How to protect hens wings during mating?

[darkbrahmamama]

I'm sure that if I went through all of the posts that I might be able to find the answer to my question, but to save time I started a new one.

Is there a way to help protect the hens wings where to rooster places his feet during mating? Right now I have 15 hens, 2 rooster, & 9 chicks (pretty sure 8 pullets, & 1 wish-he-were-a-she), all "dark brahmas" (all hatchery from Mt. Not-So-Healthy, pretty sure a few are mixed, 1 I know is a mixed araucana). The roosters are actually great. They don't fight, all the hens have a chicken apron from www.chickenarmor.com, & the roosters don't peck their heads much at all. But you can tell which hens are the boys favorites, because they have bald spots on their wings. With so many hens, I can't afford to buy each one a $12 chicken saddle with added protection. I was wondering if anyone knows of anything less expensive? Without sounding too weird, would Vaseline help? Some of their wings are pretty raw, no feathers left at all.

 

[HEChicken]

Your ratio of roosters to hens isn't excessive, though one rooster could probably maintain fertility in 15 hens without too much trouble. so you could consider rehoming one of the roosters and perhaps that will reduce the stress on the hens. I currently have 3 roosters with a 4th cockerel growing out who is 12 weeks now so hasn't started mating them yet. In my experience, if the cockerels grow up in the flock, they don't fight with each other as adults as they have a pecking order worked out so its not surprising yours get along. I have, ahem, an unknown quantity of hens - probably 30-40 - and I've never owned a chicken saddle and never had a hen with a bare back - or bare anything else for that matter - so it does seem that with your ratio, if the hens are getting bare patches, something needs to change.

Do you keep them penned? Perhaps the roosters have nothing else to do all day? Perhaps the ability for them to free-range and roam further would keep them occupied and they would spend less time mating the hens.

Mine range over several acres and while the young cockerels do get quite randy, they seem to settle down in time - fortunately before they've worn out any particular hen.

Perhaps you could pen the roosters separate from the hens, if you can't let them all out to free-range, and just let them out with the hens one day a week to maintain fertility. That would at least reduce the stress on the hens.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

They free range on quite a few acres. I don't know how many for sure, maybe somewhere around 50 acres between the horse pastures, yard, & woods. They are usually let out around 5:45 AM & they have free choice to come in & out for about 12 hours. The one rooster, Peter, is the main man between him & Popeye. If Poppie goes to mate a hen & Peter is any where around, Peter will run up & chase him off & away. Poppie has never once offered to fight back. It's not all of the hens that have bald spots on their wings. Maybe around 5 of them. All the other girls are pretty well off ..... either no feathers missing at all, or very few feathers are missing. The main reason I have the chicken saddles on the hens is because they're cheap, & have the predator eyes on them. Since they free range, I figured a little extra protection wouldn't be a bad thing. I feel bad for the ones with bald spots. The main reason that I have roosters is more for protection for free ranging than for breeding. Though, I have been thinking about donating some of the eggs to next years 4-H class room projects.

I might just have to give in & buy some saddles or aprons with wing protectors ..... or somehow figure out how to rig something up.

 

[seminolewind]

The poor woman's chicken saddle is called duct tape. Run a few overlapping strips from under one wing across the back to under the other wing. Eventually it will fall off all by itself, then you can decide if you need to put new tape on her.

The other thing I will be trying soon is that I have 3 roos that will be getting brides in a week or so, and I plan on using pinless peepers on the roos so they can't see straight ahead, and give the girls a chance to get away, LOL.

The other thing I've done is wrap one rooster foot using enough wrap to slow him down. It's hard to run with a cast on.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

LOVE LOVE LOVE the duct tape idea! The chicken saddles I buy are nice because they're cheap, last over a year, I don't feel bad about throwing damaged ones away, they have the predator eyes, & we can write names on them ..... just no wing protection. I work about 60 hour weeks, so the idea of using simple duct tape for only the needed ones is awesome! I must admit, Peter & Popeye are "gentlemen" & if one of the girls squawk a lot, they hop right off. Thanks so much for your help! Can't believe I didn't think of that ........

 

[seminolewind]

It's not my original idea, but it's a good one. I know what you mean about the saddles. I have a few of those too.

 

[amyfitz100]

I have one hen who desperately needs wing protection as well. How exactly would you wrap the wing with duct tape? I understand the across the back part -- but does it not hurt where she's down to skin? She looks terrible, and the other girls aren't missing anything...

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know, I've never had to wrap a wing. I know you can get saddles with wing protectors, like a cape sortof.

You might want to think cheap and buy some pinless peepers and put one on the roo. I just had to , I had nice little girls who had to put up with mr. sex machine. So the peepers help block his sight and give the girls a better chance.

 

[Sarevan]

My BO roo is just over a year old and still getting his technique down. He was from a flock that had 4 extra roos so he didn't get to mate much before head roo chased him away.

4 of my 11 mature 1yo girls are his favorites and they are wearing homemade polar fleece capes to cover up their backs. Made from a light weight fleece from a yardsale find hoody. One has a naked back of her head, pin feathers starting to come in now. Another has a naked part of her wing at a joint. Been trying to figure out how to cover it with fleece, maybe the duct tape over a piece of fleece will work. The go to fix everthing - duct tape.

I have 10 BO pullets 4mo that are in a seperate run. Can't wait for them to mature so can put him in with them to give the other girls a break. Will be transferring him between the two groups of hens so they will have a break from his attentions for awhile. Hoping the BO will be broody to get chicks eventually.

 

[debster1556]

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I have 4 hens and 1 roo and its not enough. Poor girls. All but 1 have bald spots right behind their combs. We're looking into getting him 4 more hens but have questions about age, quarantining, etc.

Is there anything I can put on their heads to protect them that would actually stay on??