Brahma rooster lost feathers on legs

[Bookmole353]

my sons Brahma rooster has lost all the feathers on both legs. They are red and bleeding. The rooster is only 5 months old. What could be happening? We thought it might have been the Bantu roosters we had, we got rid of them. But it is still happening. This is our first year with chickens so we are in the process of making adjustments to their run and coop. It is real muddy in part of the run, but plenty dry in part of it, they are taking dust baths there. Please help!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They look broken or plucked off. I would observe your birds quietly and see if you see picking going on. What are you feeding? How many birds in how big an area? I would probably spray his legs with bluekote. I'm not sure if it looks like any mites. Others may have a better option than me.

 

[Bookmole353]

That was supposed to be bantam roosters, there were 5 of them.

They look broken or plucked off. I would observe your birds quietly and see if you see picking going on. What are you feeding? How many birds in how big an area? I would probably spray his legs with bluekote. I'm not sure if it looks like any mites. Others may have a better option than me.

I did notice that there were 2 hens pecking him while he was dust bathing. I am sure we don’t have enough room for all of our chickens. We just got started and got so engrossed with the chicken buying we didn’t take into account the room. We have 30 chickens with one being the Brahma rooster in a 12x40 run and a 10x12 coop. With the wet weather their run has been shortened a lot. We are looking to cover the rest of the run.

 

[Bookmole353]

We live in fairly temperate climate. Very rarely get freezing weather. Just a lot of rain during the winter.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That is a bit tight. Crowding will cause aggressive behaviors. @aart is good with space. Hopefully she will come by.

Do you plan to keep this boy? You may need to separate him out for a bit. If your birds start to pluck him in other places it can quickly turn to cannibalism, so keep an eye out. Sounds like you are working on your space issue.

 

[aart]

Bleeding is likely from broken pin feathers......does appear to have scaly leg mites too tho.