Bare back hens

[Nome89]

Just curious...
My Batam brahma roo has pulled all the feathers out on the backs of his "fav" hens. I have removed him once and let them grow back just to have them all go back to being bare again.
He doesn't seem aggressive with them but they look terrible with no feathers...
Will removing his spurs stop this? Or are there other ways to stop it?
Thanks!

[ross]

Silkie Sue has a remedy . Saddles .

[Nome89]

Thanks Ross!

[Killerbunny]

Saddles work well. Check whether he is taking the feathers out on top of the wing joint too because you can get a saddle with a wing cover too.
My hens got their revenge, I noticed them carefully plucking one of my boys legs bare!

[Ontario Chick]

Removing spurs will not help, they aren't used during mating, just for direct attack

[Nome89]

Thanks ontariochick and killerbunny
He is only getting their back feathers... and they look naked..
I have never had my other roos do this so I wasn't sure..
It's fairly "normal" then?

[Killerbunny]

Yup! Doing his job. Getting the saddles will also protect the bare ones from sunburn too until their feathers grow back.

[Ontario Chick]

Like KB said, quite normal, usually happens with an inexperienced cockerel, too few hens, or too few "favorite and willing" hens
some economically minded roosters will only mate with hens that are laying, that may cut down on number of "available" hens.

[Killerbunny]

Lucky always preferred the 1 or 2 year old hens - biddies were usually left alone!

[KimChick]

And here I thought mine were pecking at each other (which I have seen happen). You mean it's the rooster on their backs? When doing so, he tries to hang on to either their combs or their neck feathers. Our roo is young yet, not even a year old in our years.