My rooster lost all feathers.

[robbiebobbie]

My rooster lost all of his feathers. He only has the fussy feathers left. He seems healthy, but his butt is red and has no feathers, it's bare. He also has no feathers on the back of his neck. What is going on?

 

[fried green eggs]

You should check him for lice and mites. He may be infested and pulling feathers scratching to relieve himself.

 

[Eggcessive]

My rooster lost all of his feathers. He only has the fussy feathers left. He seems healthy, but his butt is red and has no feathers, it's bare. He also has no feathers on the back of his neck. What is going on?

How old is he? Could he be molting? If his rear end is red, he could be getting plucked by the other chickens. For feather picking problems, make sure that the flock is getting enough protein in the diet with a good layer feed or all flock feed, getting out of the coop to free range, and make sure that they have plenty of room in their coop and are not over crowded. Bad tasting creams such as Nustock, BagBalm, or anti pick lotions or BluKote may help his skin to heal. I would also look him over for lice and mites first as the previous poster recommended.

 

[robbiebobbie]

He is just over 10 months old; as are the other rooster and hens. He is the boss rooster. My other rooster that the boss rooster keeps in the coop during the winter months (poor thing) still has all of his feathers. None of my hens have lost their feathers either. So I am not sure what is going on. Will the boss rooster allow his hens to peck at him. I haven't seen anything of that nature, but I cannot see what is going on outside in the fenced in yard as I do not have a camera out there. I only have one inside the coop.

 

[robbiebobbie]

I looked him over and didn't see anything. Dumb question: What would I see if he had lice or mites?

 

[Eggcessive]

Roosters will let their hens"groom them" and some will sit on the roost and pluck feathers. Chickens all can molt once a year beginning at 16-18 months of age, but can also suddenly molt if they experience severe stress. Red skin on his rear with feather loss could be from feather picking or from lice or mites. Lice eggs will be in clumps at the base of feathers. Here are 3 good links for reading about how to spot signs of lice or mites:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140