i have a roo in a pen with 4 hens. Two of them aren’t missing any feathers, two are balding to the point I can now see skin. I noticed he chases them more. I am wondering if they refuse to submit to him and that is the problem? If it is then should I just move them out and use them only for eating eggs?
What are your goals? For me it is easier to give suggestions that can help you if I have an idea what you are trying to achieve. I don't like making assumptions about what you are trying to achieve. I can be kind of thick, you need to explain things for me.
Where are you, north or south of the equator? If south of the equator could it be molt related? It's a little strange that this shows up after 8 months. How old are they? Does this 8 months mean they are 8 months old or have they been laying eggs and mating for 8 months? There can be a big difference in behaviors by cockerels and pullets versus roosters and hens. If they are molting and not laying eggs he should not have that much interest in fertilizing the eggs, but it may be about something else.
Mating is not just about sex or fertilizing the eggs. It is also about dominance. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. If two are resisting them it is possible he mates them more often than the others to enforce his dominance. He may be using a different technique too if it is by force. A male's instinct (not sure if it is a cockerel or rooster) is to dominate his flock. How can he perform his flockmaster duties if the females won't listen to him? If some are resisting his dominance he could easily be paying them more attention.
When I have a problem I try to figure out if it is a single chicken problem or a flock wide problem. In this case it is two of the four females. That's not exactly a flock wide problem. The male may be at lest partially at fault but it has something to do with those two females. Whether it is something physical like brittle feathers showing up after 8 months or something behavior related I don't know.
You can have this type of problem whether you have one rooster and 25 hens or one rooster and four hens. You can have none of these problems with 25 or four hens. If you have cockerels and pullets you are more likely to have this type of problem than if you have roosters and hens. Both males and females have their parts to play, mature chickens of both sexes are better able to play their part.
You can try adding more females. It might or might not help, not because of any magic ratio of males to females but because when you add or subtract flock members you can change flock dynamics. Or you can remove those two, that will also change flock dynamics. When I got my first flock in Arkansas I had one cockerel and seven pullets, a ratio of 1 to 7. Two of the pullets became barebacked so I ate them, giving me a ratio of 1 to 5. That was the end of my barebacked problems. The chicks they hatched did not become barebacked either so I think it was probably brittle feathers.
There may be another aspect. Some females will squat for about anything in spurs, others are more discerning. Many females want the male to WOW! them with his self-confidence and magnificence. They want him to find them food, keep peace in the flock, and do all the things that a good daddy would do for his family. Cockerels often have more issues doing this than mature roosters. That's one reason maturity may be an issue. If they are immature separating them until they mature may be a solution. Some mature roosters never reach this point either, just like some men remain boys all their lives.
The other side of this is that some females will just never accept any other chicken as flock master, male or female. It's just their personality. This is rare enough that it's probably not the reason for two out of four, but you did mention that one is kind of bonkers.
Bottom line is that I don't know what the cause of your problem is so I don't know your best solution in line with your goals. I'd probably remove those two and see how the others get along and go from there. I would not want to hatch any eggs from the two barebacked ones in case it is brittle feathers which can be genetic.
Good luck!
