I'm kind of dumbfounded at the moment with what I found tonight when I got home from work...
I went down to give the chickens a treat and noticed one of my girls had a really poopy rear end. Large crusty stripe coming from her vent. I didn't think too much about it as she was running around with all the other girls and eating up her treats. At this time I also noticed she was missing some tail feathers.
When I picked her up to inspect and figure out the best way to clean, I noticed her vent was protruding a bit and bloody and raw. Poo was slowly leaking out making the crust.
Between scissors and a bath I have the area cleaned up. I can't quite tell if this is vent tissue damage or if it's prolapse. There is a small amount of blood when I press a towel to the area, but it's not actively bleeding.
While washing her, I also noticed a large portion of her right side is also missing feathers.
Some other things that might be of interest:
1 - I have a flock of 5 birds. They are all 1 year old, and have been raised together since chicks.
2 - The pecking order is very mild in my flock. Without careful observation you would hardly know there is an order at all.
3 - My birds free range during the day and are locked in the coop at night.
4 - I have 4 Faverolles and 1 Sussex. This Faverolles is the bottom of the pecking order
5 - The sussex is currently broody and sitting on eggs. In the coop, but not in the nesting boxes. The Sussex is typically second in command.
6 - This wounded girl is /acting/ fine. When I went down to say hello, she was hanging out with the other girls with no apparent stress.
7 - She is eating and alert.
8 - She;s currently in the 'broody breaker box' and in my laundry room to keep warm after her bath and keep her from getting any more damage done.
9 - I don't have a rooster
.... Anyway.. The missing back feathers looks like this could have been going on for a while... But I find it really weird that I've never seen any feather picking or bullying of any kind. What do I do?
I went down to give the chickens a treat and noticed one of my girls had a really poopy rear end. Large crusty stripe coming from her vent. I didn't think too much about it as she was running around with all the other girls and eating up her treats. At this time I also noticed she was missing some tail feathers.
When I picked her up to inspect and figure out the best way to clean, I noticed her vent was protruding a bit and bloody and raw. Poo was slowly leaking out making the crust.
Between scissors and a bath I have the area cleaned up. I can't quite tell if this is vent tissue damage or if it's prolapse. There is a small amount of blood when I press a towel to the area, but it's not actively bleeding.
While washing her, I also noticed a large portion of her right side is also missing feathers.
Some other things that might be of interest:
1 - I have a flock of 5 birds. They are all 1 year old, and have been raised together since chicks.
2 - The pecking order is very mild in my flock. Without careful observation you would hardly know there is an order at all.
3 - My birds free range during the day and are locked in the coop at night.
4 - I have 4 Faverolles and 1 Sussex. This Faverolles is the bottom of the pecking order
5 - The sussex is currently broody and sitting on eggs. In the coop, but not in the nesting boxes. The Sussex is typically second in command.
6 - This wounded girl is /acting/ fine. When I went down to say hello, she was hanging out with the other girls with no apparent stress.
7 - She is eating and alert.
8 - She;s currently in the 'broody breaker box' and in my laundry room to keep warm after her bath and keep her from getting any more damage done.
9 - I don't have a rooster
.... Anyway.. The missing back feathers looks like this could have been going on for a while... But I find it really weird that I've never seen any feather picking or bullying of any kind. What do I do?
