Godzilla's bald butt...

[OccamsTazer]

I am so frustrated with my fave roo, Godzilla. He has a bald butt, and there is no helping it.
Used to be I thought it was because he slept on top of the coop, but I moved the little broody coop (his springboard) and he can't get up there any more. I have forced him to sleep in the coop, which he doesn't love, but it keeps his butt dry. I thought this was the problem, as I imagine sleeping on a coop roof could grind his booty feathers off. However, after two months of sleeping in the coop, he still has a bald, red patootie.
I am so frustrated!
Godzilla is not a normal bird, admittedly. He weighs around ten pounds, and spends most of his day eating. He waddles like Michael Moore. However, he's also massive, loves the ladies, and very nice to people, so I want to keep him. He doesn't have lice, I've checked all birds and I'm pretty confident about what I'm looking for, so what else might cause his butt baldness?
Is he just too huge to roost properly?

For the record, my birds roost on 4X1 plywood, and every time I check, he is up on a perch. Godzilla claims to be an Ideal 236.

 

[ghillie]

Does he have poo build up? I have a BR that has a pooping disorder and it builds up on her behind. I have to bathe her about every 2 -3 months to keep it off. Once I let it go and it pulled out her feathers. She had a bare bottom for three months and she is still not fully grown back in yet. But they are grown in enough for the build up to start again, so now I have to clean her bottom a little more often so she doesn't run around with a naked behind....

 

[OccamsTazer]

he does not seem to have any poo build-up. With the exception of his booty, he's very clean.
I wonder if he's just such a fat-butt that his butt feathers grind off on the roost? He looks like a normal chicken until he leans over, then it's red city.
He's so pretty except for his booty :-(
I'm a bit ashamed of him, he makes me look negligent.

 

[Akane]

He may have to go through a molt to regrow the feathers. My big roo got his tail grabbed by a medium sized dog and lost all his feather. He ran around bald all spring and summer. It was a bit amusing seeing this giant rooster with completely bald rear. Finally they all molted in the fall and just this past month he's started to regrow a tail.

 

[CityChook]

Ditto.

I was giving my hens cracked corn as a warmer and a treat last winter when it was really cold. I think that it threw off their nutritional balance and they started plucking and eating their own feathers. Made me NUTS. Try as I may, I couldn't spur those darned feathers to grow back. The girls were "baldini" for 10 long months. Finally, this fall they all molted hard and presto - no more bare butts. Don't know if your roo has molted yet, but (I think) whether a feather grows back quickly or not has to do with how it's removed.... There may still be hope. Best of luck to you!

 

[chookchick]

Just tell people that he has a lot of testosterone, and is a good lover, and that is why his butt is bald!

 

[Pampered Hen]

Love that one!

I have had hens who lost their feathers in late winter to their overly zealous lover. It took them until fall and their first annual adult molt to get their spots covered again. In the mean time, take him as he is - butt naked

 

[lngrid]

Do feathers grow constantly like fur/hair on mammals? Do feathers only grow after a molt?

 

[CityChook]

Ingrid, I think it has to do with *how* they were removed as to whether or not they'll grow back before a major molt. I'm no expert on this... just remembering what others had told me when I was going through it. Seems like some folks can simply feed their birds extra protein and the feathers would grow back.... mine needed to fully molt.

 

[lngrid]

Thanks, CityChook. Everything I "know" about chickens I've learned here at BYC, but it's frightening how much more there is to learn..