Barred Rock with red swollen behind, also feather fallen out, why?

[Pene and Frida]

Hello,

Today we took our baby rooster back to the farmer, Thanks again for all the advice on the sex of it.

The farmer gave us a grown Hen around 1 year we think.

When we got her home, we noticed she had missing feathers on the back of her neck but more importantly our concern is her belly which has no feathers and looks red and swollen from behind.

We gave her a bath just with warm water and had a closer look, it didn't feel hard although it looks it.

Can you give some advice on why she is in the shape and if this could become something worse?

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

That does not look good at all!

Sounds like you are doing the right thing in suspecting she is eggbound/internal laying. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, does not look good.

I'd take it back to farmer and cut my losses. That looks like a problem hen to me.

 

[Pene and Frida]

She laid an egg today, compared to my orpington egg it was big, the shell was very smooth and the egg it's-self was heavy pointed more at one end. Will give her a bath again tonight although she shouldn't be egg bound if she has laid one. I am hoping with some freerange and dust baths and warm baths at night, with grapes for treats she will come rite. Her bowels seem ok, just have no idea why her belly looks like this and is bare.

 

[tammye]

I have several hens that look that way, it seems to be from feather plucking while roosting. I have seen it to many times with my own eyes, while on the roost one hen plucks anothers feathers off her butt and eats it. Try increasing the protein in their diet, say with sunflower seeds, may help reduce this activity and space in the coop and run. If they are in a small area they get bored and stressed and then may pluck feathers too.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When my hens are sitting they have no feathers on their chest[belly]. They pluck them out. Hopefully thats all thats going on with your hen. Have you checked her good for mites and lice?

 

[Pene and Frida]

We bathed her the first two nights and we treated her and our other chicken and their house with lice treatment. He belly is still swollen but it is looking much better. She has laid two eggs over three days so we don't think she is egg bound, so maybe she was on eggs.

Another question, we found a large clip at the top of her wing sort of under her armpit. It was a tag similar to the ones used on cow ears and it was pierced through her wing, looks like it has been there for a while and has torn at her wing. We used pliers to take it off, do people normally tag chickens like that?

Also her eggs are very very very pail in color. A very white yellow, I am guessing that she wasn't eating the correct food.

 

[pccall]

How did you make out ? I have several barred rocks that look like that . they get fresh water and food daily ... worried live in north east usa and its getting cold ? no mites ....NEED A NEW IDEA

 

[ductmate]

I have 5 br hens 7 months old 2 of them also have bald spots on there behind 1 has a bloody hole that kind of looks like a cigar burn it just happind today i did not see it last night i live in new hampshire and its around 26 here at night . after talking with my father in law who has been a farmer his whole life it seems to be pecking from the other hens . he said its pretty common and a good trick to stop it is to coat the bald spot with a thick layer of vasalene mixed with epsom salt around 1/4 inch thick . this will stick on the pecking hens beaks and they will not like the taste and it should deter them from pecking again for awhile . i just came in from applying the vasalene with epsom salt and will follow up tomorrow . now as for why they are doing it he says it could be a number of things . coop to small . not enough scrach grains on the ground for them to keep busy . they may be getting bored. stress . also any grain store sells a product called anti peck or stop peck that is made for this reason . and the last resort for the fix is the beak burning machine . and i really dont want to do that he also tells me that if it keeps happining the other hens will kill the bleeding hen and eat her so it may be best to seperate them for a while

 

[Miss Lydia]

seperating one with any wound is advisable. never heard of anyone tagging a chicken like that. Bet that hurt. Maybe the color of her eggs is normal.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

It is very common For people like me who raise show birds to wing band chicks. this is done same time people use toe punches. Its just called a wing band your bird was obviously a show bird or breeder stock at some point. As for the rear end you can spray some Wound Kote on it and Seperate her from the flock. Chances are she is low on the pecking order and thus retreating to corners. (I have dealt with this scenario exept it was alot worse and they even got her oil gland chewed out)
It could be a lack of calcium Birds will pick feathers and eat them if there is a vitamin deficiancy. Over crowding also can lead to feather picking. Just a few things i can think of.