What is this?? Redness around face and comb (some dots and some rashes) mites? heat rash?

[wickedchicken772]

Howdy!

First time posting here! I have a small flock of 5 Golden Comets and 2 Rhode Island Red bantams. This evening I noticed some redness on and around my chickens faces. After looking online the closest looking disease looks to me like it could be red mites, however not exactly. It seems to me the redness that I am seeing is only dots (like I suppose mites would be) in some places but general redness in other places. Also the coloring is not always red- some areas are black and even purple-ish. The "redness" is also much more prevalent in my Golden's girls which are about 3 months younger. (The RIR's are about 5 months and Comet's are 2 months)

One other thing- today I forget to open their coop to allow them access to their run. I feel like this was okay in terms of space restraints (their coop is 8ft x 16ft with wood chip bedding) however I feel like this was a big mistake in terms of heat exposure. I live in Western Massachusetts and today we had temps in the high 80s and with their coop being enclosed in about 3 out of 4 walls- which makes me think their coop retained heat and was even hotter inside.
Could this mean my chickens are suffering from heat rash? This is my best guess based on the environment they were in today however I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Here's some pictures I took just after they headed to roost....

 

[MysteryChicken]

They look like peck wounds to me.

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

They look like peck wounds to me.

X2

 

[wickedchicken772]

Could this be because they were stuck in the coop all day meaning those getting attacked had no place to run to to get away?
Also- the RIR rooster has the red areas too- is it possible that he would of suffered getting pecked at even though as far as I have seen he has never been pecked by any of the females although there is one other rooster... A buff brahma bantam male I forgot to mention to some reason in the original post.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Could this be because they were stuck in the coop all day meaning those getting attacked had no place to run to to get away?
Also- the RIR rooster has the red areas too- is it possible that he would of suffered getting pecked at even though as far as I have seen he has never been pecked by any of the females although there is one other rooster... A buff brahma bantam male I forgot to mention to some reason in the original post.

This could most certainly be the case, although your co-op does seem big enough for the amount of birds. Multiple cockerel stuck in the coop can b e a problem tho. Since this correlated with you not opening the coop, that would be my gues.

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

Could this be because they were stuck in the coop all day meaning those getting attacked had no place to run to to get away?
Also- the RIR rooster has the red areas too- is it possible that he would of suffered getting pecked at even though as far as I have seen he has never been pecked by any of the females although there is one other rooster... A buff brahma male I forgot to mention to some reason in the original post.

They might be fighting with that little hens to split between them. Is the buff Brahma a standard? He could probably hurt the little bantam if so. I had two standard roosters beat up the banty roo they were raised with.

Also with the age difference the pullets might be getting picked on by the older ones. Do they typically hang out in the run?

 

[wickedchicken772]

They might be fighting with that little hens to split between them. Is the buff Brahma a standard? He could probably hurt the little bantam if so. I had two standard roosters beat up the banty roo they were raised with.

Also with the age difference the pullets might be getting picked on by the older ones. Do they typically hang out in the run?

1. The Buff Brahma is also a bantam though definitely a bit bulkier than than the RIR bantam
and
2. The pullets typically hangout with the older roosters and the 1 older RIR female.. how should I say this... somewhat cautiously as in they spend the majority of their time together however there will definitely be times when the older birds peck the younger Comet's in a "back off give me my space and I'm eating first type of way" however the majority of the time they are harmonious. If I had to give you some sort of actual stats-- I visit the birds usually 3-4 times a day for about 5 - 10 min at a time and will see the older birds pecking/chasing about 1 time per day. Today was an exception bc I only visited twice a day.

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

1. The Buff Brahma is also a bantam though definitely a bit bulkier than than the RIR bantam
and
2. The pullets typically hangout with the older roosters and the 1 older RIR female.. how should I say this... somewhat cautiously as in they spend the majority of their time together however there will definitely be times when the older birds peck the younger Comet's in a "back off give me my space and I'm eating first type of way" however the majority of the time they are harmonious. If I had to give you some sort of actual stats-- I visit the birds usually 3-4 times a day for about 5 - 10 min at a time and will see the older birds pecking/chasing about 1 time per day. Today was an exception bc I only visited twice a day.

They might have been chased and where unable to run away as much as they usually can because they where locked in the coop. That would explain the peck wounds.

 

[wickedchicken772]

Thank you for the help

Seems like the consensus is in... definitely won't make that mistake again