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I have three young roosters in with 17 pullets and hens,pullets are6 and 8 months old.They are very firsky and some of the girls stay on the roosts most of the day,and some of the heard feathers are being pulled out and I don`t want there backs bare.So my question is,I have a small coop its about 5x6 could I put the three roosters in there for the nect couple of months,they would be able to go outside in the daytime weather permitting.Right now they get along and they would not be able to see the hens but they will be able to hear them if they make a noise.Whata think.I would put them all back togather the end of March that way the girls would have the whole run to get away form them and they would be spending more time outside and not in the coop.
You're not leaving some of them outside all night, are you?
You're going to get massive amounts of crowing and it may stress the Roosters that they can't defend the girls at night. My roosters live with my hens year round. The feather 'bald spots' come and go - I think it is partially seasonal, but the ones caused by the roosters are never really that bad.
You may be surprised that when you remove the roosters, the feathers on your hens don't get any better. We figured this out a few years back. We were blaming the roosters but figured out that when the hens were going into their nest boxes, there were little turf wars and that was contributing to the missing feathers way more than the roosters being roosters.
Also, every time I've removed a chicken or rooster from the flock and reintroduced later, I've regreted it. They have incredibly complex social hierarchies and when the removed flock member returns, they have to fight their way back to their pre-removal status. I usually end up breaking up fights for at least a week.
What worked for us is to put up a bunch of obstacles in the run giving the girls places to get away and hide if they're getting too much attention. Worked well. If your hens are smaller than the roosters, you can try putting in some low benches, buckets or something so they can duck inside and the rooster can't get "in position." Also, may want to try some of the "rooster booster" or "no pick" stuff on the bald spots.
It will be 25 beow 0 tonight with the wind chill so needles to say they havenot been out at all today.They are doing fine in there new bachelor pad.Had to put a heat lamp in there for them to as its so cold tonight.No feathers missing on the girls just a few on the head of a couple of them.And with the less stress in the hen coop I got 6 eggs today and they were all in the nest boxes and not on the floor and on the poop boards.They are so much happier without the boys.I will put them back in in the spring for the fertile eggs that I will need.
