bloody bald patches on hen and rooster?

[amyunderwood307]

I have six chickens and I live in Illinois, and in November it can have harsh weather. But as of a few weeks ago my wyandotte is losing feathers on her back, right by her tail feathers. I first assumed it was our aggressive australorp rooster mating her and scratching her, but then today o saw that the rooster has a large bloody, featherless spot on his neck...I'm worried about them losing feathers with this cold weather.

Any explanations?
Solutions?
Suggestions?


Anything would help! Thank you!

 

[CluckyCharms]

I have six chickens and I live in Illinois, and in November it can have harsh weather. But as of a few weeks ago my wyandotte is losing feathers on her back, right by her tail feathers. I first assumed it was our aggressive australorp rooster mating her and scratching her, but then today o saw that the rooster has a large bloody, featherless spot on his neck...I'm worried about them losing feathers with this cold weather.
Any explanations?
Solutions?
Suggestions?
Anything would help! Thank you!

I could be wrong, and I often am, but I don't think moulting causes bloody patches...just naked ones. If these patches are bloody I would think it's a pecking issue. Or it could be lice or mites and the chicken itched themselves to bloodiness and the blood attracted the pecking of the other chicken, etc.

hopefully someone here who is more knowledgeable will step in.

Do you have any pictures of these wounds to share with us?

 

[amyunderwood307]

I don't as of right now. When their outside tomorrow I'll take some pictures to show. The roosters is the only bloody one. But the hen is just missing alot by her tail feathers. I'm just worried about the poor chickens with the cold weather! And if it is mites I don't want it to spread..

Also we use straw as bedding. Could that provide an irritation to them or something?

 

[CluckyCharms]

Straw is fine to use as bedding, many here use straw without any problems.

The tricky part about having chickens is that 1 chicken can display the same symptoms/signs as another chicken but the two causes could be completely unrelated. =/

If it were me I would rule out mites/lice first, just to verify they're clear. You can do that easily by separating their feathers and looking down near the skin...there's no mistaking lice or their eggs, they'll be itty bitty tiny white balls in clumps for the eggs and they typically like to lay them right alongside the shaft of the feather and near the base, and the lice themselves usually appear shimmery and clearish with a black or brown dot in the middle. Check the warmest parts of the chicken, near the vent and under the legs (their pits), and under their beak/chin area.

Mites are trickier because there are different strains of mites that like to feast on chickens, but the best way to find those is to look when it's really late/early...like midnight and 2 am...because mites come out mainly at night to feast on the chicken's blood. Separate the feathers down to the skin and they will look like brownish/reddish little scurrying things.

How long have you had these chickens? Have you noticed any of them being a McNasty other than the Australorp roo at any point in time?

I'm not trying to freak you out so I'm sorry if I do - but do you have any rats in your coop? Rats will yank feathers out to use as bedding material, and they also love eggs in addition to fighting for one if a hen tries to stop them from taking one.

How much blood are we talking about here?

With regard to the chilly weather - I think they'll be fine in that regard - given they have a nice cozy coop with proper ventilation. I've seen some practically naked frizzled cochins still in a heavy molt (they're notorious for it) late into the year and they seem to fare decently. I mean, I'm sure it's not as pleasant as having some fluffy feathers but I think they'll be okay.

Once again - I'm no expert on chickens and I'm only a few months into chickens myself, so take what I say with a grain of salt please.

 

[amyunderwood307]

When I say bloody, I mean more like a red raw featherless patch. Its not dripping with blood or anything like that. And I don't believe there is rats. I've never seen them in the coop..they get locked up at night in a nice secure coop but I'll have to check that out. And this group of chickens I got at the same time, so they were raised as chicks together and get along GREAT. They never had problems. They are about 8 months old.
This rooster is, to be honest, awful. I know he's doing his job, he's great at protecting those hens! But his way of "protecting" the hens involves lunging at me every time I walk near him. Haha so its going to be hard to check for mites. Im just afraid that it is mites or something and it will spread..I'll have to take a closer look tomorrow. And take pictures!

 

[CluckyCharms]

I know there are many who will disagree with me, but you should never have to put up with an obnoxious rooster lunging at you! You poor thing Roosters are a dime a dozen, and unless your roo is an extremely rare, seen practically nowhere else in the world, and he is a sport roo, or can play the Star Spangled Banner on a guitar - - - he'd be Christmas dinner.

Have you tried carrying him upside down to show him who is boss? It doesn't hurt them at all when done properly; it only hurts their egos. Doing it repeatedly has brought about the desired effect for many people on this forum.

In regard to the raw red patch I'm leaning more toward buggies than anything else (mites in particular but could be lice). It's nothing you have done or haven't done, mites are easy for chickens to come in contact with...birds in your area mainly (such as robins, crows, etc) any sort of wild bird can carry them around.

I'd also check for lesions (they'll look like that really horrible nasty pimple you had in high school that simply wouldn't pop, but had no trouble getting infected)...feather loss can be an early sign of avian pox, but I don't think that's what they have.

Have you changed anything at all in their diet lately? What is the percentage of protein in their feed? Plant protein versus animal protein?

 

[amyunderwood307]

I love the idea of having a rooster and watching him protect the hens and hearing him crow. But we've tried everything to make him not so mean. At first he was a sweet, nice bird then when he got older he got aggressive. My hens are just about the sweetest animals I've ever met tho! Haha funny the difference between the genders.

And nope I haven't changed there diet...except I have been giving them some cracked corn. Which wouldn't change much. As for the food, I'm not exactly sure about the protein. Its something I need to check out.

When they were chicks, one of them lost most of the feathers on there body, but grew back in a week or two. Not sure what happened there, except the fact that I had a very sad looking, featherless chick. Haha!

I have some things i need to check out in the morning and I'll upload some pictures of them. By the way, thank you for taking the time to help me

 

[amyunderwood307]

IMG_20121126_070324

 

[CluckyCharms]

Sorry, it's not letting me look at the picture. Did you try inserting it into the type field using the picture "insert image" icon ?

 

[amyunderwood307]