GuardOfHippoMountain
In the Brooder
I have two light brahma hens and a wyandotte hen that are from my original chicken purchase hatched around May 3rd, 2025. Originally my brahma rooster from that group was super slow to feather in. I eventually put a saddle on him and plenty of Silver Honey and his feathers grew in. His tail feathers have never grown in though. This is due to the wyandotte plucking them constantly. He even has bloody pin feathers and has overall very reddish skin on his tail all the way to his vent. We got three more brahmas hatched around June 29th, 2025. One of the chicks was a rooster, (identified by this amazing group). He also has the same feathering out problem my first rooster had. He cowers constantly. He is attacked by the other 3 hens constantly. At night, he and his two sisters will go out into the run when the rest of the flock comes into the coop and they will huddle together by the people door/coop wall rather than be around the other hens. Our original flock was 14 chicks with 4 being roosters and 10 hens. We culled 3 roosters that would not shut up. We kept the one Brahma roo. Then we added 4 salmon favorelle hens hatched in April. Then 3 baby brahmas with one turning out to be a roo. Then we got 12 chicks hatched Sept 6th, 2025. We recently integrated the last group of chicks into the flock full time. They were always kept in a "brooder" under the poop shelf so they have been seen by the flock from their day one. I put the 3 offending hens into the "brooder" section under the shelf and now there is harmony. Is this the only way I can protect my roosters from being pecked naked and bloody? Why won't the roosters defend themselves against the offending hens? Is this just typical of the Brahma roosters?
