Bald Vent

[ballpoint]

I've got seven ladies that are a year old. I noticed today that three of them (they are all different breeds) have a weird bald spot on their backside. Take a look at the picture. They are all laying fine as far as I can tell. They are in a safe coop so there is no chance of anything hurting them. What do you think?

 

[rrbriss]

Check at the base of the feathers to see if you have little tiny straw colored lice moving around, possibly mites if red. If so there are numerous remedies some organic some using pesticides.

 

[ballpoint]

I checked today and I saw no mites. I noticed that the red area is raw-like. The rest of the bird's skin is white and then this area is red. I really don't know what it is.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

You might want to put some blu-kote on so the chickens don't peck each other's sore bottoms. They are attracted to pecking things that are red. Are they acting like themselves other than this??

 

[nurse_turtle]

Flip those girls over and carefully examine the bases of the feather shaft all around the vent area to look for clusters of white lice eggs.

 

[ballpoint]

They seem to be acting normal. I will watch for the pecking. I will look again tomorrow for the lice. It's weird that just three out of the seven chickens have it. I would think that all of them would have it if it were lice.

 

[RCRIR]

I have this exact same issue. I have looked for lice/eggs/mites and I cannot see anything like that. On my birds it does look like something is eating the feathers, down to the point where the feather shaft grows out of the skin. The bird's exposed skin is very red. Both my birds are behaving just fine.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I posted this picture about a week or so ago thinking my hen might be egg bound. Its red, but not raw and there are no mites or lice. I was told this is a fat pad, and completely normal. My hen still has the ugly thing, and is still laying, eating, drinking and scratching like her normal self. Ive noticed a couple other hens in my flock have them as well, but not quite as large as hers. Perhaps those 3 girls are the biggest piggies in your flock. Good luck.

P.s- she'd just had a bath before I took this picture, that's why her feathers look funky...