Bloody Wattle and Outer Feathers Under Wattle - Northeast Ohio

[sunnysideohio]

We're in northeast OH. It has been single digits for the past three days or so.

Flock Stats:
Two Roosters: Have never seen them fight
- Ralph Macchio - 2 years old, man of the house, Leghorn + Silky mix
- HRooTwoToo (Pronounced ROO-TOO-TOO - His grandpa was called HRoo - the H is silent folks!) - Less than 1 year, farmyard mix. Born into the flock directly this past spring. Hatched from a broody hen. Ralph's son.

17 Hens: 12 about 2 years old. 5 hatched directly into flock last spring, same brood as HRooTwoToo, now almost 1 year old.

Bloddy Wattle / Feathers Problem Info:
1) Our head rooster, Ralph Macchio, has bloody wattles on the bottom tips of each side. His chest feathers are bloody, now kind of caked darkly.
2) He has no blood under his chest feathers, and no evidence of a chest wound. Seems to me it's all coming from his wattles.
3) His wattles are fairly long and droopy, so I'm wondering if he may be going through frostbite. We do not have evidence that he has been pecked, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happend.
4) I didn't do any cleaning or anything yet, just investigating at this point since we haven't dealt with this before.
5) Just a couple of days ago - BEFORE the super cold temperatures - there was no sign of this at all.
6) He was in the same coop last year all winter and I'd say that his comb and wattles suffered in the cold then, but not quite so badly.
7) He is behaving completely normally. Like NOTHING is wrong. Has his swagger, crows all day like normal, mates with hens regularly, etc. He and I get along great, and he was calm and normal when I examined him tonight.

Any suggestions or thoughts are gladly welcomed!

 

[sunnysideohio]

FORGOT TO MENTION

I noticed blood drops on the roost beneath where Ralph sleeps. Not much, probably 15 drops of blood. To me this means his wattles were dripping blood at night time at least at one point.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Hello! Can you post pictures? It sounds like he either injured himself or there was a rooster fight.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Also, what kind of feeders and waterers do you use? Could he have been injured drinking or eating?

 

[sunnysideohio]

Hello! Can you post pictures? It sounds like he either injured himself or there was a rooster fight.

Will take and post pics in the morning!

 

[sunnysideohio]

Also, what kind of feeders and waterers do you use? Could he have been injured drinking or eating?

5 gallon buckets in both cases.
Feeders have large round openings.
Waterer has nipple style tips. Not sure how either could cause injury, but also haven’t thought much about that before.

 

[sunnysideohio]

Photos of Ralph
Feathers are slightly less crusty this morning.
Everyone behaving like it's just another day.
Couldn't see any additional signs of injury or bloody spots.

 

[SmiYa0126]

It looks like an injury to me, do you see any blood other then at the roost? Does the other rooster have any injuries?

 

[sunnysideohio]

No other bloody areas that either my wife or I could locate.
Other rooster looks right as rain.
@SmiYa0126 - forgot to tag you earlier

 

[Eggcessive]

Looks like he does have some frostbite damage (by the black skin on the wattles)probably from dipping his wattles into water when it was below freezing. That is most likely where the blood has come from. He may have been pecked there, or has been shaking his head causing the blood.