Strombergs they cover their backs and sies to prevent anymore injuries...The girls don't seem to mind them once they got use to having them on..

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I think your tom is still learning the ropes....was he trying to hold onto her head? Because my Tom doesn't - he just precariously balances until the last moment.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
Yeah he was trying to hold on but it was almost like he got mad and was blaming her because he can't balance...he pecked her a couple times. He keeps falling off. I dunno what his deal is

He seems to be a bit better after being put away for several hours by himself. Maybe he just needed an attitude adjustment.