Is this bumble breast? With photos

[Yvonne49]

Hi All, I have an Orpington hen who has been acting a bit off the last few days. We are unsure of her age, as we inherited her when we purchased our house. She is at least 6 years old. She has been withdrawn and not eating as she usually would. I picked her up a few weeks ago and she was her usual chunky self (she is usually quite a big heavy Orpington). But last night when I went to investigate her (check her mouth, feet, body etc) I found what looks like scabs on her breast bone. It doesn’t appear to be inflamed or irritated. She is a favourite of our rooster, so has been wearing a saddle for the past couple of weeks as her back was irritated, so I am unsure if this injury has been caused by him mounting her and her breast bone hitting the ground - he is quite large and heavy, so an injury could have been caused to her keel due to him. As she is quite elderly, I am unsure of what to do. I don’t want to cause her any excess stress. Should I be treating this like bumblefoot and debriding it?

 

[dawg53]

She is probably rubbing her breast bone on the roost at night causing the injury. You can put round pipe insulation foam on the roost, duct tape it so it doesnt come loose or fall off.
It would be best to get her started on amoxicillin for the injury.
Dosage is one 250mg capsule or tablet once a day for 10 days.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is a breast blister which can become abscessed or scabbed over. It comes from pressure on the breast bone from lying on a rough roost or on damp or rough bedding. It could just be that she spends a lot of time lying, causing a pressure sore. Chickens can have those also with a lameness issue, such as mycoplasma synovitis. That causes swollen ankle and knee joints. But it sounds like she is just more sedentary. I would clean it with Betadine or chlorhexidene daily. If it seems abscessed you could remove the scab and drain it. There could be solid yellow pus inside.

 

[Yvonne49]

Thank you both for your response. I didn’t think she put her breast on the roost at night, but now I’ve been checking every night, she does! I have isolated her with another antibiotic chooky and wrapped their roost in a few layers of fabric until I get a pool noodle. Thank you!