Australorp hen

Generally hybrid layers are more aggressive and territorial than pure breed chickens. I have some Isa brown hens too and they can get really mean sometimes :lau The fact that in this case all the Australorp hens are missing feathers and all the red sex link hens aren't, makes me doubt that it's a coincidence.
Yes, I am shocked too! Before I even got chicks everyone told me that red sex links are always top of the pecking order and can be bullies to the other hens But I got one anyway since I heard they had great egg-laying. The chicks ended up getting older and was 8th in the pecking order out of ten. She was boss over my australorp and delaware but loved bossing around the Delaware but never really pecked at my australorp. Now she is ninth in the peckig order because my Delaware would try and fight her alot but always lost. A couple months later she fought her again because my red sex link would not let her drink water. The Delaware ended up winning. All I saw was my Delaware pushing her down in the water bowl and grabbed her comb and kept jumping at her. My red sex link gave up and the Delaware is the big boss and just loves chasing her around.
 
Delaware also is a bossy breed, man :yuckyuck In my hen house Isa browns are more energetic than my australorps and they know how to be mean but the big boss is my two and 1/2 years old australorp rooster. In fact all my australorp hens are quite shy and I noticed that they prefer to spend a lot of time together instead that with the Isas and when an Isa tries to attack an Australorp then the roo immediately protects her.
 
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Delaware also is a bossy breed, man :yuckyuck In my hen house Isa browns are more energetic than my australorps and they know how to be mean but the big boss is my two and 1/2 years old australorp rooster. In fact all my australorp hens are quite shy and I noticed that they prefer to spend a lot of time together instead that with the Isas and when an Isa tries to attack an Australorp then the roo immediately protects her.
Good for that Australorp rooster!:thumbsup I love when roosters try to protect the hens when in danger especially when it comes to chickens trying to hurt other chickens. I have a little black copper maran cockerel who is 8 weeks and the rest of them our pullets, I sure hope he protects the hens like your rooster does. I don't think the chicks are ready to be with the big ones though because I took them in the chicken area today outside and my barred rock and Easter egger were chasing the pullets all around the pen and my Delaware picked up my little rooster by his neck feathers and started throwing him in the air and kept grabbing him and running off with him so I moved the chicks back to their little area with their hear lamp since its so cold outside. I might wait another couple weeks.;)
 
That definitely does not look right to me. And her vent doesn’t look right, either. Thinking a nice warm epsom salt soak would be nice, but she’ll need more than that. Calling in the big guns.
@casportpony @azygous @rebrascora @Ravynscroft @Wyorp Rock
There are others who can help, too, but I forget who. Someone should be along soon.
 
Good for that Australorp rooster!:thumbsup I love when roosters try to protect the hens when in danger especially when it comes to chickens trying to hurt other chickens. I have a little black copper maran cockerel who is 8 weeks and the rest of them our pullets, I sure hope he protects the hens like your rooster does. I don't think the chicks are ready to be with the big ones though because I took them in the chicken area today outside and my barred rock and Easter egger were chasing the pullets all around the pen and my Delaware picked up my little rooster by his neck feathers and started throwing him in the air and kept grabbing him and running off with him so I moved the chicks back to their little area with their hear lamp since its so cold outside. I might wait another couple weeks.;)
Yeah, an 8 weeks old cockerel can't win against an old alpha hen.. is not your black copper maran's fault, it's totally normal. I think you'll have to wait a few more months to see your cockerel on top of the hen house hierarchy. It depends on how fast he'll grow up, I remember mine took a while but you know Australorp is a dual purpose breed and they can reach sexual maturity even at 7 months.
 
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That definitely does not look right to me. And her vent doesn’t look right, either. Thinking a nice warm epsom salt soak would be nice, but she’ll need more than that. Calling in the big guns.
@casportpony @azygous @rebrascora @Ravynscroft @Wyorp Rock
There are others who can help, too, but I forget who. Someone should be along soon.
Thank you I appreciate any help I can get - I gave her a bath but not in Epson salt. I only used Dawn since I didn't know what I was dealing with. I will just wait for any suggestions
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I have read a bit about vent gleet and I am not sure if that is it. She did poop while I had her in the garage on a towel and I looked at it to see if I could see anything.
Her vent might look weard but I had already applied a cream (I forgotten the name) but it's used so the other chickens won't Peck at her I got it from tractor supply.
My concern is it's really red and looks swollen. Her poop was soft but not runny. And not green.
 
