My young rooster is leaving my hens heads bald...will that change?

[DeannaOR]

I have a young Lemon Cuckoo Orpington rooster and I'm wondering if his skills will improve. None of my hens backs are messed up, but the backs of their heads and necks look awful. He is doing a great job watching out for them, breaking up the occasional squabble and alerting to danger. It's interesting to watch him. I will be moving him to a breeding pen as soon as I get the breeder coop done. His counterpart and obvious favorite is pristine, although I have seen him mate her. The others seem to get mated more often and he jumps on grabbing the feathers on the back of their heads or necks.

 

[Dwkuska]

I am not sure, maybe he just likes to rough em up a bit.

 

[heybarb]

I have a bantam buff cochin that was trying to take care of business with my 2 white leghorns. He grabbed them by the necks and they had a fairly large bald spot for about a month. I never saw blood, so I left them alone. Things are definitely better now as their feathers are growing back in, so either he has perfected his technique or just gotten gentler with them. I am not sure which.

 

[Den in Penn]

After a year my rooster and most of the hens have gotten enough experience that a lot of the times he does not even grab the feathers anymore. Of course each is an individual and technique will vary.