> Does anyone know how to keep a rooster from being so rough on the
> hens? Mine break the feathers on their backs and pull the feathers off
> the sides of their heads. I really don't want to increase the flock size
> but 10 hens just aren't enough to keep him satisfied.
> Best Regards, Edna
Hi Edna, you are correct that ten hens aren't enough to keep a good rooster
busy. There are of course, commercial ways to reduce hen damage. You can
clip the roosters beak, and you can clip the toe nails. However, a more
likely management scenario would be to separate him from the hens for two
week periods, then give him visitation rights only on every other Saturday.
This gives the biddies some rest and a chance to heal. Or, if he is really
mean, chop him and get a nice docile rooster like a New Hampshire or Buff
Orpington.
Regards,
Andy Lee
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail