A friend of mine here in Iowa just contacted me to ask about her chickens. Apparently her hens have begun to peck her rooster's legs. She said they just started and that they make the legs bleed. Of course, that makes the problem worse. She separated him, cleaned up the legs, got them better, put him back, and they started with exactly the same thing all over again. Apparently it doesn't seem to bother him too much and he'll just pull a leg up into his feathers if they get too zealous. Still, his legs are in nasty shape. Does anyone know why they would do this or what she should do?
I suggested:
1) anti-pick lotion with the tar in it (I use the rooster booster brand)
2) Blue-kote to heal and disguise wounds at the same time
3) Possible wrapping of legs in either a light-weight tape (like painters tape) or in strips of non-red colour fabric, like "leggings" for a few weeks, until they are really healed and the hens lose interest.
Let me know if you have any other thoughts!
Claire
hens pecking rooster's legs
That is everything of which I can think...(Really?...surely "think of" stands alone as a unit of meaning?)...I would worry about wrapping his legs for fear of starting a bacterial or fungal infection.
Could he possibly have some sort of mite or parasite to which they are attracted? (Pant..pant.. pant....un-dangling prepositions is hard work)
Good point about the wrapping. Maybe it would be OK if she put some triple antibiotic under the wraps and changed every few days?
She said she used Vaseline because at first she thought it was leg mites. Then she caught the hens in the act. I've never seen leg mites cause bleeding, but it could happen.
Grownut is on a preposition binge too....she and her brother are having a war of the dangling preposition....
I think mites do make the scales on their legs stick up and look rough...maybe that looks interesting to the hens?
If one can dangle chicks....why not prepositions?
That war has been going on for about 9 years now...
And truly...ahem...if you wish to avoid dangles it is imperative that you use verbs which require no modifier. Chose, not according to need or relevance, but according to obsolete grammatical expedience. Tsk. It is this senseless attempt to both use the most appropriate word AND somehow not dangle which causes all the trouble;)
Oh...and as to poultry and livestock and such: I vote mites or similar crud.
should have gone with "one" the whole way....siigh...alas, alack and all...
I read somewhere that one should begin with "one" and that at some point seque into "you" to avoid awkwardness...then I read somewhere else that that was totally unacceptable.
Tant pis.
Shwwwoooosh... (all that there education stuff flyin over my big empty head)
I vote mites.. may make legs attractive.. also could be why the roo doesn't mind them picking.. it may relieve some itching?
I'm not for wrapping the legs.. it could backfire and encourage pecking, as they might like tearing at it. I'd slather on the vaseline and see if it helps..
I'd also make sure they are not bored.. have plenty of things to pick at like shiny beads, or grass, or corn on the cob.. etc.
I think he needs little gaiters.
To match or contrast with his leg colour?
Colour before or after pecking? How about camo?
She's been doing the Vaseline for a while with no improvement, and continued hen pecking of the legs...
Well, you know how hens are...once they start to pick on something....
Has she tried anti-pick? Or whacking them with a 2 X 4?
I think there should be casual gaiters and formal gaiters, both in flattering colours...depending on the occasion.
Well.. I'm lost then.. yes, gaiters for every occasion.. sounds perfect.
Gators would most definitely cure her of chickens...I'm not sure about legs. Not sure that anything but separation or covering will slow them down once they get it in their chickeny heads to peck or pick...
I thought using gators to protect the rooster's legs was a bit risky myself....
LOLOL
You guys are so funny, thanks for my morning laughter. I wondered if I could fashion a pair of rooster trousers, to be held up by "suspenders" that go over the wings, like the hen aprons do. They would not be tight to the leg, but just cover them. Perhaps in a nice bright blue.
In other news (I have NEVER had this happen before), this morning in my brooder one of my chicks has an entirely bloody stump where its tail used to be. I don't know how it got that way. I guess the other chicks picked on him, but I have never seen anything like it, especially from chicks who are barely a week old. I am shocked. I cleaned it and stuck him/her in the incubator for solitary confinement and put in food and water. At least it will be warm in there for him/her. It's horrible! They are savage little beasties!
I lost a chick this morning, not sure what happened, heard a ruckus in my 3 week old tank and when I went to look, one of my blackies was laying there not moving... No signs of pecking and no blood, still warm so I dont know what happened. I need to get them out of the house into a bigger pen...
mine went out to the sunroom Miss J this evening. Its so sad. I miss them already.
Sorry about your chick MissJ. Its life was short but it was well loved. They are such fragile little things.
Oh MsJestr.. I'm sorry for your loss. Sometimes that happens, despite our best efforts. Still Sad.
Just to Clarify it was NOT one of my hatchings, I would be crushed instead of really sad....
Already contacted the feed store and she is holding me one in reserve to even out my numbers. I can see that the tank they are in they have already outgrown, really got to do some pen moving around... Went to Home Depot to price building supplies, dont know if I want to make a tractor right now or another pen...
Will try tomorrow after work to fix the pen so I can move ducks, to move chickens..
Oh I am so loving life right now... peanut and blushu curled up on me for a few minutes,, did not want them to get a chill...
I hope this is ok Claire??? I'm concerned about Cindy Davis, haven't heard from her in an unusually long time, Could one of the ladies contact her and see if she is ok. I just worry cause I know she injured her leg. Thanks to whoever might do so. Howie
I sent her a message on facebook, I know she has been there recently.
She was on Facebook this morning! She's on there all the time! I don't see you on there any more Howie!!!
Need to keep better track of your girls, Hay. She's there and in a pretty good mood:)
Claire I don't go on there much, I am the dumbest person in the world when it comes to computer stuff. Trust me It's not a pretty thing showing your ignorance all the time. I mean look at how long it took me to post a pic here, and my wife hates the computer and knows less than I do. I envy those of you who just seem to know how to do all this stuff. My daughter told me she was glad I had learned to send a pic from my cell phone. I told her I don't even know how to do that. She showed me the pic and I don't have a clue how I sent it and never even tried to send one...Now thats pretty bad. I wished I knew half as much as most of you. That is no joke either. Hay.
I talked with her, and she said she had gotten addicted to facebook. What can I say I'm addicted to the garden...LOL
Well, you can't be an online roo if you can't surf.. so get with it! LOL I know you can do it if you just have some patience! You learned DG just fine!
Hay, I will be loading more pictures of Billy at his last Gymkana tomorrow and on friday I will load new pics of Peanut, Blushu2 and Billy and Nanny, his 3 new chicks... He wants to write you a letter on here, but it was late when we got done on the front yard temp coop, he came in and ate his supper and then went to bed.. He has so much to say to you...