Rooster suddenly looks like this? What is it?

dfleener

Hatching
Oct 27, 2015
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He appears to have a significant case of fowl pox, a virus spread by mosquitoes. Most chickens recover in 2-3 weeks, but secondary infections in the eyes, or wet (diphtheritic) pox, which involve lesions in the mouth, trachea, esophagus, or lungs, can make it painful to eat, or cause obstruction. Since your rooster has some scabs near his eye, I would apply some Vetericyn Eye Gel, Eye Wash, or Terramycin eye ointment from a feed store to his eye twice daily. Here is some info to read:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26362--,00.html
http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=35
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/195/fowl-pox/
 

This looks like Fowl Pox to me. Fowl pox is a viral disease carried by mosquitoes that causes lesions and scabs on the combs, face, and sometimes other bare areas of chickens. It isn't usually deadly or serious, unless it is the "wet" form, which invades the trachea. This looks like the "dry" form. The disease will run its course in about 4-6 weeks. To help the scabs go away, you can dab them with iodine. Make sure the bird stays as stress-free as possible (plenty of good food, water, and space).

Here's a good article on Fowl Pox for further reading:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/avian-pox-how-to-treat-your-chickens-for-avian-pox

Good luck with your chicken! If it stays the dry form, he should be fine in a few weeks unless a secondary infection forms or it severely impacts his ability to eat and drink.

*I guess Eggcessive beat me to the post.
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We are also going to treat him for fleas/parasites our dogs came back from the groomer yesterday and we were informed they had fleas..... I actually have grown really attached to this bird we are even planning on getting him a mate, would it be a good idea to wait on that though?
 
We are also going to treat him for fleas/parasites our dogs came back from the groomer yesterday and we were informed they had fleas..... I actually have grown really attached to this bird we are even planning on getting him a mate, would it be a good idea to wait on that though?
I think you should wait. I'm not sure how long, probably quite a while you should wait. Also the rooster should have a few females, so you might not even want to get him one. He could mount her to much and take off her feathers and injure her. Though you can buy her a chicken saddle.
 
We are also going to treat him for fleas/parasites our dogs came back from the groomer yesterday and we were informed they had fleas..... I actually have grown really attached to this bird we are even planning on getting him a mate, would it be a good idea to wait on that though?

Standard roosters typically need 5 or more grown hens. If you put immature pullets in with them the girls could get hurt. If you only put a couple of hens in with him the roosters very often over-breed the hens and tear all of the feathers from their back.

Hard to tell from the pix but he is a regular full size rooster, right?
 
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