[macgro7]

I just bought a pair of beautiful chickens from satueday Melton Rare Breed Sale but noticed the hen is injured on her back by the cock. He's tmcontantly trying to mate with her so she hid in the coop and hasn't left the whole day yesterday (at leastci didn't see). I separated then last night. He's gonna go with several layer hens to keep him occupied and the poorly hen is in a separate enclose by herself.
Is there anything I can Do? Or shall I just keep her separate for couple of weeks, let veal and feathers grow back, the question is when will she be able to mate with him again.
I've noticed he's got overgrown claws - I suppose beef trimming a bit

[chrismahon]

Keep them separate until she is fully healed and in the meantime buy a good quality 'saddle' for her. This will protect her from repeated damage. Chickens should be sold in trios, so one cock to two hens or better still three.


Cocks are cheap and hens are not, so don't hesitate to despatch the cock if he is too damaging.

[bj_cardiff]

I would dispatch the cock, chances are that he's the same hatch at the hen anyway. If you don't want to dispatch him then see how he is with the other hens, he may calm down - or may injure them too! I think you can chicken buy saddles on Ebay. Keep her separate with a quiet hen for company till she heals.

[Fleecewife]

Once she has healed then get her a good quality canvas saddle - the fancy ones can be too flimsy.  Check under her saddle each week.  Deal with the cock's claws, although they can still cause damage after trimming.  If he is young ie a cockerel, he is likely to be full of teenage enthusiasm.  He will calm down when he has a full complement of half a dozen hens to lead, and he realises he has no competition from other males.  I don't think you need to dispose of him yet, just give him time to settle, and protect your wee hen.

[macgro7]

This cock is very important to me atm. He is Poule de Barbezieux- one of only 2 lines of them known to me in the UK.
I'll get him some more wives and see how it goes.

[Steph Hen]

I wouldn’t despatch him. Just separate for a while and have a look at his spurs and claws. Used a bench grinder, carefully. There’s also that hot potato trick, but I’ve never tried it.

Is she already laying? They store sperm for something like 10/14 days (maybe you know the exact time) so for hatching eggs only need to be together once a week and then can be separated again.
I went through a spell of having too many cock lines and not enough pens so kept all the cocks together and the hens free range, pulling them into breeding runs for a few hours at the weekends when I had time to. Worked ok. Cocks didn’t fight. Hens seemed happy.

[macgro7]

I can't free range chickens any more. Foxes learnt to visit them at day time! 
For almost 4 years I had them free ranging in this place and they were fine until last summer.

This cock is massive but doesn't have any spurs yet (hatched in 2018). Haven't had any eggs from that hen either. She is doing much better without him though. This breed is very very large - they were in a cage next to Ixworths which looked like dwarves near them - this makes mating even more risky.
I have ordered a saddle for her from eBay and hopefully will pick up some red layer hens for our eggs and to feed the cockerel addiction to girls.