A hen shedding her own skin???? How strange!

[daze333]

I have a 2 year old black sex-link hen that I noticed today had something hanging on her back. I went after her a little to see what it was and noticed it was stuck on her feathers. So we caught her and found a big chunk of dried up skin (about 6" x 8") stuck to her back. It looks and smells like cooked chicken skin! What it looks like happened is her skin got damaged some how (sunburn? bugs?) and then it died and shed off, but it was stuck under her feathers. So I had to unthread her feathers from the holes in the skin. I had to tear some of it in pieces to release the feathers. Has anyone seen this before? I am not sure what happened to her. She does not have a bare back to get sunburned. No injuries. Her feathers look pretty new, could this have happened during a molt? Her skin underneath is healthy looking. So strange!

 

[sherylreno]

I've never heard of anything such as this happening before to a chicken.

 

[daze333]

A first for everything huh?

 

[abkline]

I'm rescuing this thread from three years ago because one of my chickens (silver laced wyandott named Puffin) had the same thing. The chicken with the scab (what we think it is) has not looked good for over a year. She eats, lays and is active, but her feathers are really ratty. I thought when she molted this year, she would look normal, but she only got half way there. Yesterday, I found this thing sticking off her side. My friend who is a nurse, gently pulled the feathers through the holes and cut it off. Upon close examination, it seems to be a scab from a rather impressive wound (now healed). I never noticed any wound and the hen seems fine, but I thought I should post a follow-up since this thread was the only place on the web I saw anything like what was happening to my girl. Hope this helps someone in the future.

 

[megskater9]

Does anyone have any updates on how their chickens did afterwards? I found a massive chunk of skin hanging from one of my barred rock girls while I was checking on them at roost time. She's acting completely normal, but was obviously irritated if I touched the skin flap. After finding this thread, I went back out with a scissors and some chicken antibacterial spray, and trimmed it off of her. It's a recent development, as it was still attached to her actual skin in one part, so I just trimmed it along the tops of the feathers to help her out a bit. The part I trimmed off was dead, but I didn't want to cut too close to what is still good skin. She has an obvious hole in her side that looks like she must have gotten speared by a rooster's spur or something. The skin is looking good except for the one obviously irritated spot. While it looked dirty, it didn't look infected or anything. I sprayed her wound and set her back in the coop. It's in a spot where I doubt she'll be picked on by anyone else, and it's not red to attract anyone either. This is my first time posting on a thread like this, and I'm unsure of how to attach a picture, but it looks identical to the previous pictures, and is about the size of my hand. From her breast/underwing/back area.

 

[megskater9]

Aha! I think I figured out the images thing now that I have an account.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm sorry no one followed up in the old posts to say what happened. I've never seen anything like this.

Please post any more info if you have any, or if there are changes.

 

[megskater9]

Will do! Today I can't easily pick her out (I do have a flock of 121 chickens...11 of which are barred rocks) so she's still going about her day as normal! Tonight at roost time we'll find her again and check her over and spray her wound again. We free range them during the day, so no sense chasing all the barred rocks around until we find the right hen. That alone might take us all day!

I'm sorry no one followed up in the old posts to say what happened. I've never seen anything like this.

Please post any more info if you have any, or if there are changes.

 

[ldsboergoats]

I just went out and noticed this on one of my chickens its a big chunk over her back down her side. But she looks fine underneath of it!

 

[Tookie]

I just went out and noticed this on one of my chickens its a big chunk over her back down her side. But she looks fine underneath of it!

Interesting! Picture?