hen with skin issues-need advice. thank you.

[TBarry]

 

[TBarry]

hello, I'm on backyard chicken daily, mostly reading and learning and enjoying the stories and photos. but I need advice if anyone has the time.
right now I'm dealing with one hen with bumblefoot so I've been preoccupied with solving that but this is my girl Rosemary. I noticed her limping last week, checked the bottom of her feet and sure enough there was the black scab. starting the soaking....the scab came off and really no problem-it was pink clear skin. so I was happy thinking I helped her BUT she keeps hiding up in the laying box so I knew something else is going on.
Yes, we have a rooster. Unplanned. when I noticed one of my girls bare skin showing because of him-I ordered an hen saddle from a commercial website. very sturdy item-fit well-seemed to be the solution. so I found a lady that hand makes them and of course the patterns were cute....I ordered for the other 4 to protect them. they weren't as sturdy as the other and Rosemary's seems to slip off allot. I keep telling myself-I need to order a better one-but of course I haven't.
so we have a huge cage separated set up-it was set up for my bumblefoot girl-I removed Rosemary out of the box this morning and put her in there.
she acted very grumpy and mean-pecked at me and her neck feathers were ruffled up. I decided to removed the hen saddle-and it just looks terrible under there, very bare but on the left side-it's hard to see but kind of a light yellow, maybe scabbish? she is pecking at me if I try to check it out. I have washed the hen saddle as I'm afraid of mites....I put ACV in their water and I dust with DE. we feed them Purina layer feed.I give them black oil sunflower seeds as a treat, of course lots of greens, meal worms and I do the oyster shell. just listing out things as I'm reading about protein, maybe this is the issue ?
right now I don't want to put her back in because last night I made her come out of the laying box to go down to try and eat and drink and the rooster was right after her-she screamed. again, I knew something is very wrong-I got him away from her and she retreated back up to the laying box and I left her alone till this morning. I'm trying to monitor her eating and drinking but she doesn't seem very interested-she did eat some blackoil seeds out of my hand earlier.
sorry to go on-but I knew details are important to figure out a problem. I learn SO much from this site. I am tackling bumble foot, I've read and had help on a hen being egg bound. and I just love the stories that I read. hoping someone can reach out. my photos are not the best but I tried and can try to get more if needed. thank you.

 

[TBarry]

updated information, with help I was able to lift her wing as she would not allow me close to her, and there is a huge gash from the rooster. it is horrible.
any advice that can be given would be helpful as we do not have a vet in this area that tends to chickens. I will also start my search on the site. thank you.

 

[TBarry]

I was able to read and find solutions on the site, although I had no replies the backyard chicken site is always helpful. I will stick to reading before reaching out as I usually can find a solution. yesterday I was in a panic but reading and knowing others have gone thru this is very helpful and calming.

 

[proud-armywife]

Oh my gosh! Sometimes it's hard for me to believe how mean chickens can be.... I wish they stayed sweet like chicks. I don't know what to do, I'm new here too just wanted to say I hope she gets better, I think separating her was a great idea until she gets better at least. Hope someone replies soon.

 

[Nupe]

Yeah, keeping animals is not all fluff and rainbows. You may have a protein deficiency causing a bit of crankiness. You should really separate that roo from the rest. It sounds like you have 5 hens and 1 rooster all the same age? Are they less than a year old? If this is the case, his hormones are going nuts and your girls are going to suffer for it. The "normal" ratio for hen to rooster is 8-12 hens to 1 rooster. But if they're all maturing at the same time, even that's not enough. I learned that the hard way.

Anyway, fortunately that wound isn't somewhere the rest of the flock can see it. I like to clean open wounds once with peroxide and then let nature take its course. If it's already scabbed over and doesn't look infected, I wouldn't even do that. Just make sure no blood is visible to the flock or they will pick her to death.

As far as the bumblefoot, you said you removed the scab, did you squeeze the junk out of there? It's just like an abscess or boil. What ever containment got under the skin is being isolated by encasing it in puss. It hardens around the contaminant and will continue to grow until you get it out of there. You may have to lance and pull it out with tweezers.

 

[can you hear me now?]

Sorry just saw your post. Separate her and get her well. Then to see about if she can deal with that rooster

 

[TBarry]

thank you all the replied. Before panicking-I should have read on here as I always do. it's always reassuring to know others have gone thru this or worse. I looked at some pretty bad stories about hawks and dogs. we are fortunate.
she is separated-I think a little depressed over it but she is close to her sisters and Beau the bad guy. I was going to get that Wonder Dust but realized we had Blue Kote and read that many use that so using what we have, keeping her comfortable and happy. I also ordered much better hen saddles with a removable piece-I just learned a lesson from going cheap but they were cute....
I guess she did not have the bumble foot-her limp was from her wound and I didn't see it under that wing-but she had a black scab - I was so obsessed with curing that as I have another hen with a bad case that I missed the big picture. her scab came off and nice pink skin was under it-no abscess, But we are still dealing with curing my other girl. she is a Cochin-the feathered feet make it a little hard.She has the lumps between the toes-I've been soaking for over 3 weeks with the Tricidineo-it did bring the infection to the top of each lump the nasty corn looking thing came out -one being much larger than the other. all was looking good -had it wrapped and I didn't unwrap within the 48 hours-I had a hard work week and skipped the one day-when I opened up-the one side was all pussed up again-so we are soaking and packing with Neosporin and hoping it heals soon-today is rewrap day so we will see. This time around with our chickens has been a true challenge but every time I have a question I just come here to Backyard Chicken and I find help by reading. it's a wonderful site-I tell everyone that gets chickens to go here and read. I have faith my girls will heal.
thank you again for responding, have a good day.

 

[deerchic2]

I have a rhode island red that is a year old for a couple of months she's been losing feathers on her back and neck upon looking at it I see a lot of redness my husband says she is molting but I don't see the feathers growing back how long does it usually take what can this be