rooster loosing feathers

[NevadaEmma]

I have a two year old Salmon Faverolles rooster that is my husbands favorite bird. "Tank" has lost most of his neck feathers and has lost many of his tail feathers. We have been paying close attention to him for the last month or so.

I had a bug infestation that I think I may have under control. The two roosters had fairly large bugs that I could see on their combs. I could just wipe them off when I could get ahold of them. Their combs had started turning black at the tips, so getting those larger bugs off helped considerabley.

I then realized there were very, very small bugs (probably mites) on all the chickens, and eventually some got on me. Again, I thinK I have than under control.

But yet Tank is still loosing feathers; there are no apparent bugs. I did see one hen picking at his red neck with feather stubble so I sprayed his neck and feet for good measure with Blue coat.

I seperated the two roosters and hens into two different coops for the night and for most of the mornings. The Alpha male does chase Tank away from the girls when they are in the same area, but I have never seen them actually fight.

Tank appears to be a lover, not a fighter!

 

[sourland]

It looks like his lady friends are feather pecking/plucking him. It starts as grooming and then escalates from there.

 

[NevadaEmma]

I have not seen it, but that is why I sprayed the Blue Coat on him.
He has never molted, and I am not sure if roosters do molt. It looks like some of his neck feathers are trying to come out, but I have not seen a positive change.

 

[aart]

I am not sure if roosters do molt.

Yes, they do molt. Mine have always started earlier in the season than the females.

Make sure the bugs are gone.
Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[NevadaEmma]

Thank you very much for the reply. I will keep checking for bugs.

I took all the bedding out of both coops. The coop that Tank is in was completely washed out and when dry dusted with permetherin and DE. Replaced bedding with Orchard Grass Hay, some Ecoflake and some hemp.

The other coop had the same treatment but not the washing down in the nest boxes as the the hens were still laying in that coop. The other coop is a spare coop for broody hens or whatever needs of the chickens if they need to be seperated from the main group. No hay in the larger coop, just hemp. I did take the roost bars out and washed them as well.


Time to wipe down the coops again.

 

[aart]

I will keep checking for bugs.

I took all the bedding out of both coops. The coop that Tank is in was completely washed out and when dry dusted with permetherin and DE. Replaced bedding with Orchard Grass Hay, some Ecoflake and some hemp.

The other coop had the same treatment but not the washing down in the nest boxes as the the hens were still laying in that coop. The other coop is a spare coop for broody hens or whatever needs of the chickens if they need to be seperated from the main group. No hay in the larger coop, just hemp. I did take the roost bars out and washed them as well.


Time to wipe down the coops again.

Check for bugs before treating. Best to know exactly what you are up against.

Using insecticide peventatively can cause resistance, which can make the treatment of no use if you actually get an infestation. DE is ineffective no matter when you use it.

 

[NevadaEmma]

Sooo... I was able to inspect Tank, wish I had a camera.

He did have at least one very small bug in his vent area. His feathers are so dense I could not get to the skin to see any more.

There are no bugs that I can see on his comb and wattle or neck, but it does look like there are plugged holes where feathers should be coming out as if the feathers were nipped off next to the skin. He has a lot of new shafts of feathers coming out on his neck and backside, so maybe he is also molting. He does not act like any of the hens I have had that have molted. But I have never had a rooster molt before.

I did dust his backside and head/neck area with permetherin and lathered vasoline on his feet which needed to be one again.

Hopefully he will return at some point to his old self. He is such a wonderful bird!!

 

[Mrs. K]

I think this is depluming mites. Google it and see if you think so too.

 

[NevadaEmma]

Thank you. You very well may be right. It does not seem to be affecting the other birds, but then I have hens that may be having this problem. I will look more carefully. I will see if I can treat the whole flock without harm.

Back to more Google research, thank you again.