Roosters riding my hens hard and making their backs bald.

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I keep nearly all of my breeds in pairs, trios, quads or in one case--5 hens and one rooster. I very rarely have any issues. The only issue is that the "favorite" hen will start getting a bald back. I have saddles for each & every hen and then a stack of extras. On the rare occasion that doesn't work, I pull the roosters out and give the hens a break for a few weeks. Any rooster that is overly aggressive with breeding, I do not keep.

 

[poodlepill]

I dont think the "general" rule is accurate for over breeding. I have 15 hens and 1 rooster, 4 or of my hens have bald backs and or feathers missing on the backs of heads. I just got rid of my rooster so my hens can get better. Favorite hens are favorite hens and they keep going back to them. Also, my chickens free range all day so there is plenty of space for the hens to get away.

I kept this rooster because he is totally non human agressive and appeared to be good to his hens. I then realized there are more rules to keeping roosters and even though my roo was easy to be around he was not nice to his hens so he went bu-by

 

[Judy]

Whatever you decide about your roosters, I would put a saddle on any with bare backs to prevent injury to the skin, and give the feathers a chance to grow back.

You can buy them on here, and you can also make them yourself with only a pair of scissors and a piece of polarfleece or sweatshirt fabric. Here's how:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=167 -- scroll down about 2/3 of the way to see saddles. Or:

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/1/1-6/Joyce_Dixon.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=155123

 

[LoveMyBirds374]

Quote:
I had never heard of saddles for chickens until this post. Thanks for the links. I will research them and make a decision. I've had my chickens for a few years, but I don't have a lot of knowledge on them. I've read books and whatnot. However, I'm a huge bird lover.

Also, I have never grown up on a farm where butchering was the norm. I actually wish I had at times, because I would love to eat our own meat. As of now, I'm too scared to do it.

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

Quote:
I had never heard of saddles for chickens until this post. Thanks for the links. I will research them and make a decision. I've had my chickens for a few years, but I don't have a lot of knowledge on them. I've read books and whatnot. However, I'm a huge bird lover.

Also, I have never grown up on a farm where butchering was the norm. I actually wish I had at times, because I would love to eat our own meat. As of now, I'm too scared to do it.

During culling ( we had 13 roos out of 27 chicks) we processed many of our birds for eating. I followed "frugal's link on how to do it and followed the instructions to a tee. They did bleed out. But the meat was not good. We cooked at low temps for a long time. The dark meat was almost black. The white meat was pretty dry. I recomend if you process your own chickens, to find the list by "Frugal" and follow it like I did. Then find another way to cook them than I did.
Edited to show the Frugal link
Here is the link to that BYC site: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=109583

 

[Eglyntine]

Just a FYI... I have found that butchering any chicken past 12 weeks the meat is pretty tough. They make good chicken and dumplings, fajitas, anything that you can make in a slow cooker or boiling. My Dad makes the best canned chicken, it is nothing like what you buy in the store that is for sure. But if you want good rotisserie or BBQ chicken you need to butcher the roos out by 12 weeks. Before puberty kicks in and they start getting their muscles built up.

 

[Eatin'Dirt]

What about trimming the Roo's spurs? How would you do that?