big red butts, is this normal?

[elizahighvoltag]

We own 8 RIR hens that will be 3 years old in May. For the last few months egg production has been eratic we thought it was

molting, but then noticed three of the hens have developed red enlarged butts. What is this? is this something we need to get help with or will it go away on its own? These are the first chickens we have owned so we are learning as we go.

 

[Judy]

I'd guess you have feather picking and / or lice/mites going on, or at least those are the first things I'd check for.

For feather picking, from the FAQ page:


My chickens are pecking/eating each other's feathers:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=34705
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=31291
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36139
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=30486

for lice / mites:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/472405/lethargic-chickens-and-now-dead-help

http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8162.pdf

 

[CMV]

I think you have some feather picking going on, but as Flockwatcher said you should check for bugs to be on the safe side. The butts themselves look normal albeit bald. Exposed chicken skin turns that bright red. It's perfectly normal. And the baseball-looking swelling is a perfectly normal naked butt. Who knew their butts were so ugly underneath all the fluff?

 

[elizahighvoltag]

Thanks for responding. We didn't quite know what to do so we went the conservative route and cleaned out the nesting boxes and dusted them and the hens with some DE. I didn't realize that their bare skin would get so red. Now that the weather has made it possible to let them out more I hope this will clear up because we have 9 more chicks my husband picked up a couple of weeks ago. We don't want to take a chance introducing them if the hens are sick. Thanks for letting us know.