Feathered Roo's Red Legs (normal?)

[loofa]

I recently rescued this young little frizzle rooster. He was in bad shape with scabs and wounds all over his comb, super underweight, tail, wing, and leg feathers mostly all broken. I think he'd lived all of his short life in an overcrowded wire cage. Anyhow, I've never had a chicken with feathered legs/feet before. This looks so painful to me! And this part doesn't seem so much like a result of his terrible past, but .... it just looks painful how the feathers grow in? Is the red of his legs normal? Is he in pain? He doesn't like me touching his legs and feet, which makes me think he is. Open to any advice for Mr. Frazzle

 

[Livia Ammon]

My Marans Roos have had this sort of thing too. It doesn’t ever seem to bother them, though. I hope it’s alright.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think the redness is a sign of active hormones. Let me tag @Eggcessive, she'll know.

 

[Eggcessive]

Does he seem to peck at his legs and break off the feathers? Do they seem painful or cause limping? Most chickens have pinkness in their legs when they are fertile, but some feather legged roosters may have inflamed skin on legs. I have not seen any in mine, but people here post about those quite often. I would soak his legs in a shallow bath of warm Epsom salts water for 15 minutes a day to see if it helps. Leg mites may also cause problems, and you can apply some Castor oil or vaseline to smother them twice a week.

 

[SnackMeat]

I have a Brahma I am caring for that looks like this but not as bad. You can look up "broken blood feather" and see if that helps.

It could also be anxious feather picking, that's then exacerbated by the color red and pink. I've read that they may mature out of it (plus the whole pink from hormones.)

You can soak and pull the feathers out, or wrap with a balm, or leave alone and wait and see.

Additionally, it doesn't hurt to coat in Vaseline daily as a hedge against mites.

 

[loofa]

Does he seem to peck at his legs and break off the feathers? Do they seem painful or cause limping? Most chickens have pinkness in their legs when they are fertile, but some feather legged roosters may have inflamed skin on legs. I have not seen any in mine, but people here post about those quite often. I would soak his legs in a shallow bath of warm Epsom salts water for 15 minutes a day to see if it helps. Leg mites may also cause problems, and you can apply some Castor oil or vaseline to smother them twice a week.

Thank you. I haven't observed any pecking at his legs, but I will keep an extra eye out for it now. I put salve on his clear injuries and his legs daily for the first week that I had him and it seemed like he was a bit extra sensitive to me touching his legs, but it wasn't so dramatic as to be clear. I will try the soaks for him. I'm very curious to see how things are after he molts and grows a new set of feathers as right now everything is so raggedy and I wonder if whatever caused all the broken feathers (suspect small overcrowded wire cage situation) has things inflamed and sensitive.

 

[loofa]

I have a Brahma I am caring for that looks like this but not as bad. You can look up "broken blood feather" and see if that helps.

It could also be anxious feather picking, that's then exacerbated by the color red and pink. I've read that they may mature out of it (plus the whole pink from hormones.)

You can soak and pull the feathers out, or wrap with a balm, or leave alone and wait and see.

Additionally, it doesn't hurt to coat in Vaseline daily as a hedge against mites.

Pull the feathers out??? Can you please elaborate on how and why I would do this?

 

[SnackMeat]

Some people do it because the base is infected. It probably heals faster but you'd have to read up on it.

 

[loofa]

Some people do it because the base is infected. It probably heals faster but you'd have to read up on it.

ah, gotcha, thank you