I'm about ready to build a bachelor coop because this winter the boys have started pulling feathers from the hen's heads when they mate. Pinto is almost bald thanks to Tails the bantam cochin rooster. I don't know who breeds with Professor Fluffles, but one side of her crest looks like it's been hit with a lawn mower. Interestingly enough, Cottonball looks just fine. Even several of the LF hens are missing feathers on the backs of their heads thanks to a handful of tiny, little two pound roosters and the two bantam cochin hens aren't faring much better. We didn't have this problem this summer, so I'm hoping it's just because it's been a bad winter. There have been many days it's been below zero, so everyone's confined to the coop for up to three day stretches instead of able to be out roaming the yard. And with the snowfall, it means they don't leave the small, covered yard. They hate snow and refuse to even walk on it. I hope that the feather problem is because of space issues. In the summer when a hen didn't want to mate, she'd just run to some other part of the large yard and the rooster would turn his attentions elsewhere. It's harder to avoid the roosters in the confines of the coop and small yard.
The roosters all acting differently lately. They crow constantly anymore, which they didn't do this summer. One of them only yells, like the chicken version of a heavy metal band singer. I think that's his crow, but I really don't know for sure. Two chest bump a lot, but there's not skirmishes beyond that. We have six roosters and twenty-six hens total.
Do I need to be thinking about separating out my amorous roosters or is this really just a space issue that will correct itself when they can really get back to using the large yard most of the day? Are they just going stir-crazy because they're more confined?
