Rooster lost hackle feather

[Stefrrr]

Ok, I pulled them out.
Gunther and I had a disagreement this morning about who’s in charge. He’s generally a good cockerel, but he goes through short phases where he forgets I’m bigger than he is, and I have to remind him. I usually lightly whack his hackles with a small stick or grab a couple hackle feathers and twitch him backwards.

I accidentally grabbed a bunch of feathers and pulled them out.

Some of the feathers were stuck together at the base and I’m a little worried I might’ve damaged his skin. Should I check him out while he’s sleeping tonight and spray him with some vetrycin if the skin is damaged?

He went and hid under some of the run furniture and warned the pullets when I brought the rest of the food to the run.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

If he's already established himself as boss over your flock of hens, no amount of feather pulling or pecking from you is going to change his behavior. If you want to assert dominance, separate him from the flock for a few days and spend some time alone with him...don't do anything to hurt him.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Those are saddle or tail feathers by the way.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I wouldn't ever do this to a misbehaving rooster/cockerel. It'll just make his behavior worse.

Usually we try to let them settle down by themselves, & they usually do so without interference. If they end up not straightening out their behavior towards us, we put them in the freezer.

 

[Stefrrr]

Those are saddle or tail feathers by the way.

Did you not read when I said I pulled them out? I certainly know where they came from. Those are hackle feathers.

I appreciate the responses so far, but it’s important to note that there are different approaches to managing rooster behavior, and gentle correction usually gets him back on track. You should see from my post that this was not intentional. I certainly didn’t mean to pull all these feathers out. But I’m responsible for his behavior, and I’m not asking for advice on that here.

If anyone has suggestions for checking on his health and potentially treating where the feathers came out, I’d appreciate it.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

How do you accidently pull out that many feathers?

 

[roosterhavoc]

Did you not read when I said I pulled them out? I certainly know where they came from. Those are hackle feathers.

I appreciate the responses so far, but it’s important to note that there are different approaches to managing rooster behavior, and gentle correction usually gets him back on track. You should see from my post that this was not intentional. I certainly didn’t mean to pull all these feathers out. But I’m responsible for his behavior, and I’m not asking for advice on that here.

If anyone has suggestions for checking on his health and potentially treating where the feathers came out, I’d appreciate it.

Nah you don’t need to do anything for him. He’ll be fine. If you make a habit of yanking feathers though you might as well dye them and sell them to people for arts and crafts. Lol

 

[CHlCKEN]

Nah you don’t need to do anything for him. He’ll be fine. If you make a habit of yanking feathers though you might as well dye them and sell them to people for arts and crafts. Lol

Les hope this doesn’t become a habit!

 

[roosterhavoc]

Nah give her a break grabbing feathers and pulling back and him pulling forward to get away can easily result in a handful of feathers. Some birds feathers pull out much easier than others too.

 

[Weeg]

Did you not read when I said I pulled them out? I certainly know where they came from. Those are hackle feathers.

The "hackles" of the bird are behind his head. The "saddle" feathers of the bird are at the base of his tail. It looks in the picture like you pulled out his saddle feathers.