woodruffles
In the Brooder
- May 15, 2023
- 5
- 0
- 10
We have a 16 week old Lavender Marans cockerel who likes to start his evening on the roost, but I popped out last night and confirmed that he sometimes (often?) switches to the bedding. He is a bird we've mistaken for dead a few times because he likes to lay down on his side and sleeps deeply 
He lies down a lot and prefers it to standing. He loves to lounge around and make contented trilling sounds. And while he will go about his business, pecking and scratching, he takes rests more often than the others (again, with the adorable happy sounds). Recently, we had to clean the feathers around his vent as a result of (we assume) the lying in one spot at night and pooping on himself instead of roosting. And today, when I checked his butt in the morning, he's again going to need a cleaning as he decided to lounge all night instead of roosting. He can get up to the roosting bar no problem.
Our current theory is that the feathers coming in on his feet are causing him pain. He is our slowest feathering LM by far, and the trio we hatched have all been slow feathering. This cockerel, however, is slowest. We've noticed that his feet often look irritated/painful -- no signs of mites, though.
Any insights? Has anyone else experienced this before with slow-feathering birds with feathered feet? We are brand new chicken-keepers and are looking to understand what's going on.
At this point, we're not planning on keeping him, although he has a great temperament and will be a beautiful bird. But we've been debating rehoming him with someone who has an Olive Egger program who might like his brown egg gene. I'd love some advice and thoughts!
First photo is our cockerel "resting" on a manure fork. Second one was taken far away, but you can see his feathered feet. I can take more up-close photos today when we nab him to clean his butt. (And as if all of this wasn't enough, his 'sister' has very obvious wry tail and we think he may be on the way too... Not exactly what we'd call quality genetic stock! Nice fella though
)
He lies down a lot and prefers it to standing. He loves to lounge around and make contented trilling sounds. And while he will go about his business, pecking and scratching, he takes rests more often than the others (again, with the adorable happy sounds). Recently, we had to clean the feathers around his vent as a result of (we assume) the lying in one spot at night and pooping on himself instead of roosting. And today, when I checked his butt in the morning, he's again going to need a cleaning as he decided to lounge all night instead of roosting. He can get up to the roosting bar no problem.Our current theory is that the feathers coming in on his feet are causing him pain. He is our slowest feathering LM by far, and the trio we hatched have all been slow feathering. This cockerel, however, is slowest. We've noticed that his feet often look irritated/painful -- no signs of mites, though.
Any insights? Has anyone else experienced this before with slow-feathering birds with feathered feet? We are brand new chicken-keepers and are looking to understand what's going on.
At this point, we're not planning on keeping him, although he has a great temperament and will be a beautiful bird. But we've been debating rehoming him with someone who has an Olive Egger program who might like his brown egg gene. I'd love some advice and thoughts!
First photo is our cockerel "resting" on a manure fork. Second one was taken far away, but you can see his feathered feet. I can take more up-close photos today when we nab him to clean his butt. (And as if all of this wasn't enough, his 'sister' has very obvious wry tail and we think he may be on the way too... Not exactly what we'd call quality genetic stock! Nice fella though
)
We did notice they the LMs were really slow to grow their feathers — it was a marked difference! That does make me suspect there’s a genetic factor at play.
