cockerel

[chickenfan]

Unfortunately my nice-natured young sablepoot cockerel is doing rather a lot of damage to the heads of my hens. Do you suppose he could grow out of this? He is leaving his favourites with big bald patches and has chewed bits off the rosecomb of others. I am wondering whether I can keep him.

 

[chrismahon]

Only option is to separate him Chickenfan. He will eventually grow out of it, but that will be years. If you wish to breed you will have to limit his time to once a week perhaps.

 

[chickenfan]

Thanks Chris. Its not much of a life for a cockerel living in a pen, so I'm not sure whether I'll keep him. Funnily enough he used to have a really cheery crow, but it has completely changed, perhaps because of the tone of the other bantam cockerel which is lower?

 

[chrismahon]

There is the possibility he is ill Chickenfan, with the change in crow and the unnaturally wild behaviour. We have a Wyandotte cockerel not treading his hens any more and I suspect a neurological problem is developing?

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you for this Chris. He has unfortunately caught scaley leg from the older cockerel, but his crow has gradually changed to a less cheery note over several months to match the speckled sussex crow notes. Perhaps I will isolate him in a pen. He has always been quite a heavy treader on my hens heads. Just seems to have got a lot worse lately. Perhaps sablepoots are high maintenance because of their heavily feathered legs. I've never had scaley leg before. They seem to pull the raised scales off, leaving raw patches. I've been spraying the legs regularly, but perhaps I haven't always got rid of the mites in the environment.

 

[chrismahon]

Scaley leg is a very painful condition Chickenfan, which may account for his behaviour. We only realised how much they suffered when we treated a hyperactive bantam cockerel by soaking his feet in oil. The change in his behaviour was almost immediate -while he was being treated in fact.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you Chris. Your advice is very much appreciated. I am wondering what to do about the environment as the boy has been ranging a fairly big area. It seems wretched that a young bird has caught this. I will now isolate him and keep on with the spray. Sadly I think the red patches are where he has pecked at his legs.