Well I've recently (months ago) had emergency surgery myself... Which left my birds in the care of my husband. This is all well & good ... For the most part. The issues are these
1. We had some frostbite that wasn't immediately treated and so we are missing comb points on roosters... Do they grow back? The birds don't seem distressed about this.
2. One of my roosters got all muddy and as it seems there is mud caked into a lot of his feathers... I think he was getting under something? How on earth do I get that off, it's been so muddy here. The hens seem to be getting clean easily but he's so feathery... Oh it's not awesome... He's in with 5 hens that are a decent size but he's a gentle guy so I'm hoping they're letting him clean himself about the pen I don't know really what the deal is with that, he just looks a mess and I'm thinking of selling this one because he is just so big and really nice and I think he would be very happy with hens more his size... He's basically a turkey.
3. I had two young cockerels in a pen and hubs was supposed to watch them and separate at the first sign of any fighting... Well... The one looks like he has a big of frost bite and some pulled feathers but the other one looks like he had all the feathers pulled out of the back of his neck and he just looks like he's been in a fight, he's not crowing either, he's just not happy looking
I feel awful for him but like I said I had no way of knowing and my husband literally just didn't notice ... I guess.., they're young and won't be together. They're separated now and the one might get hens this coming week the other one needs a little tlc.... What can I do for him if anything? Pictures probably would be helpful but it's still quite hard for me to get out there... I could put something on it, it's not bloody but I'm not really sure if he got frost bite or something? He otherwise looks great and has been enjoying running around outside and all that but he really looks like he's a scrapper... He may be the antagonist as well just not the stronger bird I'm always so careful about this I'm really struggling to get everything back in order after all this. He is staying for the spring and maybe summer but he probably won't stay through the winter again we are shifting our breed focus and he like the other rooster are the last of their breed here.
Any advice ? I'm not really sure what will help, some ointment that can help skin heal? He seems ok just looks really ragged... Should I worry?
1. We had some frostbite that wasn't immediately treated and so we are missing comb points on roosters... Do they grow back? The birds don't seem distressed about this.
2. One of my roosters got all muddy and as it seems there is mud caked into a lot of his feathers... I think he was getting under something? How on earth do I get that off, it's been so muddy here. The hens seem to be getting clean easily but he's so feathery... Oh it's not awesome... He's in with 5 hens that are a decent size but he's a gentle guy so I'm hoping they're letting him clean himself about the pen I don't know really what the deal is with that, he just looks a mess and I'm thinking of selling this one because he is just so big and really nice and I think he would be very happy with hens more his size... He's basically a turkey.
3. I had two young cockerels in a pen and hubs was supposed to watch them and separate at the first sign of any fighting... Well... The one looks like he has a big of frost bite and some pulled feathers but the other one looks like he had all the feathers pulled out of the back of his neck and he just looks like he's been in a fight, he's not crowing either, he's just not happy looking
I feel awful for him but like I said I had no way of knowing and my husband literally just didn't notice ... I guess.., they're young and won't be together. They're separated now and the one might get hens this coming week the other one needs a little tlc.... What can I do for him if anything? Pictures probably would be helpful but it's still quite hard for me to get out there... I could put something on it, it's not bloody but I'm not really sure if he got frost bite or something? He otherwise looks great and has been enjoying running around outside and all that but he really looks like he's a scrapper... He may be the antagonist as well just not the stronger bird I'm always so careful about this I'm really struggling to get everything back in order after all this. He is staying for the spring and maybe summer but he probably won't stay through the winter again we are shifting our breed focus and he like the other rooster are the last of their breed here. Any advice ? I'm not really sure what will help, some ointment that can help skin heal? He seems ok just looks really ragged... Should I worry?
