Constantly breaking blood feathers.. at my wits end. Appreciate any advice!

[ten chicks]

I keep all my hens and roosters on 15% developer crumbles,which also contains selenium and vitamin E. I also use fermented feed,and supplement my girls with calcium carbonate(shell and bone builder)and crushed egg shells, never had a problem with feathers and i have 5 silkie roosters which have heavily feathered feet.

 

[CedarAcres]

I feed my chickens and roosters Purina Flock Raiser crumbles, Southern States Rockin Rooster 20% pellets, or unmedicated 20% chick feed. It's all basically the same stuff, and I just add crushed oyster shell for the hens on the side. Last year I did fermented feed for 7 months. You can buy gamebird feed (24-28%) if you need to supplement his feed.

This is pretty much what I was doing with an all flock feed. Oyster shell & crushed eggshells on the side, and I ferment occasionally, but not consistently. Hoping to see him improve with switching the feed back & the added vitamins, etc. I'll let you all know how he's doing!

 

[CedarAcres]

Figured I'd give an update! The new feather growth on his feet is MUCH better now. You can just feel the difference in strength in the new feathers that have grown in throughout the last week. The other feathers that were growing in before the food change & vitamins etc, were very brittle and were almost crumbly. Compared to how his other already grown in feathers were, they were much softer. His feathers are normally very strong and durable. To trim his foot feathers I need to push pretty hard with both hands on the scissors, so they were not brittle. So hoping that they continue to fill in well and he can get back with the ladies soon.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Figured I'd give an update! The new feather growth on his feet is MUCH better now. You can just feel the difference in strength in the new feathers that have grown in throughout the last week. The other feathers that were growing in before the food change & vitamins etc, were very brittle and were almost crumbly. Compared to how his other already grown in feathers were, they were much softer. His feathers are normally very strong and durable. To trim his foot feathers I need to push pretty hard with both hands on the scissors, so they were not brittle. So hoping that they continue to fill in well and he can get back with the ladies soon.

This is amazing. What an example of what good quality feed will do for a bird.

I am so happy that your little guy is back into health!

 

[Eggcessive]

Thanks so much for giving us some good news. It is always educational for for us to hear stories like this. I'm glad your little sultan will be back with his girls soon--he has the reddest comb I've ever seen.

 

[CedarAcres]

He's definitely not back to 100% yet but there has been a very obvious and clear improvement! I've noticed that the feathers that were already started when I switched back the food /started vitamins were weaker and brittle at the ends and I've had two of those break off. But the newest growth that began after the switch have been stronger. I'm not sure if all of the feathers that had started prior to the food/vitamins will break but we'll see. The ones that did break were very minimal bleeding though.

I'm giving him another round of the vitamins in his water and hope within the next week he'll have even more nice feather growth!

I did let him out for a bit with his ladies tonight and he was very happy! He is probably the sweetest and most cuddley rooster that we've ever had so I'd go all out with caring for him! Thanks to everyone who gave us advice! I'll update again in a week or two with how they're growing in!

 

[CedarAcres]

Bad news to report.. he broke another one.

This one was actually pretty bad! It must have just broken when I walked up because all of a sudden I saw some blood in the sand and as he was walking. I scooped him up and what I've been doing is I'll just squeeze the blood feather shut so the bleeding stops for about 10 seconds, and then I can usually carry him away without any bleeding, but it was just bleeding so much I couldn't even SEE the feather in there. It was in an area surrounded by tons of other feathers too. I found the broken feather piece on the ground and it looks like it broke off right next to the skin so I don't think I can pull this one out. It will have to just dry up and fall out. It took me about 40 minutes to be sure that the bleeding had stopped. Blood everywhere. My yellow boots look terrifying. He's in the isolation area in the house to rest after loosing all that blood. He apparently feels fine though since he's trying to scratch around in the shavings like an maniac while I cringe.

I'm getting very frustrated. This was one of the feathers that was growing in before I switched the feed & vitamins.. those seem to be the only ones that are still breaking. They are also much larger feathers (diameter around the shaft). He has quite a few really nice ones that have been growing in over the last two weeks and his feet look so much better. But then this happens!

And I gave him a full body check yesterday again for mites or lice or any creepy crawlys. Nothing. He's full of energy, happy, bright eyed.. seems to feel great.

