Rooster and naked necks

[noidhndlr]

Greetings all,
I have a bit of a problem. I have a variety pack of 9 chickens to include 3 naked necks and 1 rooster (blue lace wyandot). One naked neck started laying and the rooster has been breeding her alot. The problem Im having is a couple times a week her neck will have a large laceration from their encounters. The injuries look bad but im able to blue coat them and they heal up good.
The rooster boy is not a very aggressive male. Actually his name is CHicken Little because he is such a wimp.
Will this be a weekly thing? Should I be concerned about her welfare? Is there something I can do to help her out?


Thanks
Holly

 

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Get rid of the rooster?

 

[carousel]

I know Holly's chickens, I rasied them until 8 weeks.
I think she is wondering if this is a chronic problem with naked neck hens? Will roster boy "refine" his skills?
I think she has 3 pullets now laying.
pullets (9 of them) are between 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 months roster is 5 1/2 months.
wondering what others have experienced with Naked Neck Hens and roosters.

 

[Tsagirl]

I have a NN hen, but when my silke roo mates here he grabs the top of the head..like he knows not to go for the neck. LOL!

I would not know what to do in this situation, but I know some people put on somthing over there necks for when a roo mates.
goodluck!

 

[mbleily]

Quote:
I am having the same problems with my poor naked necks. I have two and at the begining they each had almost chunks taken out of their necks. Lately they have just been having pinch marks on their necks. But it does turn their necks black and blue. I hate it. They have a little top knot on their head and I thought the rooster would learn to hold on to the feathers but he is a clutz.

 

[Kev]

It's usually not a chronic problem. If they're getting torn it's usually from younger roosters or from roosters fighting over a squatting hen or a rooster who was chasing one around and caught her very roughly. Otherwise scratches/bruising doesn't happen much.

Also another thing is young birds tend to have thinner skins than adult/older birds so maybe that contributes partly to torn skins on naked neck pullets. Either case, it should not continue for long.. have many birds of all ages and rarely see torn skins only very occasionally.

I would say give the rooster time to learn how to breed and maybe the problem will be lessened once the other hens start laying and become attractive to the rooster so his "affections" would be spread out.

BTW here the roosters normally grab the hens right on the bare skin, with no tearing.