Rooster or Not
When I first thought of getting chickens, I had imaged a rooster with his flock of hens. My main reason for getting the chickens was the rooster. I wanted a big, colorful rooster strutting around the yard. I loved the idea of hearing his crowing in the morning. How neat!
Everything about the rooster was neat, he was big and beautiful. From the beginning he was our favorite, a great pet! It was fun watching him with the hens. He would find tasty morsels and cluck to catch the attention of some hen and give it to her. He was on constant guard duty. If even a butterfly passed by, he would sound an alarm for the hens. They got a little tired of that!
The hens were always in competition for his attention, especially at bedtime. Only the leader hens got to roost by him.
But there was a down side to having a rooster. Our rooster mated constantly, he had 16 hens, which is more than enough, and still all the hens were overmated until they were bald and barebacked. This also made the hens nervous and tense. They would pick at each other. As soon as new feathers started to grow back, they would pull them off each other. I thought maybe there was some thing I was doing wrong. Did they have enough room? Yes. Was their diet good enough? Yes. After much thought and debate we decided that we should think of the whole flock versus one rooster. He had to go.
So its been a fall and a winter, the hens have successfully grown back their feathers and they are much happier and content. Their egg production is normal. I miss the rooster, but our rooster was too overzealous for this flock of hens.
Not all roosters will overmate the hens, I see that some people have no problems with their rooster, and their hens have a full body of feathers. But you have a problem with bald and barebacked hens, you might have the same problem as we did.
Here is an item that might help:
HenSaver:Patent-pending triple-layer hen apron.
A hen apron, or saddle, is a device worn by hens to protect their backs from roosters during mating. When roosters mate with hens, the hens often sustain feather loss and cuts and gashes on their backs and shoulders that can lead to infection, picking, cannibalism and death.
Backgrounds by Jean the Bean Designs
Copyright � 2001 - 2008 The Country Chicken, All Rights Reserved