Cochin losing feet feathers. Red and inflamed feet/legs.

WTCluck16

In the Brooder
5 Years
Dec 1, 2014
42
8
26
Hi all! My bantam cochin rooster is having an issue with both of his feet. He lives with my sister and her flock b/c of rooster fighting issues. She just sent me this picture of his feet. She has him inside right now. He shares a coop/run with 4 non-feather legged hens. I've read somewhere on here that feather footed chickens often get their feet pecked at if they are the only ones with feather feet. Not sure if that's the case here though, but maybe. He's lost of lot of his feathers on his feet and legs. And if it is, how do I get them to stop?

Anybody know what the problem may be? It looks pretty infected, so she has already cleaned it up and applied vetricyn.

Thanks for any input!

~Alysha

 
Did you ever figure out what it was? My Cochin has the same thing now. I have 9 hens, all feet are fine. His legs have been a bit
pink and losing some feathers for some time. I thought it was just normal for a Cochin. Today I see they are more inflamed and he had some blood where feathers were broken out. He shows no other symptoms, appears perfectly normal otherwise.



 
I dont know. You know how you can pull up hundreds of pics on Bing. I put in leg mites cochin rooster (something like that) and not one pic looked like these. This thread is the only place where I saw what appeared to be same thing. I will certainly treat for mites if that seems to be a good possibility. Just seemed weird that he wasnt itching or scratching at them..
 
In my Roo's case, it was the hens pecking at his feet. He was with 4 easter egger hens, who don't have feathery feet and legs. Apparently this is common, and it's best not to mix fancy footed chickens with regular ones because of this issue. Are your hens fancy footed too? Because judging by your photos, it appears to be a case of feet pecking from your girls.

Originally, we separated him from the girls, and he healed right up. We tried putting him back with them, and his feet were bleeding again within minutes. We even added extra enrichment for the girls like other threads and articles suggested. Such as a flock block, hanging veggies, outside the run time, etc, but nothing worked.

Ultimately, we had to separate him from the non-feather-footed hens. He's in our bachelor coop with my other roosters now, and his feet/legs are pretty and healthy again.

I would recommend keeping him separate from the hens at least until he's healed, clean his feet and legs with vetericyn, and put some antibiotic ointment on them. You'll find out fairly quickly if it reoccurs shortly after you reintroduce them.

Good luck to you and your rooster. He's very cute. My red cochin is one my favorites. He's a sweetheart, and oh so fluffy! ;)
 
Interesting!!! Thank you so much. All I have is Cochins..... all 10.... I might need to put something bad tasting on his feet then......
 
I have a bald butt girl too.... probably girls picking on her. It's been totally bald for 3 months. If she doesnt have feather growth by winter, I'll have to keep her inside for the winter.
 
When you separate the rooster, I would imagine there's a great deal of stress??? My 10 have never been separated...and have grown up from eggs together. I could easily separate them but will I be causing alot of stress with all?
 

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