Rooster feather loss

[Glennlarch]

Hi everyone,

I have an unusual problem with my handsome rooster. He is losing his outer feathers on his chest and under his wings. There seems to be some loss around his butt too. He has a beard that my hens seem to really desire, though I don't think that is related. I put stop peck on him every couple of days to discourage them nibbling at his beard. I treated the whole flock ( nine hens and the roo) with Seven dust, and put DE in the dust baths. The coop and yard have been sanitized. None of the hens have this appearance. His skin seems to be slightly red (irritated). As the pictures show he looks like he has scaly leg mite on only one leg. Treated that with warm water soak and petroleum jelly several times but still looks yucky. Its only on the one leg which I find perplexing.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Happy spring time to all.

 

[SIMZ]

My first guess would be that the hens are picking at his feathers. My hens created a similar looking disaster on one of my roosters last winter. With him it was mostly his saddle and hackle feathers that they went for. Maybe someone else has other ideas, but that's my guess.

There are lots of ideas for helping with that out there - it sounds like you're already trying one. I've found that more outside time and lots more room helps with that in the summer.

 

[Glennlarch]

Thanks for your response. Its good to know there may be a solution. Currently they have about 5 hours of free range time per day. The run is fairly small. I let them out when I get home from work.