Rooster is a hot mess- need creative advice

[NorthwoodsChick]

I have a 10 month old Blue French Copper Marans in a coop with 7 hens, 3 of which are BBS French Marans.

Issue: Dribbling: The rooster has large wattles so when he drinks from the raised nipple waterer he dribbles all over wattles and chest- a lot. He has frostbite (inevitable, though I have that under control).
—Would a bib help him or would it make him a target, or neurotic from annoyance?

Second issue with this guy is the feathered feet attracts pecking from all the hens, even other French Marans. This is twice in 3 weeks he was bloodied. No Marans hens getting picked.
—After wounds heal, how long can I keep him wrapped for prophylactic reasons? Will vet wrap “socks” lead to any permanent damage to feathers on feet/ legs? (Coop, roost space and run clutter is not an issue. Fed 20% All flock)

I would love to see ideas for chicken bibs. Chicken caps and wattle holders—is that a thing? Unheated coop. Deicer in watering bucket. Ave temps 0-20 F*
TIA

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm not understanding how he's getting so wet from a nipple waterer. Could it be up too high? I know they will drip a little bit if there's a chicken really punching that silver thing hard and not drinking what comes out but that's usually as they are learning to use it.

Most will say bag balm is way better than vaseline, but perhaps you could try it to "waterproof" his wattles?

As for the feathered feet, here they all have feathered feet but they'll pick on the cuckoo chickens (2) as that's all we have of those out of 30. I'm not sure how you stop that with them other than separating him out for a week to see if that resets their habit?

I agree Vet Wrap is a great thing to use to protect them but that would be temporary until they do it again? Maybe if this is going to be ongoing, there's something else someone has for chicken shoes, per se.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I'm not understanding how he's getting so wet from a nipple waterer. Could it be up too high? I know they will drip a little bit if there's a chicken really punching that silver thing hard and not drinking what comes out but that's usually as they are learning to use it.

Most will say bag balm is way better than vaseline, but perhaps you could try it to "waterproof" his wattles?

As for the feathered feet, here they all have feathered feet but they'll pick on the cuckoo chickens (2) as that's all we have of those out of 30. I'm not sure how you stop that with them other than separating him out for a week to see if that resets their habit?

I agree Vet Wrap is a great thing to use to protect them but that would be temporary until they do it again? Maybe if this is going to be ongoing, there's something else someone has for chicken shoes, per se.

I have the 5 gal bucket waterer about 10 inches from the ground. He’s about 16-18 inches tall not counting the comb.
Could it be too low? He turned his head 90 degrees so water drips down the wattles and onto the breast feathers.
If I give him a dish he dunks his head in up to his eyes.

I’m going to research bag balm to see if it will freeze.

thanks for the advice