Rooster with broken feathers on his head

[OliviaBirds]

Hello,

For months now, my White-Crested Black Polish rooster Einstein has been going bald. He has a patch of bare pink skin on the top of his head with dozens of broken feather shafts sticking out. Sometimes it bleeds, but I have rarely seen the hens peck him until just the other night. In the coop, the chickens were all lined up on the ladder as usual, and Einstein was among them. One of my hens, Stormy, was pecking at his head, and he wasn't fighting back. His broken feathers were now bleeding, and Stormy appeared to be eating the blood. Today I applied Blu-Kote to prevent the hens from pecking more, but I don't know what else to do. Should I pull all of the shafts out so he can grow new feathers?; they are all so close together that the skin would most likely get ripped. Would it just be wiser to leave them and would they eventually fall out, (so far over the past months that hasn't happened yet). Please, any personal experience would be very helpful. Thank you so much!

Olivia

 

[Eggcessive]

You may want to purchase one of these aluminum spray-on silver colored dressing to use. Sometimes BluKote has the opposite effect even those I had good luck with it on my Polish chicken's head. The silver color may hide it in the white feathers better. The blood feathers may need pulling out if the don't stop bleeding. Here is some reading about the product, which may be found in the horse medicines at TSC and farm stores, as well as online:
http://animalsafety.neogen.com/pdf/prodinfo/79100.pdf

 

[OliviaBirds]

Ok thank you!! How do I pull the feathers out though? Since it is one his head I am worried about pulling them out, especially since there are so many in one place. Will they not heal on their own?

 

[Eggcessive]

Don't pull them if they are not actively bleeding. Pliers work well. I have only pulled a bleeding leg feather before.

 

[OliviaBirds]

Ok. They only start bleeding if the hens start pecking. Will they eventually heal and fall out on their own?

 

[Eggcessive]

They should, but when my chickens were pecked, the whole feather and shaft were missing. Someone else may be able to answer this.

 

[OliviaBirds]

Okay, thank you very much!