Rooster Beating Up Favorite Hens

[JuicyFatHead]

So a few of my hens are hiding out in the coop. One is scratched/cut up pretty badly. I put a saddle on her. They are in there all day. I have three roosters and 39 hens. I'm thinking about just culling two of the roosters that are severely over mating this handful of hens. Can they have favorites? It seems like it. The hens that are getting picked on are very docile hens. They just squat over and over. Then there are the ones that run, get chased and mated anyway. I have one good dancing roo. Should I even bother with spur trimming? I've never done that. It seems painful and I have to do it regularly. I'd love some feedback on this as I'm new to culling my own roos (only one so far!). I would like to do the best thing for my flock. It seems that one rooster to 39 layers would be great, but he is getting old... so.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Judy]

Yes, they can definitely have favorites. I think spur trimming is definitely worthwhile. You might also consider nail trimming. If you want your eggs to be fertile so you can hatch them, one for 39 hens will probably mean some won't be.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

If you have roosters that are too aggressive to the hens, cull them and get some others. With one rooster to 39 hens, you won't have very good fertilization rates and you'll have a lot of non-starters when you go to hatch them. You should have at least four roosters, maybe five, to ensure fertility.

If you just want to keep the one rooster, you could also pen up five or six hens you want to hatch eggs from with the rooster for a few days, let him fertilize them, then just use eggs from those hens. Those hens will lay fertile eggs for a couple of weeks after you have them penned with the rooster.

We pulled off the spur cap on our rooster when he accidentally spurred a hen. It was easy, the rooster didn't show distress, and it was almost bloodless. You don't have to do it over and over--the spur will be permanently shorter and duller. If it's not short enough, you can do it again a few months later. Here's how to remove a spur cap: