Salmon Faverolle rooster missing leg feathers, showing redness.

[acmeeggs]

Ace, my 1 year old Salmon Faverolle roo is missing his boots and the feathers up his legs! The outside of each leg, ( where normally feathers would be), is red and there are some areas with dried blood. I have examined him up close and personal for mites/lice/scaly leg and can see no evidence of anything- other than missing feathers. It looks like in a few areas, new feathers may be pushing out. we've had a very wet summer here, they all like to dig through the horse poop, and I think that may be a contributing factor. Is there any sort of treatment I could render that would alleviate discomfort, and/or encourage feather growth? Many thanks in advance.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since you said there was dried blood I would suspect someone (maybe even him) is pulling out feathers. Maybe he is irritated by mites or the damp ground. I would go ahead and treat him for mites with soaking his legs in warm soapy water, gently brushing them with a toothbrush, then applying oil (vaseline, castor oil, cooking oil, baby oil, etc.) twice a week. The redness can be normal or not--(my salmon faverolles have pink on their white legs.) Eprinex or Ivomec pour-on can also be used to treat for all mites, but you may also need to treat your coop and nest boxes with sevin dust or permethrin (which can be used to dust your chicken.)

 

[dawg53]

I agree with Eggcessive's assessment of a feather picker.

 

[acmeeggs]

thank you for the speedy replies!

if I add that most of my flock, including my roo are fitted with anti-peck bits, that my coop was cleaned and treated with sevin dust for red mites in the spring, (when it was exceptionally wet I got a bit of an infestation), and that there is no evidence of mites on him or on any of the 28 other hens, would you suggest any other possibilities or treatments?