chicken butt looks bad - a bit gruesome

[kristihilmoe]

And I was looking at the other chickens today, and two of them have bare areas right in front of their tail-feathers. No bloody spots or they'd be pecked at too, but whats up with that? Does the rooster do that? Just a bare area about the size of a quarter, no one seems to care, but they looked odd. I am not terrible fond of that rooster. I planned on ten hens and was not pleasantly surprised when he grew up into a him. Now if he is pestering the girls I like him even less. He is about twice the size of them... any words of wisdom?

 

[nurse_turtle]

I would re-home or enroll Mr. Rooster in freezer camp and see if your problems disappear. I think simple antibiotic ointment on the bum would be all I would do for now. But watch closely for maggots.

 

[froggie71]

Try soaking in epsom salts. Had a girl with prolapse. Soaked her in epsom salt and the prolapse retracted. Could help.

 

[kristihilmoe]

Well I got some blue kote for the featherless areas, those chickens went crazy when i started spraying it! Wild! I also sprayed the bad looking butt, as it said it was for wounds too. The lady at the feed store recommended Duramycin for the bad butt, so put some in her drinking water when we got home. This all seems by guess and by gosh.. Pretty much everyone I asked said to lose the rooster (husband wont let any of them go) or to put the bad butt girl out of her misery (wont do that either). In case we need to, how do you "put down" a chicken? I dont know if either of us has the heart to do it, but Im guessing it will be me if it happens.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

At this point, I would not worry about euthanasia. While chickens frequently deal poorly with illness, they are real troopers when it comes to injury. Liberally coat her wound with either FLYS OFF or SWAT (use the ointment, not the spray if you have a choice). This will prevent flystrike. The duramycin is a good choice of braod spectrum antibiotic, although keep an eye on her.

I do not think that is a prolapsed vent. As was stated, she would not be laying if it were, at least not easily. Keep her separated until the wound heals, and yes, the blue kote is good--just don;t think it would kill flies and maggots as will the SWAT/FLYS OFF.