1 1/2 year old rooster with red skin & splintering beak

[Kelly Holt]

I have a year and a half old silver laced Wyandotte, which has red skin around where his feathers meet his bare legs and between his legs near his vent. He seems to be eating fine and acts fine for the most part, although I've noticed he hangs around me more often than usual when I go out to chat with them. I thought it was just him making sure I wasn't going to hurt the girls who were mobbing me. However, every once in a while, while standing, he'd act like he's got a string or something on his leg and tries to kick it off (NOT the mating dance. I know what that looks like, lol). This was what tipped me off that something was bothering him. I just noticed him doing this about 2-3 weeks ago. No one else has the red skin.

Upon closer examination, I realized his beak was splintering back as well. It WAS normal this winter, but I honestly don't get that close to him often. I noticed his spurs needed to be trimmed and then saw one of them appear withered at the end. The other had been broken off much earlier and has been growing back slowly.
The coop has pine shavings, and I sprinkle DE on the roosting bar once a month as a preventative for mites/lice. I did not see any evidence of that, but I am a first-time chicken keeper.

We haven't done anything for treatment except spray some Vetericyn on his legs for the past two days. I had no idea about the red skin between his legs until today.

Until 2 weeks ago I had been giving everyone layer feed. My girls are not recovering from their molt at all and have broken feathers and bare backs. They have been this way since the fall of last year. I changed feed from an organic layer feed to Purina All-Flock thinking they weren't getting enough protein. I also began to supplement more with grubs/fly larvae to increase protein.


I have some videos of his legs, underbelly, and beak and will try and post some stills of his withered spur.
I hope you can help.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Until 2 weeks ago I had been giving everyone layer feed. My girls are not recovering from their molt at all and have broken feathers and bare backs. They have been this way since the fall of last year.

Photos of hens too?

Broken feathers and bare backs is likely from mating, not molting. Broken feathers won't be replaced until they molt.

Rub some vaseline into the scales of the legs and feet of the rooster. Streaks up his legs signifies hormones. The red on his backside is likely hormones too, but I do see some pin feathers coming in too which to me indicates the hens may have plucked a few feathers out.

Beak has been broken at some point. I would rub a bit of vitamin E into the beak every week or so. Once it's a little softer and not quite so brittle looking, file it gently and reshape it.

Spurs, trim with a dremel to shorten a little. Vaseline or vitamin E can be applied to those as well.

He's got a lot of scabs on his comb. Is he rubbing his head against fencing, do you have another rooster? Perhaps it's just from hens picking at it too. Hard to tell.

 

[Kelly Holt]

Photos of hens too?

Broken feathers and bare backs is likely from mating, not molting. Broken feathers won't be replaced until they molt.

Rub some vaseline into the scales of the legs and feet of the rooster. Streaks up his legs signifies hormones. The red on his backside is likely hormones too, but I do see some pin feathers coming in too which to me indicates the hens may have plucked a few feathers out.

Beak has been broken at some point. I would rub a bit of vitamin E into the beak every week or so. Once it's a little softer and not quite so brittle looking, file it gently and reshape it.

Spurs, trim with a dremel to shorten a little. Vaseline or vitamin E can be applied to those as well.

He's got a lot of scabs on his comb. Is he rubbing his head against fencing, do you have another rooster? Perhaps it's just from hens picking at it too. Hard to tell.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, Wyorp Rock!

Yes, the girls went through their molt. As a new chicken owner, I began to wonder if his treading combined with a poor diet made it so that the new feathers wouldn't come in. I put a heavy quality chicken saddle on the worst-looking one, and she had it on for 5 months. I became concerned that it was rubbing the new feather tips off so they wouldn't grow, AND she began to walk constantly squatting, so I removed it a couple of weeks ago.
So, chicken saddles should be left on for that long? I thought her feathers would grow back this spring. Since she is so bare, I suppose I'll buy a more lightweight one for summer, so she doesn't get sunburned. The weight of the Down Under chicken saddle is obviously bothering her.

Anyway, she started to stumble and walked oddly last week, so I removed her and put her in a small chicken tractor with a friend while administering Nutra-Drench to her water. I thought she was a goner. Within 3 days, she was back to acting normal, and I put her back. This was when I started paying attention to how everyone was acting and noticed my roo.

I will implement your suggestions today. So, from your suggestion of the vaseline, I presume you think he has scaley mites?

The banged-up comb is from the roo in the run next door (and injury while we were catching him). We thought we had covered up the part of the fencing where they could get access to each other but they found another place. They are determined buggers!

I'll post pics of the girls in a bit.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

No, I don't really see SLM on him, the vaseline is to help moisturize the legs/feet and spurs. Vaseline is what I put on my roosters legs, for some reason they seem to tend to have more dry skin or at least some of mine do.

The hen that had the issue with stumbling, she's recovered ok? I wonder if she was just not getting to food/water like she should. Depending on the number of birds you have, adding another food and water station (or two...) can often help ensure that the meeker hens are not kept from eating/drinking.

A lighter weight saddle would be good if the one you have is insulated. I've used saddles in the past and left them on but checked the skin underneath a couple of times a week just to make sure there were no problems. My hens feathered out just fine when they molted, even with saddles on.

Ah...yes, if he's doing some fence fighting with another rooster, there's where he chipped the end of the beak. He'll be ok, I would just rub some oil on it, then you can just gently smooth it with an emory board. His comb should heal fine too. I normally don't do anything with combs unless I rub some vaseline on them too...

 

[Kelly Holt]

No, I don't really see SLM on him, the vaseline is to help moisturize the legs/feet and spurs. Vaseline is what I put on my roosters legs, for some reason they seem to tend to have more dry skin or at least some of mine do.

The hen that had the issue with stumbling, she's recovered ok? I wonder if she was just not getting to food/water like she should. Depending on the number of birds you have, adding another food and water station (or two...) can often help ensure that the meeker hens are not kept from eating/drinking.

A lighter weight saddle would be good if the one you have is insulated. I've used saddles in the past and left them on but checked the skin underneath a couple of times a week just to make sure there were no problems. My hens feathered out just fine when they molted, even with saddles on.

Ah...yes, if he's doing some fence fighting with another rooster, there's where he chipped the end of the beak. He'll be ok, I would just rub some oil on it, then you can just gently smooth it with an emory board. His comb should heal fine too. I normally don't do anything with combs unless I rub some vaseline on them too...

I only have 10 hens and one roo and a large run for this group.

Yes, the bald/staggering Golden Buff seems to have recovered. You know, I hadn't thought of her not getting enough to eat/drink. This flock is 8 sweet golden buffs, one bossy silver laced Wyandotte hen, and one spaz Barred Rock. Anything is possible, though. It certainly wouldn't hurt for them to have 2 feed stations, and I'll be happy to do as you suggest and add another feeding station at the other end of the run. You know, now that you mentioned it, she did act like she was starving when I gave her food while in "hospital." I thought it was because I moistened it; they always go nuts for that!


As far as the roo and his hormones causing the red skin, is this all part of being a roo and it will resolve on its own? Is it because he was on layer feed for so long?
It sounds like there really isn't anything wrong with him other than being a bit banged up. Do you recommend removing spurs with pliers, blunting the end with dog clippers, or using a Dremel?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Most of it's hormones, the redness will probably dull down by summer.
You may even see some of the red stippling appear on some of your lighter legged hens too. Usually it indicates fertility (good), but it's always best to take a closer look just to be sure it's not something that needs to be addressed like an injury.

I would trim the spurs with the dremel.

Most of my birds love wet feed, so I offer it daily, as well as, offering dry feed free choice.