Rooster Mating Feather Loss

[Wyorp Rock]

these feathers are shaved off all along the drumsticks near the vent! Anybody know of a saddle that covers that area without making a hen too hot?? We're heading into a summer that routinely gets above 115° F. I've had success with the Down Under saddles before, but it doesn't have enough coverage for this guy and I need to make sure the ladies don't get covered in stickers or too hot or stuck in a fence or anything.

Thanks for any tips!!

Photos?
Sounds like they are being plucked.

 

[Sylver Queen]

Photos?
Sounds like they are being plucked.

Finally got them! I've never seen my hens pluck their feathers other than for setting, and these look sliced off to me. Every single hen has the same pattern of sheared off feathers along the thigh rather than the drumstick on either side of her vent but not up to the vent, still some feathers along the sides, but the rooster doesn't and they all live together.

I'm really just wondering if anyone knows of a good saddle that covers down there since apparently this is how he mates! Thanks

 

[Sylver Queen]

Finally got them! My hens don't really pluck their feathers, and these definitely look sliced off. Every single hen has the same pattern of sheared off feathers along the thigh rather than the drumstick on either side of her vent, but the rooster doesn't and they all live together. (Sorry for photo quality, best I could get after dark in the bathroom light. )

I'm really just wondering if anyone knows of a good saddle that covers down there since apparently this is how he mates! Thanks

And here's how this hen is already rigged and has been for some time...

 

[BastyPutt]

I had hens losing saddle feathers, and I thought it was from the rooster, but it turned out to be de-pluming mites. If your efforts don't seem to help it may be that.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Finally got them! I've never seen my hens pluck their feathers other than for setting, and these look sliced off to me. Every single hen has the same pattern of sheared off feathers along the thigh rather than the drumstick on either side of her vent but not up to the vent, still some feathers along the sides, but the rooster doesn't and they all live together.

I'm really just wondering if anyone knows of a good saddle that covers down there since apparently this is how he mates! Thanks

Feathers are being rubbed off, plucked. There's minor feathers coming back in, but I suspect that those are plucked before they can fully regrow.
Not rooster damage - damage from plucking.

 

[Sylver Queen]

Feathers are being rubbed off, plucked. There's minor feathers coming back in, but I suspect that those are plucked before they can fully regrow.
Not rooster damage - damage from plucking.

You know, I'm pretty confident it's from the rooster because there's one hen he doesn't mate with as much and her feathers are only halfway "trimmed" along the thigh, not fully sliced off yet. The ones he mates with more are balded back there. And if there were an infestation causing a plucking issue wouldn't every bird be affected? They literally sleep side by side each other, so it's unlikely that Little Red, the least mated, would have halfway damage while the ones who are mated more would have more complete feather damage. And one of them had a little slice on her leg, a new one cut. He's definitely causing the feathers being shaved off back there and some skin slicing, so I'm going to try to find saddles with more coverage!

Thanks for all the input, guys!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You know, I'm pretty confident it's from the rooster because there's one hen he doesn't mate with as much and her feathers are only halfway "trimmed" along the thigh, not fully sliced off yet. The ones he mates with more are balded back there. And if there were an infestation causing a plucking issue wouldn't every bird be affected? They literally sleep side by side each other, so it's unlikely that Little Red, the least mated, would have halfway damage while the ones who are mated more would have more complete feather damage. And one of them had a little slice on her leg, a new one cut. He's definitely causing the feathers being shaved off back there and some skin slicing, so I'm going to try to find saddles with more coverage!

Thanks for all the input, guys!

Oh I see, well, if that's the case, then separating out the rooster may be a solution. At least for a while so the hens can recover.

 

[Saveria]

Maybe you already know this, but if you put him somewhere they can see him, like in a dog crate in the coop or run with some food and water, then reintroducing him should go smoother.

 

[bowlinloon]

Hi!

This isn’t a super big problem just yet but it’s not getting better. One of our hens has been showing signs of feather loss along her back. We looked at it and decided to get Baba Yaga (the hen) a saddle. Well we got one for her and idk if it’s just that it doesn’t fit great or if we need to do something else but she has already managed to escape one saddle. It doesn’t seem to really be doing much for her unfortunately. She also seems to be the one getting mated the most since Ducky (rooster) has to keep a close eye on her since she is incredibly dumb. He frequently needs to retrieve her when she “gets lost”.

So now I’ve kinda turned my attention to okay what can we do to Ducky (the rooster) to stop the over mating. He has 6 hens all to himself and they are starting to all show the beginning signs of their feathers getting damaged. I think it’s probably time for us to trim his nails…. But I’m also not entirely sure how to do so and if there are any other options (I saw someone suggest nail caps like you’d put on a dog/cat but idk if that even really works.

He also is going to be super fun to trim and deal with since he is a jerk to people especially me lol (he does believe I am competition and am stealing his ladies especially Baba Yaga). We have some cat nail clippers we could use although they aren’t as sharp as I’d like. I’ll attach some photos of Baba Yaga and Ducky so you can see his nails and spurs and whatnot. I just want to know what y’all recommend we do.View attachment 3453579View attachment 3453580View attachment 3453581View attachment 3453584View attachment 3453583

Trim his nails at night. He can’t see and will probably be a lot calmer. That is when I do mine.