Polish crest is BALDING!!! PLEASEEEE HELPPP!!!!

[evitachu]

Dear BYC-ers,
My little teenage rooster is balding!!! We don't have lice/mites problem at all, i check my babies every other day and make sure we are biosecured. Coop is super clean. And I cuddle my Polish kids everyday anyway, no way I wouldn't notice any lice/mites problems.
I noticed that Maden's head is getting balding, but today I noticed worse. See those black dots...those are dried blood. Some feather stems have hollows. My other 4 kids are completely bouffant, but one more little roo, I noticed 2 drops of dried blood too.
Maden is a mellow rooster. Energetic but mellow when handled by human.

I have 5 Polish chicks. The Silver Laced (2) are super mellow, one is balding on the side. I noticed hollow stem, but since it is black, it's hard to spot. The most bouffant, a girl named Bob, seems to be the meanest, but I haven't caught her pecked on other ones.

Do you think this balding is due to pecking, or is there parasite problem that I did not know/notice? PLEASE HELP!!!!!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Looking at your pics I would say he is being picked on and his feathers plucked out by the others. You can try some anti peck spray on his crest and hopefully the is will stop them. Otherwise you may have to separate him from the others to give the crest chance to grow back and the pink skin to cover over. I'm afraid this is something you need to nip in the bud now before they draw real amounts of blood. The more blood and redness that appears the more they will peck and so the circle will continue. Some blue kote could help too so it does not look as red.

Good luck.

 

[Eggcessive]

Looking at your pics I would say he is being picked on and his feathers plucked out by the others. You can try some anti peck spray on his crest and hopefully the is will stop them. Otherwise you may have to separate him from the others to give the crest chance to grow back and the pink skin to cover over. I'm afraid this is something you need to nip in the bud now before they draw real amounts of blood. The more blood and redness that appears the more they will peck and so the circle will continue. Some blue kote could help too so it does not look as red.

Good luck.

X2. Get some Nustock cream or some other bad tasting ointment or cream. Some use BluKote, but watch for more pecking, since they can be scalped pretty quickly. I have owned a couple of polish chickens and this is very common, due to their crests.