Spur covers

[Mamagirl3]

It's fine where it is.
Curious tho, why do you think spur covers would be good/needed?

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Was asking about the covers because my roo has began causing places on the hens from them. At first it was taking all the feathers off their back. Of 12 hens there are 4 this has happened to. Now his spurs have grown and gotten sharp points and a couple of the hens are getting a bruise color on their sides. In looking up articles about it .. some suggested using spur caps to put a cushion between the spur and the hen. This is why i wanted to know from BYC folks if anyone had used them and if they were safe. The ones we saw online just looked like rubber pieces that slipped over the spur ..
IN NO WAY HAVE WE ANY INTEREST IN FIGHTING BIRDS ... TO ME IT IS CRUEL!!

 

[Mamagirl3]

expand...

Was asking about the covers because my roo has began causing places on the hens from them. At first it was taking all the feathers off their back. Of 12 hens there are 4 this has happened to. Now his spurs have grown and gotten sharp points and a couple of the hens are getting a bruise color on their sides. In looking up articles about it .. some suggested using spur caps to put a cushion between the spur and the hen. This is why i wanted to know from BYC folks if anyone had used them and if they were safe. The ones we saw online just looked like rubber pieces that slipped over the spur ..
IN NO WAY HAVE WE ANY INTEREST IN FIGHTING BIRDS ... TO ME IT IS CRUEL!!

 

[Mamagirl3]

It's fine where it is.
Curious tho, why do you think spur covers would be good/needed?

expand...

Was asking about the covers because my roo has began causing places on the hens from them. At first it was taking all the feathers off their back. Of 12 hens there are 4 this has happened to. Now his spurs have grown and gotten sharp points and a couple of the hens are getting a bruise color on their sides. In looking up articles about it .. some suggested using spur caps to put a cushion between the spur and the hen. This is why i wanted to know from BYC folks if anyone had used them and if they were safe. The ones we saw online just looked like rubber pieces that slipped over the spur ..
IN NO WAY HAVE WE ANY INTEREST IN FIGHTING BIRDS ... TO ME IT IS CRUEL!!

 

[Mamagirl3]

I'm curious as to why you are interested in spur covers.
I'm even more curious as to where you may have come accross such things.

I have never used them but I did consider them at one point along with training boots and beak guards.

For the backyard keeper who is concerened about spur damage from their roosters none of what I write below is applicable.
Do as DobieLover suggests above. I prefer to use a file and round the points off spurs.
This is perfectly adequate to prevent damage to hens during mating and those fights that inevitably break out should one keep more than one male.

What I write below is for education only.

When I lived in Catalonia, Spain, I knew a couple of chicken keepers whose families had been involved in the breeding of fighting birds for a few generations. Once cock fighting became illegal these fighting bird keepers kept the linieage alive in order to preserve the breeds and the vast amount of knowledge that had been aquired over the generations of breeding.

These keepers trained their birds and in order to do this without causing any damage to the training pair much like one sees boxers training with gloves, head guards and body armour the items mentioned above were used.
So, yes they do work but they are not suitable to be worn on a full time basis.

I will point out that these keepers were extremely proud and fond of their birds and the care put into their keeping, their diet and their excersise plans would put the vast majority of backyard chicken keeepers to shame.

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Was asking about the covers because my roo has began causing places on the hens from them. At first it was taking all the feathers off their back. Of 12 hens there are 4 this has happened to. Now his spurs have grown and gotten sharp points and a couple of the hens are getting a bruise color on their sides. In looking up articles about it .. some suggested using spur caps to put a cushion between the spur and the hen. This is why i wanted to know from BYC folks if anyone had used them and if they were safe. The ones we saw online just looked like rubber pieces that slipped over the spur ..
IN NO WAY HAVE WE ANY INTEREST IN FIGHTING BIRDS ... TO ME IT IS CRUEL!!

 

[aart]

Was asking about the covers because my roo has began causing places on the hens from them. At first it was taking all the feathers off their back. Of 12 hens there are 4 this has happened to. Now his spurs have grown and gotten sharp points and a couple of the hens are getting a bruise color on their sides.

Sometimes a male has bad technique causing feather loss or he's dominating/overmating a few particular hens.
Sometimes it's that the hen has brittle feathers that break easily.
Dulling the spurs and toenails by trimming and/or filing them should prevent wounds.
Do you have more than one male?

 

[Mamagirl3]

Sometimes a male has bad technique causing feather loss or he's dominating/overmating a few particular hens.
Sometimes it's that the hen has brittle feathers that break easily.
Dulling the spurs and toenails by trimming and/or filing them should prevent wounds.
Do you have more than one male?

No. Just 1. He is almost 14 mos old. Weighs 13 lbs. And is 19 inches tall. This pic was taken 4 mos ago. But you can see he is a big boy!

 

[Shadrach]

The rooster will knock spur caps off.
Get your rooster and a fine file. A nail file will do. A fine negineering file would be better.
File a about a sixteenth of an inch or 2mm off the ends of your roosters spurs making sure you round the ends off.
The four hens that have damaged back feathers are probably your roosters favourite hens. Roosters mate with their favourite hens more than they do the other hens.
You could remove the four favourite hens from the group for a while so their feathers have time to repair.