wounded rooster

[MeadersSteaders]

[I

MG ALT=""]https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6339189/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

I just now bought this sweet rooster who I was told was about 9 weeks old. He seems to be acclimating to his new home and harem of six pullets well, and he is slowly starting to get used to me, even ate some out of my hand yesterday! I love him!

As you see on the pics, his back looks wounded. There are no open wounds or broken skin, but his feathers.... His tail is also very short, and the feathers look as if they were just cut off. This is my first feathered family, so I don't know what has happened to him. He was like this when I got him. All I know about his previous home was he was in a barn stall with other chickens including other roosters. He is not aggressive to the girls, but he is already trying to herd them away from the fence when I or my dog approach.

Is he ok? What looks to have happened to my poor baby? He is black australorp, and already has shiny, beetle green and blue on a good deal of his feathers. He also has a very odd voice; very soft, short, almost hoarse-ish. No crow yet, but perhaps he is still just developments mainly pipes....

 

[MeadersSteaders]

Another view...

 

[rc4u]

the short tail feathers are just a sign he is a rooster...the lack of feathers on his back is just a sign he was pecked on and maybe lower in the order..jeff

 

[MeadersSteaders]

So he is ok? I hate thinking about any of my babies being picked on!

 

[Den in Penn]

He's OK. The feather damage that occurred at his old home was probably because the other chickens were feather picking and he was a victim. They should grow back with his next juvenile molt in a few weeks.