New member

[marcouch93]

Hi, I am a new member here. I am not new to growing up with chickens, but I am new to having my own flock now. I currently have 21 assorted chickens and 1 roo (barred rocks, Colombian rocks, RIR, speckled Sussex, and buff orpingtons). I love having my chickens, and I tend to spend time out in their run just watching them and of course having them following me around looking for extra treats. I am currently in the process of testing out some chickens saddles for some of my girls as they are favored by the rooster and they are currently molting as well, and I've been trying to up their protein intake as well. So that has been a fun experience but they seem to be working well with the saddles on. Does anyone have any suggestions that they have found to help with the poor hens that have bare backs from the rooster? He is not a mean boy or rough with them, just the nature of things unfortunately their purpose but he is very protective and does his job well.
Thanks everyone and I am excited to be a new member!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!

I wouldn't put saddles on a molting hen though. The feathers on a molting hen are very painful to them. Maybe take your rooster out for a while, or the hens that are molting or bare-backed? If your ratio is 21 chickens to 1 rooster, none of them should be getting damaged by that rooster, so maybe they're molting. If your rooster just favors a couple of those hens, I'd take him out for about a week, then put him back in and see if he doesn't change it up a little more. You could take those favored hens out too, but when you put them back, he'd go for them again right away.

If they are on layer feed, which is usually around 16% protein, changing them to an all-flock that's 20% protein will help with feather growth. All-flock has less calcium though so you'd need to put out a separate dish or feeder with oyster shell for the hens.

I bought saddles from this company. They are great especially in the summer as they breath.


We're glad you're here!

 

[BoundlessLove]

Welcome to BYC! Happy you are here!!
Debbie has given you some good advice.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!