Bad molt? Blood & scaly skin.

[Bk5566]

My five year old ameracauna is struggling with her molt. Her neck is bald with dry scaly patches and no pin feathers coming in. This morning she developed bloody patches on both of her shoulders. She is hiding from the other chickens ( I have now separated them). She is eating and drinking. Is this just a bad molt or maybe something else? See pics attached.

 

[feather13]

Oh wow. I'm sorry your chicken is going through this. I've only had chickens a few years and this year is the only time I've seen them go through a visible molt, but mine have never had bloody patches like your poor hen. Maybe check for mites/lice? I would think maybe a predator got to her. Good idea to separate her, although if the others are aggressive, be cautious when she's healed and you reintroduce her (I usually do this at night). If you have Vetericyn and Blu-Kote, it would probably be a good idea to use them both.

 

[K.Riggs]

Looks like predator or perhaps the others pecking at a sore spot. I agree looks nasty I would isolate.

 

[K.Riggs]

Do you have a roo? Back of the neck looks like mounting maybe? Although hens can do that too.

 

[Kiki]

This is NOT damage from a molt.
This is from a rooster being rough or someone pecking her.

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Keep her safe, away from others until she heals.

 

[Bk5566]

Thanks folks. we don't have a rooster. I have not witnessed any aggressive behavior from my other hens. The hens are locked up at night. The bloody patches are very symetrical - same spot and size on both shoulders - like the feathers are coming in badly. It is very strange...will keep her separated, apply the vetrycin, and keep her hydrated. Other ideas welcome! Thanks to everyone for the quick replies.

 

[coach723]

I'm not seeing any pin feathers coming in to indicate a molt, maybe they are just not showing in the pictures you posted. My first reaction was also rooster damage, but the wing areas look to be a little lower than what you usually see there from roos. Dominant hens will also sometimes do mounting behavior especially in the absence of a rooster.
Couple of questions, how many birds total do you have, ages, and how much space do they have when roosting at night? I'm suspecting that they may be a bit crowded and she's likely low in the pecking order and this may be happening during the evening battle for roosting space. Once blood is drawn the pecking will just get worse as they will mercilessly go after the red, raw, bloody area. Even the most peaceful flock can sound like major battle when it comes time to claim their space in the coop at night. So if that's the case then while she is isolated to heal I would try to remedy that if possible. Not having enough space is often the cause of things like this. Sometimes just adding roosts or putting them at different heights will solve the problem. Or putting up a divider so one side of a roost is kind of blocked from the other will help. If you post pictures of your set up it would help you get suggestions. It does look like bullying and pecking wounds to me, so that's my best guess as to what is going on.
You do need to keep her separated until she's healed enough that they won't go right back after her wounds, and if there is still redness you can try using something like blue-kote to hide that until feathers come back in. If she isn't molting or it's late in the molt those feathers may not come back in until the next molt.

 

[Bk5566]

Thanks for the help. To answer your questions, we have 7 hens. 4 of them are 5 years old, including this one. 3 of them are 4 years old. We got them all as chicks and They have been kept together from the time they came out of the brooder box. We have never had an aggression problem before and this one has seemed to be near the top of the pecking order. The coop is 4x6 feet, with four nest boxes and two roosts. We will keep her separate until she heals and add another roosting bar.

 

[coach723]

Just one more thought, while she is recuperating keep a close eye on her and see if she may have any other sign of illness going on. It can be very subtle. Sometimes if a bird becomes weak or ill, even if it's not obvious to us, the flock knows and it can trigger aggression. Survival instinct kicks in and the flock will instinctively try to drive out the weak member, sometimes to the point of killing or severely injuring that bird. And if she was high in the pecking order and weakened for some reason, the pecking order may reset, which will cause some upheaval. Just more to consider. Best of luck and hope you can figure it all out.

 

[dunnmom]

It looks pretty clean, so it should heal nicely. Sucks that it's on her wing, makes it hard to cover it with anything. The good news is Neosprin no longer uses the -caine family of pain reliever that is toxic for chickens, so you could use Neo+Pain ointment (not the cream) on it if you have it on hand. I researched this when one of my hens cut her foot, and found that the pain reliever they use in it now is chicken-safe. If your tube isn't very new, you might check it's label before use.