Rooster damage

[lm84]

Does this look like rooster damage? We have 16 laying hens and 1 accidental rooster. He is well behaved towards us so we have kept him so far, (even though he is LOUD!) But now about 7 of the hens look pretty terrible. They are completely bald on their backs and almost all the way the base of their tails. The rest that aren't bald still have some damage to the base of the tail and backs. I've examined them and don't see bugs, the feathers are just broken off. Then the hens seem to be pecking themselves and each other bald when the feathers try to grow in. We are in the process of finding the rooster a new home, and possibly using those chicken saddles to help the feathers grow back. Here are some pictures of the worst ones and the Buff Orpington shows what the feathers look like on the better ones. The only ones with NO damage to their feathers are the larger hens. That's why I think it has to be rooster damage and not mites or lice.

 

[sourland]

There may be some 'rooster damage', but I think that most of the feather loss is due to feather picking/eating. Those with no feather loss are the worst culprits.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

That looks more like de-pluming mite damage. Even if it is not depluming mite damage I fail to see how dressing a hen up in a sweater will help her broken or missing feathers regrow. New feathers can not regrow until the old or broken feather shafts are expelled from the existing feather follicles. Then when the new feathers begin coming in the friction between the sweater and the EXTREAMELY fragile new blood, or pen feathers will do more damage to the growing new blood feathers than a herd of roosters could do in a year of Sundays.

I do want to ask one question. Does your rooster have feathers on his feet? Feathered feet can often result in this type of damage because male chickens were not designed by nature to have feather covered feet. Feathered feet cause a rooster to slip and slide on the hens' backs during mating. Besides, except for the buff hen I see little other feather wear that looks like it could be caused by mating, The damage on the buff hen's head plumage could be either de-pluming mites or (excuse my indelicacy) a chicken hickey





Some online examples of de-pluming mite damage.


I'll also suggest feather eating like sourland did. Notice that none or only one of your hens has feathers missing around her head where the rooster gets a bill hold while mating.
.

 

[lm84]

The rooster doesn't have feathered legs. He is a big barred rock rooster. The littlest hens are the ones that look the worst. The big girls look fine. I've actually read good things about the saddles helping feathers grow back. When the feathers start to grow in, they look like little black bugs on their white skin and the other chickens pluck them out again. So they stay continually bald. The saddles help the feathers grow in a little so they don't get plucked out. That is, if it isn't depluming mites. I can't find much info about them, it seems that most people report bare, red bottoms and feather loss on the necks too. My chickens don't have bare bottoms, and only the very tops of their heads have feathers missing, which I assumed was also from the rooster. Do depluming mites spread easily? Because like I said, the rooster and the bigger girls have no feather damage. The ones that do have bald backs don't seem to be getting progressively worse, the bald spots seem to stay the same size on most of them. I do have someone taking the rooster tomorrow, and then I am going to reassess everyone and see if I spot anything different.

 

[Areeba]

Add more protein in their diet so if their any feather plucking issue occur hopes its resolve or sunflower small seeds given in small quantities because sunflower seeds is the best for feathers etc.hopes this help

 

[MackChick]

Do they have enough space? I rescued some hens that looked worse than yours from a person that had about 50 hens in way too small of an area. I think they got bored and started beating each other up. You could try putting fun things in their coop or run to distract them like a hanging cabbage head, watermelon halves, and even meat-covered bones. The gals that I rescued quickly grew their feathers back once then had enough space to roam around.

Also- I wonder about your ratio of females to males... in my case those 50 hens had no rooster, but once they were here they submitted to my rooster. I wonder if there are too many gals for your rooster to take care of and maybe some hens are becoming very dominant. You could try adding another rooster to the mix! There's always lots for free in my town. I've heard 8-10 hens per rooster is the best ratio

 

[lm84]

I think they have plenty of space. Their coop is 8x12, with an automatic door to let them out every morning to a 12x20 run. The ratio was 1 rooster to the 16 hens. I really didn't want the first rooster let alone a second one! I assumed the feather picking was boredom at first because I noticed it after many days of rainy weather where they didn't want to go out. But it got worse and worse and it seemed like their backs went bare overnight. I have been sitting and watching the hens and the only ones with small bare spots that are getting picked on are my two broody ones. I haven't noticed any other picking towards each other...the rooster is officially in a new home, so we will see if feathers start to grow back.

 

[Crazy Chava n chickens]

I think they have plenty of space. Their coop is 8x12, with an automatic door to let them out every morning to a 12x20 run. The ratio was 1 rooster to the 16 hens. I really didn't want the first rooster let alone a second one! I assumed the feather picking was boredom at first because I noticed it after many days of rainy weather where they didn't want to go out. But it got worse and worse and it seemed like their backs went bare overnight. I have been sitting and watching the hens and the only ones with small bare spots that are getting picked on are my two broody ones. I haven't noticed any other picking towards each other...the rooster is officially in a new home, so we will see if feathers start to grow back.

So how did your hens turn out after the rooster was gone. I have 6 Buff Orpington girls and 4 of them have bare backs like that. I am pretty sure it is the rooster in my case. Did you try the chicken saddle idea? I am about to try it myself.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

So how did your hens turn out after the rooster was gone. I have 6 Buff Orpington girls and 4 of them have bare backs like that. I am pretty sure it is the rooster in my case. Did you try the chicken saddle idea? I am about to try it myself.

The OP has not been active since 2016. If you would like to post some photos of your hens we will be happy to help you.
If feather loss is due to a rooster, you can try the saddles to help protect their backs a little (feathers will still wear off/be lost with saddles, just not quite as much), you could also try adding more hens or house your rooster separately and only allow him to mate when you plan on breeding.
If feathers are broken/damaged and the feather shaft is still intact in the skin, then your girls won't re-grow feathers until they molt.