He's going to be completely bald soon! Help Needed.

[wbruder17]

I have a Polish Crested rooster, that, I'm sorry to say, has not earned the respect of his ladies. I think its only my brown Leghorn, but it may be more, that are plucking all of the feathers out of the back of his head. His feather obstruct his vision so much that he can't see them coming and he now looks like bozo the clown. I've used Rooster Booster, which worked for a little while, but just when the feathers were coming in again pretty nicely, they plucked them all out again. I love him and don't want to get rid of him, and I'm not sure how to separate them, as my coop design is very large, but not easily sectioned off. I don't want to get rid of the BL either.

I need a bandanna, or hood, or something for him to wear to stop them from pulling all the feathers out of the back of his head. Is there anything like this? Is there anything else I can do to help him and stop her from doing this to him?

 

[silkiechicken]

Sounds like you'll have to solve the root of the issue, as treating the side effects isn't working.

I would take some scissors and cut off all the crest feathers that go over his eyes. Give him a bowl cut of sorts, and if he can see, he'll likly be able to put the girls in their place AND grow the top of his head back because he can see them coming.

I got rid of all large crested birds for this very reason, they cannot see danger and their lack of sight gets them in trouble when it comes to flock dynamics.

 

[wbruder17]

Thanks. I actually have been trimming the feather back, but was worried that he may have sensitive eyes and have that plumage to protect them, but I will cut them back further if this will help.

 

[silkiechicken]

Don't worry, his eyes will be fine. That big head poof is all through human based selective breeding for the way it looks. It's from good old traditional genetic engineering via selective breeding. When a crested bird gets to see, they are often a whole new bird!

 

[wbruder17]

I was wondering about that. Thanks for the info. I guess it wont hurt him at all to cut them either. I will do that asap and hopefully it will solve the problem. Im still open to any other suggestions if anyone wants to offer them, just in case that doesn't work.

 

[sourland]

Crested birds in a non crested flock are frequently picked at/upon. It's just the nature of chickens. Trimming his crest to make him more aware of the "attackers" may help. Removing the primary culprit for a period of time may also help. Sadly enough it may be one of those problems that you just can not resolve. How about getting some Polish hens and building another pen.