I'm wondering how long it would take to correct a vitamin deficiency? I know when my (human) family members have had them, it took a while of supplements until they no longer had the deficiency. My husband thinks that he needs more time with the vitamins in the water to help fix the possible deficiency.. Thoughts anyone? This is such a mystery to me.

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm so glad you found him before he lost a lot of blood. I have seen large blood loss from a banty rooster (d'uccle) on the roost before lights out once. If the nutritional problem is what is causing it, hopefully he will improve soon. I just hope it isn't a chronic problem with him. Do you have access to an avian vet for a consult?

 

[CedarAcres]

Yes, I have a really awesome avian vet actually, who keeps chickens herself. I almost called her today, but I figure it will be easier for her to look at his feet when they aren't covered in dried blood. I may give her a call next week.

He has SO many new feathers that have been growing in during the last two weeks and most of them have grown in really quickly and no issues. So I was really thinking we were definitely on the way to no more problems. I was even able to let him out with the girls for a bit. I noticed a few days ago that this feather (the one that broke today) kinda looked odd and different from the rest of the nearby feathers. Like the blood in the feather shaft was not receding down.. not sure if that is making sense really, but it's hard to describe. The feather seemed to be fully grown in and the top was slowly peeling away as it unfurled, but the blood supply appeared to be still all the way almost to the top of the feather, rather than receding down as it would normally when they feather is done growing in. I have no idea if that even made sense. I am horrible at describing things. I wish I took a photo of it before it broke.

Even though this feather broke, it was definitely much stronger than the feathers he was losing in the beginning and does look almost like a normal feather but not 100%. Before the feathers were growing in with odd grooves and were so incredibly brittle. This one was not as strong as normal, but was definitely improved. Maybe he needs more time? I feel like this is such an odd problem.. I find myself really missing our family patriarch who started the family farm and kept 1000's of chickens through his lifetime. Any time I call the vet she jokes that if he was still around I'd never need to ask anyone for any advice other than him!

On another note I did find this article on west nile virus in birds (not in chickens though).. http://owls-perch.blogspot.com/2012/09/q-corner-west-nile-virus-and-feathers.html And it seems to have oddly similar symptoms to what my boy is experiencing. That's something to bring up to my vet. Guess it's time for me to do some research on west nile. I always see on the news that they are finding wild birds positive for it in my area. And I also live on the edge of some wetlands. Thanks for all your help @Eggcessive I'll continue to update this thread.

 

[delisha]

Yes, I have a really awesome avian vet actually, who keeps chickens herself. I almost called her today, but I figure it will be easier for her to look at his feet when they aren't covered in dried blood. I may give her a call next week.

He has SO many new feathers that have been growing in during the last two weeks and most of them have grown in really quickly and no issues. So I was really thinking we were definitely on the way to no more problems. I was even able to let him out with the girls for a bit. I noticed a few days ago that this feather (the one that broke today) kinda looked odd and different from the rest of the nearby feathers. Like the blood in the feather shaft was not receding down.. not sure if that is making sense really, but it's hard to describe. The feather seemed to be fully grown in and the top was slowly peeling away as it unfurled, but the blood supply appeared to be still all the way almost to the top of the feather, rather than receding down as it would normally when they feather is done growing in. I have no idea if that even made sense. I am horrible at describing things. I wish I took a photo of it before it broke.

Even though this feather broke, it was definitely much stronger than the feathers he was losing in the beginning and does look almost like a normal feather but not 100%. Before the feathers were growing in with odd grooves and were so incredibly brittle. This one was not as strong as normal, but was definitely improved. Maybe he needs more time? I feel like this is such an odd problem.. I find myself really missing our family patriarch who started the family farm and kept 1000's of chickens through his lifetime. Any time I call the vet she jokes that if he was still around I'd never need to ask anyone for any advice other than him!

On another note I did find this article on west nile virus in birds (not in chickens though).. http://owls-perch.blogspot.com/2012/09/q-corner-west-nile-virus-and-feathers.html And it seems to have oddly similar symptoms to what my boy is experiencing. That's something to bring up to my vet. Guess it's time for me to do some research on west nile. I always see on the news that they are finding wild birds positive for it in my area. And I also live on the edge of some wetlands. Thanks for all your help @Eggcessive I'll continue to update this thread.

You showed a picture of his quills and it was not pinched off at the end..
If you have access to NuStock try soaking his feet in NuStock and vet wrapping them. It will be hard to do, but see if you can. That might help until his levels are better and his old feathers are replaced.