Black Patches Over Rooster's Eyes

[akapple]

sorry saw the other posts about the frostbite after I posted!

That's what the black looks like to me.... not sure about the beak.

 

[ivan3]

Use a high powered (15-20 mag) jeweler's loupe and good flashlight and look closely at any `spots' in the feathers (`mitey' suspicious looking).

Check Brec's shot in this thread (#3) for comparison: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4599317

Just something to R/O.

 

[KansasKid]

Quote:
Could you please explain this one to me?

 

[VA Lady]

Has anyone ever seen frostbite in this location on a bird before? I'm curious because the little bit that I've seen on it makes it sound like its usually the tips of their combs that are affected. Anyone have any thoughts?

BTW - I don't know if this helps but I only have 4 birds and they've been together for almost a year. No other chickens around.

Another thing is that I see my birds every day and this showed up on him all of a sudden, not gradually, the day after a very comfortable warm day/evening (I think the low that night was maybe 50 degrees). It had been so nice that that night I'd left the heat lamp off so they didn't get too hot.

Thanks again for any info anyone can offer! He acts perfectly normal right now but if there's anything that needs to be done for him I really want to do it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I actually saw the same on my head roo last night, but he had been fighting with his son, son looked worse so i am going to give it a few days and see how it looks then. Do you have more than one roo?

 

[VA Lady]

No, just the one roo and three hens. He is definitely the only boss in their house!

 

[geebs]

Possible mites or lice??? Check him closely.. that could be another source of aggrevation.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Lice and Mites could very much be a cause. I didn't know my chickens had mites till they got on me and I checked them often for them. they are tiny tiny little things that look like blk pepper except they move.. you can see them so they say at night after the chickens go to roost. take a flash light and look at the roosts and also look around the vents of you chickens, seems they like to hang out there. Lice are easier to see they lay their eggs at the base of the chickens feathers. I'll try to find the link so you can read up on them both. Since mine had the mites late summer of last year. They will get treated at least 2 times now. Starting in March and again in late Sept. I will be using Epernix because there is no egg withdraw with it, and it's easy to use. If you do decide it's either of these pests you'll also have to do a through cleaning of your coops. Let us know what you come up with.
heres the link about lice/mites just so you can rule that out.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[sourland]

The dried blood/black spots on the side of his comb is NOT frostbite. Look at the yellowing towards the front of his comb this is what MIGHT be frost bite.

 

[akapple]

I get the a poultry magazine and there was a whole artical about winterizing your chickens and about frostbite. All photos of the frostbitten chicken were of those w/ black spots/patches. not yellow. The spots might be something else but that is also what frostbite manifests as. I actually had a chicken that got some on her and we had to treat her for it.