Thanks to a tip from a helpful reader, my torn up hen problem might be solved. For those of you who are unfamiliar with rooster procreative behavior, they jump on the hens back and hold onto the top of their head and/or comb while they fertilize the eggs. Now that the roosters have become more mature and have their spurs, they are scratching up the hens' backs, ripping feathers out until the back is bare, red, and raw. For some reason, they seem to concentrate on from one to three hens at a time so that only one to three hens have raw backs at a time and it gives the other hen's feathers time to grow back in. At the moment, we have one hen that has been especially ill treated. Maybe she's the cutest or something. She's one of the smaller hens and her back is really torn up.
One reader told me that she used duct tape on her hens' backs. In theory, the duct tape won't stick to the skin, will protect the back until the feathers grow back in, and will eventually fall off on its own due to dust and debris getting up under there and loosening it. Or, maybe the roosters will be turned off by the tacky tape stuck to her and will turn their attentions to another hen. So, I finally got around to taping up that little hen this morning. She doesn't seem to mind having duct tape stuck to her and has been happily pecking away in the yard all day.
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4 comments:
Woman... Sandra Bullock would give you the biggest hug for making her pee her pants while busting her gut laughing at the worst time in her life right now! This is absolutely hilarious! I had to show Hubby! Even HE fell out! Keep us all updated on how this works!
That's a perfect engineering solution if you ask me!
This is AWESOME! I hope it works! GL.
Interesting use of the duct tape.
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