My rooster and his red bottom

[Neighborhood Chickens]

My roo has this approx 4 inch spot on his hind end under his vent. It is bright red, but does not look like it is inflamed or broken open any place. But lots of broken off feathers. Just the tips of the feathers left in his skin. It is hard to see because the rest of his tail feather sort of cover it, but if he puts his head down to eat we can see it. He looks and acts healthy. The rest of his feather are bright and beautiful and he is busy free ranging during the day and mates often with the other 7 hens in the flock. Any ideas what is the matter? We checked him well for mites and did not see anything. Thank you

 

[Neighborhood Chickens]

Any one have any ideas to help him? Thank you

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like he has been feather picked. How much protein is in your feed, or what do you feed? 20% flock raiser provides a good amount in case they are needing more protein. You could try spraying BluKote onto the red area tonight when he is on the roost asleep, and again every 2-3 days to hide the red and help it heal. A sticky ointment such as BagBalm Nustock cream, may work as well. Make sure the others cannot reaxh his vent area at night on the roost.

 

[Neighborhood Chickens]

Thank you for taking the time to comment! He eats the 16% layer that the hens are on. But I think his protein is ok. He looks beautiful everywhere else - super healthy feathers and actions. No hen is pecking on his bottom. It is not open at all - just red. I have read on this site - if will look red if no feathers - no matter the reason they are missing. So I don't know. He does not seem to be bothered by this red spot - but does not look great.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes a lack of protein will make the chickens want to eat feathers, but there can be many possible reasons.

 

[Neighborhood Chickens]

Interesting.

 

[Uff Da]

I agree that it looks like others are picking out his feathers. As a side note, roosters aren't supposed to eat layer feed. It has too much calcium and will eventually cause organ failure. You might want to consider switching to a higher protein flock-raiser or all-flock formula, and providing separate oyster shell for the hens. You would kill two...er...birds...with one stone, haha.

 

[Neighborhood Chickens]

Thanks all for the comments! We sure do not see the hens pecking out feathers, but maybe. I had no idea about the layer feed. We will look into an all flock formula. They are all together so it is hard to not have him eat the oyster shell calcium. We have a roo so they can be together so we would not isolate him.

 

[Neighborhood Chickens]

And I was going to add - I would rather find out it is a hen pecking him rather than a disease that might spread.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have raised my rooster on layer feed with the hens with no problems, but you can always switch everyone to Flock Raiser feed 20% protein with your next bag, which is good for chicks, hens, non-layers, and roosters, as long as you provide some crushed oyster shell in a separate container for the layers to take as they need.