I hope someone may be able to help identify what the red patch of skin is underneath the vent of our rooster / cockerel.
He has just turned 1 years old about a week ago.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that one particularly warm day he was bending round and preening his behind a lot. When I inspected, he had quite a bit of poop stuck to his feathers by his vent. We proceeded to give him a quick soak and wash the poop out.
We checked him the following day, and he had quite a red patch of skin beneath his vent area. We gave him another bath and used some savlon antiseptic cream to treat.
We used the cream again a couple of days later.
I have been checking, but the redness doesn’t seem to have gone down at all. I have attached a picture of how it looked this morning after another salt water soak (so his feathers are wet, but it was easier to see that way). He is friendly, and lets us give him a soak, so I don’t think it can be causing too much trouble, but it looks sore.
He seems fine in himself now, and it hasn’t stopped him fulfilling his cockerel duties.
For background, he is eating and drinking just fine. His poop seems fine now, and nothing else has stuck. He is in a small flock with 2 hens at the moment (plus another hen and three chicks who are in a separate run). They eat a mix of layers feed and cracked corn plus treats and plenty of free-ranging. They always have access to clean water. They sleep in a coop with pine shavings as bedding, which is regularly cleaned, but they roost up on perches. They free range in 1/4acre garden during the day.
Anyone any ideas? Could this just have been caused by the poop stuck in his feathers? And any ideas how best to treat? Am I doing the right thing with salt water soaks? And should I use the savlon again?
Also, I am in the UK, so the weather has been changeable recently, but generally warm.
I should add that I have checked his feathers and can’t find any signs of mites or lice.
He has just turned 1 years old about a week ago.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that one particularly warm day he was bending round and preening his behind a lot. When I inspected, he had quite a bit of poop stuck to his feathers by his vent. We proceeded to give him a quick soak and wash the poop out.
We checked him the following day, and he had quite a red patch of skin beneath his vent area. We gave him another bath and used some savlon antiseptic cream to treat.
We used the cream again a couple of days later.
I have been checking, but the redness doesn’t seem to have gone down at all. I have attached a picture of how it looked this morning after another salt water soak (so his feathers are wet, but it was easier to see that way). He is friendly, and lets us give him a soak, so I don’t think it can be causing too much trouble, but it looks sore.
He seems fine in himself now, and it hasn’t stopped him fulfilling his cockerel duties.
For background, he is eating and drinking just fine. His poop seems fine now, and nothing else has stuck. He is in a small flock with 2 hens at the moment (plus another hen and three chicks who are in a separate run). They eat a mix of layers feed and cracked corn plus treats and plenty of free-ranging. They always have access to clean water. They sleep in a coop with pine shavings as bedding, which is regularly cleaned, but they roost up on perches. They free range in 1/4acre garden during the day.
Anyone any ideas? Could this just have been caused by the poop stuck in his feathers? And any ideas how best to treat? Am I doing the right thing with salt water soaks? And should I use the savlon again?
Also, I am in the UK, so the weather has been changeable recently, but generally warm.
I should add that I have checked his feathers and can’t find any signs of mites or lice.
