Rooster wear on hens

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whitneywpanetta

whitneywpanetta

Songster
7 Years
Mar 30, 2013
118
5
116
Atlanta, GA
I currently have 3 hens and a rooster. I have a barred rock, ameraucana, buff orpington, and rhode island red rooster. I raised them all from chicks together, and they are currently just over a year old. I have a hot/cold relationship with the rooster, he tends to test me and my husband (often). He will charge, kick at us, and stalk us around the yard. He is much more behaved around my hub than me, but I can only blame myself for that. I do pick him up fairly regularly and I don't let him charge me, then walk away. I always pick him up, or walk towards him until he starts walking away. I go back and forth on whether or not it is time to re-home, hub wants to keep him.

A couple of months ago the buff orpington showed a lot of feather loss on her back. At first I thought she was molting, until I realized it was only in that area, and wasn't getting better. Finally I figured out it was from the rooster mating with her. The other two are also starting to show some feather loss on their back, but Amy (the BO) is obviously the favorite.

We have four new chicks, and if they are all hens I will introduce them to the flock. Will this help ease my hens' wear? Do I need to be concerned with the way they are looking, can it cause health issues or is it just cosmetic? I appreciate the advice!










The whole crew from around 5 months or so ago.
 
This makes me laugh a little... not nearly as much as "chicken diapers"... But I can only imagine all my hens with little saddles on their back!

In all seriousness, have you or anyone else ever used these? Do they work?

Richard Parker (the rooster) has shown he is useful, he chased a raccoon from the run into the coop on two different times, and kept him in there until we got back there to get rid of it. I know he has saved our flock on multiple occasions, I just want to make sure our hens are safe from him. I am also tiring of his naughty behavior toward me :)
 
I personally wouldn't and don't put up with such behavior, but having a protective rooster is always nice. Though there are lots of good roosters that will protect the flock and ignore you, which is the best thing with roosters for the most part.

On a different note, I have just started putting these saddles on my own hens. I have 3-4 that started molting and have rooster wear, so I plan on putting these saddles on them to hopefully give their new feathers a chance to grow. I put one on my buff brahma last night and after her fussing around with it a bit, it was back to business as usual. Going to get the other two dressed up tonight with them, will probably end up getting a few more.
 
Last edited:
LeviS said:
I personally wouldn't and don't put up with such behavior, but having a protective rooster is always nice. Though there are lots of good roosters that will protect the flock and ignore you, which is the best thing with roosters for the most part.

On a different note, I have just started putting these saddles on my own hens. I have 3-4 that started molting and have rooster wear, so I plan on putting these saddles on them to hopefully give their new feathers a chance to grow. I put one on my buff brahma last night and after her fussing around with it a bit, it was back to business as usual. Going to get the other two dressed up tonight with them, will probably end up getting a few more.
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I'm glad to hear of someone who has experience with them, I really might give them a try!

Do you have advice on managing my nasty rooster? My husband claims he isn't that bad, but despite a lot of handling I still cant turn my back on him. Every time I walk near the run he paces up and down next to the chicken wire. I have heard RIR are notoriously mean, is it just his personality or can I train him?

My hub also said if one of our 4 new chicks turns out to be a rooster we can get rid of old Richard and keep the new rooster and see how it goes. If this is the case can I better train up a rooster to be nice to me?

If we decide to re-home Richard does anyone have advice? Is there an easy way to do it? I don't know I can handle the chicken soup route.. I might be too soft for this farm animal business :)
 
I'd get rid of the rooster, he will only continue to get more aggressive. He can actually do some damage if it comes down to it, also a liability if you ever have small children around ever. If you want a rooster research some more docile breeds.
 
Blammmo said:
I'd get rid of the rooster, he will only continue to get more aggressive. He can actually do some damage if it comes down to it, also a liability if you ever have small children around ever. If you want a rooster research some more docile breeds.
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I am relying all of this to the hub as I type. I am getting very sick of his behavior. Despite a number of attempts to put him in his place he is still is little bad self. We are working on the having kids thing, Richard will have to go eventually in the end. Nick keep saying he will kill him for me and put him in stew... I think he is half joking... I might look into a rehoming situation, maybe I will get lucky.

My cochin/silkie chick might be a boy. Does anyone have experience with cochin roos? Are they well behaved?
 
Might not want to give your problem to someone else. And it is very typical for the rooster to take on the smaller human first. That is why a rooster often will attack a child or a woman first, especially if they bend down towards the ground, it makes the smaller and more vulnerable to the attack. But eventually he will get more and more aggressive to your husband too.

Several years ago, I had a marvelous rooster, great with predator protection, ( I went for a long time without a loss) and respectful to me. He did not have the greatest technique with the girls though, and many were barebacked. They didn't care, they adored him. I tried the aprons for a while, but they often came off.

Thing is with feathers, they do not grow back all the time. They molt and then they grow their feathers back. If the feathers are broken off, they don't seem to grow back until the bird molts. So wearing the aprons won't allow the feathers to grow back until the bird molts and regrows following the molt.

Mrs K
 
I have tried a number of different techniques with Richard, perhaps I need to stick with one... I have to admit the first few attacks I would kick him away or stomp my feet and act very rooster like in return. For awhile I did try approaching slowly, not reacting to him, and I'm always giving him treats from my hand. When I pick him up I hold him until he is calm, always petting him and feeding him. However his attacks still continue more frequently than I prefer.

So I guess what I'm getting at is, has anyone calmed a mean rooster after attacks started? Is this just something I will have to deal with? Once I hold him he is fine, once I put him down he leaves me alone. I would just like it better if I didn't have to snatch him up and carry him around the yard every time I want to let my chickens free range!
 

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