Overly vigorous young roo

[ATXInstantFlock]

9 hens. 1 roo. All about 1 yr old. I think his rooberty mating is a bit too vigorous.
Is this bad enough, to require separation during feather recovery?


I have never trimmed his nails or spurs. His spurs aren't "sharp", per se, but they seem like they're getting long enough that I ought to begin "managing" them.



I think the feather loss is not caused by his spurs, but from his toenails (are chicken toenails considered "talons"?).
A few different girls are missing some back feathers, but my two smaller girls seem to have lost the most. I don't think they have any wounds, per se, but I don't really want to wait until that point.


We don't have a great way to separate him from the hens at night. We have a dog crate that we used to transport them from inside to their outdoor pen, but our coop is nowhere near big enough to put the entire dog crate inside.
I'm home all day for the next few weeks so I could conceivably crate him during daylight hours with the hens nearby.

I could crate and relocate him to the garage during the daytime, but that's not ideal either.

Any/all tips appreciated. I prefer not to throw money at the problem via saddles since so many people seem to have trouble saddles that fit properly.

Pic of the naughty young man.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would not separate mine over damage like that. You could examine his feet more closely for rough spots, and file them down.

Mrs K

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I would not separate mine over damage like that. You could examine his feet more closely for rough spots, and file them down.

Thanks for the sanity check. Your advice is much appreciated!