Tom injuring hens

[Feathyr]

Hey folks! I'm looking for some advice on keeping my hens safe during the breeding season.
My four year-old BR tom has recently began injuring his girls, resulting in two with bad wounds. He hooks his spurs into their sides and splits them right open.

He seems more interested in stomping around on a hen's back rather than actually getting the job done ... starting to wonder if he needs to be retired. It'd be a shame - he's incredibly docile - but I can't risk my poor hens like this.

I am purchasing some saddles but, aside from separating the girls and blunting the spurs, is there anything else I should be keeping in mind to prevent this from happening again? Would I be better off removing the spurs entirely?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In my experiences it's the inside toenails that are causing more problems. Trim both the spurs and toe nails. Tom's do typically spend some time getting positioned. If your Tom is up there too long he could smother the hen. So I would watch and see if he's taking too long.

 

[R2elk]

Hey folks! I'm looking for some advice on keeping my hens safe during the breeding season.
My four year-old BR tom has recently began injuring his girls, resulting in two with bad wounds. He hooks his spurs into their sides and splits them right open.

He seems more interested in stomping around on a hen's back rather than actually getting the job done ... starting to wonder if he needs to be retired. It'd be a shame - he's incredibly docile - but I can't risk my poor hens like this.

I am purchasing some saddles but, aside from separating the girls and blunting the spurs, is there anything else I should be keeping in mind to prevent this from happening again? Would I be better off removing the spurs entirely?

When a tom gets to the point that he is spending more time stomping around on the hen's backs it is time to replace him. I had one tom that started acting like that in his fourth breeding season. Prior to that he was an acceptable breeder. He even worked one old hen over so bad that he was able to strip her saddle off and injure her badly. He also crippled a wild hen that had been coming in for years to get bred.

As @oldhenlikesdogs pointed out, you need to trim his toenails which will help but it isn't going to change his attitude.

Good luck.

 

[HeiHeisMom]

Yup. Dealing with a filleted hen right now...
Sonny doesn't know his own strength and Daddy rushes him when he's hurting a hen, but Daddy isn't always in the same place...
Have five Roosters at the mo intent, love them all, but our team ruffians have timers set

 

[Feathyr]

Thank you all for your responses - sorry to hear you had to go through something similar, r2elk.

We decided to keep the girls separated for the time being, and when the time comes use only the younger tom for breeding. The 4 y/o will just be confined to the tom flock - he's become something of a family pet, so nobody wants to butcher him.

The injured hens aren't completely healed yet, but wounds are looking much better than they did previously. They feel good enough to venture out of their coop in search of worms, which is nice...

Yup. Dealing with a filleted hen right now...
Sonny doesn't know his own strength and Daddy rushes him when he's hurting a hen, but Daddy isn't always in the same place...
Have five Roosters at the mo intent, love them all, but our team ruffians have timers set

Oh man, I'm sorry. Best wishes to you and your hen; I hope she recovers well.

 

[bald Rooster]

I have never had a hen hurt this bad. But last season all of my poor hens took a beating from my tom, he is quite large.
Since I did very well selling poults last year (over 60ty) I decided to let my girls brood.
they all look fine! he isn't messing with them at all. he struts around the yard all puffed up. but never goes near the brooding hens.