Dressing Up Chickens

We have a problem in the hen house.  It's a rooster.  Although he's gorgeous and wildly entertaining, he has become a nuisance to the ladies ever since he reached his sexual maturity.  In fact, they're all adults, so what they do in the coop, out of the coop, in the front yard, in the back yard, that's their business.   It becomes my business when the hens get injured because of him.  

The rooster in question is a very large Buff Orpington.  (We have two males actually, but one of them is a bantam--very small--like a wig with legs.  He's not the problem.)  When the big guy mounts the hens, his talons, claws, whatever you call them, dig into the gals' backs and rip out feathers.  You can see bare skin showing in patches on a couple of them. We have had this issue in the past with a different rooster (who was even bigger than this one) who actually tore the flesh on their backs.  Blood in a henhouse is NOT good.  They can become cannibalistic with very little provocation.  Any little injury can invite their coopmates to pick at the wound.  It is not a healthy situation to be in.  Our solution the last time this occurred was to re-home the rooster.  We sent it to live with my parents. Tragically, it was quickly killed by a wild animal, and everyone was very sad to lose him.   

This time, we've decided to try a different option--dressing the chickens.  It is called a "protective apron" from Randall Burkey company.  I only ordered one to start with since they look absolutely easy to make.

http://www.randallburkey.com/Hen-Saver-Protective-Hen-Apron/productinfo/16120/

We will try this on the ladies to see how they heal, allow some time to let their feathers grow back in, etc.  If this doesn't work we're thinking about whether we can castrate him.  The arguments my husband and I came up with against this solution mainly focused around how big he is now and how much food he already consumes. The fear is that he'll just get bigger and hungrier without his chicken nuggets.

Once I get the Randall Burkey version of the apron, I'll try to make several more. They are a mere $8.99 each, but I'm on a budget!  I know I can whip them out cheaper than that--and probably cuter.  I'm treading on some dangerous ground here--suddenly I'm imagining some crazy designs to dress the chickens in.  We've joked oh so many times about knitting sweaters for the birds, and it's something I am absolutely likely to do. 

Wow.  If the neighbors think we're weird now, wait until they see our flock dressed up!  They won't probably realize that there is a reason for putting a jacket on a chicken, they'll just think we're nuts.  Oh well.  For all intents and purposes we are delightfully nuts and fine with it.