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Yes, that red butt signifies a major skin irritation. Some may be the result of the bath. You may not see mites. Some do not live on the chickens but only come out at night to feed. And yes, she appears to be molting.

The way to discover mites is to go out after dark with a flashlight. You may see them crawling on the perches and up the legs of the chickens. Take a damp paper towel and run it over the perches. You will see the red residue of blood-filled mites if there are any present. By the way, lice don't normally cause that kind of skin irritation.

Vetericyn is a wonderful, easy to use wound care that would help heal that red skin very quickly. If you discover mites, the very best thing is a product called Elector PSP or anything with spinosad. Permethrin will do, but it requires repeat sprayings of the coop and perches. You can treat both your chickens and the premises with these as both are non toxic to poultry.
 
That looks like it might be a hernia to me. That large a protrusion is not just inflammation and is due to something being amiss internally. The red inflamed skin will be due to poop building up and burning the skin and also her repeatedly preening at it either to try to clean it or because it was itchy or burning.
Unfortunately she is going to be prone to getting a messy butt because that protrusion means her poop cannot fall free like it normally would. Keeping her skin greased up with an antiseptic/antibiotic ointment will help prevent future poop sticking and irritating the skin and also help the skin to calm it down, but the hernia (if I am correct) is a problem and will eventually cause her serious health issues if it isn't already.

Has she been laying recently?

The other concern is that the cause of the lump is salpingitis (infection of the oviduct) but usually that is a more general swelling around the vent and above it as the oviduct is above the gut, rather than a quite defined protrusion like this below. Salpingitis is usually fatal but can take several weeks or even months to get to that stage and probably a lot of discomfort for the bird.

I would give consideration to your hens diet. It may not be relevant but it can be.... Too many treats, in particular carbohydrates like scratch, bread, pasta etc can cause a build up of fatty deposits in the abdominal area and some cause a constriction of the gut and/or oviduct causing the bird to strain excessively and a weak spot in the muscle can then allow the gut to pop through.

If it is a hernia, it might be possible to correct it with surgery but I imagine that is going to be very expensive and risky as anaesthetising chickens is difficult to get right, so there is a higher chance of fatality from it than most other animals, I believe.

I'm sorry I am not painting a very optimistic picture here and certainly not a straight forward case of treating mites in my opinion.
 
That looks like it might be a hernia to me. That large a protrusion is not just inflammation and is due to something being amiss internally. The red inflamed skin will be due to poop building up and burning the skin and also her repeatedly preening at it either to try to clean it or because it was itchy or burning.
Unfortunately she is going to be prone to getting a messy butt because that protrusion means her poop cannot fall free like it normally would. Keeping her skin greased up with an antiseptic/antibiotic ointment will help prevent future poop sticking and irritating the skin and also help the skin to calm it down, but the hernia (if I am correct) is a problem and will eventually cause her serious health issues if it isn't already.

Has she been laying recently?

The other concern is that the cause of the lump is salpingitis (infection of the oviduct) but usually that is a more general swelling around the vent and above it as the oviduct is above the gut, rather than a quite defined protrusion like this below. Salpingitis is usually fatal but can take several weeks or even months to get to that stage and probably a lot of discomfort for the bird.

I would give consideration to your hens diet. It may not be relevant but it can be.... Too many treats, in particular carbohydrates like scratch, bread, pasta etc can cause a build up of fatty deposits in the abdominal area and some cause a constriction of the gut and/or oviduct causing the bird to strain excessively and a weak spot in the muscle can then allow the gut to pop through.

If it is a hernia, it might be possible to correct it with surgery but I imagine that is going to be very expensive and risky as anaesthetising chickens is difficult to get right, so there is a higher chance of fatality from it than most other animals, I believe.

I'm sorry I am not painting a very optimistic picture here and certainly not a straight forward case of treating mites in my opinion.
I don't know for sure if she is not laying because I have 3 Australorp hens. But it's very possible it's her not laying.
I don't think it's mites either. I will take her today again and give her a bath. I wonder if I can put Neosporin on this. Or should I just use veterycin. I have both on hand. All the hens get ,Purina layena feed and some crack corn. I don't really give many treats and if I do there are 12 hens fighting to get the leftover whatever I have. Greens- etc.
Is she going to die from this?
She is one of my favorite first hens she loves to be held .
 

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