Chicken has abscess on lower abdomen. Help PLS!

Jun 29, 2020
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Hi there, I appreciate the help.
My Red Ranger 2 year old large hen had been roosting on this shelf, where the poop would collect and had been sitting in it getting poop all over her lower abdomen. After closing off the shelf, I noticed the poop didn't come off her feathers after a bit (i feel bad I waited too long to) so I cleaned them (having to cut some that were too crusty) this revealed to me the abscess. It looks infected and dark like crusted blood about 1.5 in diameter and round, with a crack in it and visible pus. It is located right below her vent, which itself looks healthy.( See picture attached)
I have not been able to notice how her poop looks, She still seems to be eating and drinking, and going about, looking otherwise healthy, with a full bright comb. I am not sure if she is laying or not, as I generally am at work and not around the coop when this happens. (out of my six hens, two are new moms and of the other 4 only two/3 are laying an egg a day )
There is one other Red Ranger that also had been sitting with her on the shelf that I also cleaned and cut away crusty feathers but has no abscess, although her comb has all of a sudden gone lopsided.
The hens live in a coop with attached open run The coop itself and the run have a natural living floor KNF style, With straw, woodchip and biochar mulch activated with indigenous microbes teas and cultured lactic acid bacteria. Poop generally doesnt build up as everything gets scratched up, and the poop decomposes. Outside in the run there is also some weeds and blackberries living which the hens peck and eat the leaves in addition to all our kitchen scraps, some excess garden harvests and are also fed a supplemental organic feed.

After rinsing off the abscess and clearing any poop from the feathers I sprayed it down with some lacto-ferment antiseptic at first and some applecider vinegar diluted into water. I also applied some polysporin gel.
While I would like to treat her, the truth is these two are also meat birds and eventually would be harvested. That being said I am not sure it would be good to eat such a bird with an injury or infection like this???
What can I do? What could this be? an infection caused by the poop? Something else? I tried calling vets but because of covid, the few around here that treat birds are either not taking new clients or are booked out even for emergencies for weeks.
How can I treat her?
Thanks!
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Double check me, but I think you can use Vetricyn on her wound and be OK for meat. No steroids or antibiotics. Make sure you get all the pus material out of the wound and then give it a good spray. It's possible a broody took exception and she got pecked which turned into this. Hard to say.
 
Double check me, but I think you can use Vetricyn on her wound and be OK for meat. No steroids or antibiotics. Make sure you get all the pus material out of the wound and then give it a good spray. It's possible a broody took exception and she got pecked which turned into this. Hard to say.
What about just harvesting her now for meat? without treating the wound first. Would that be bad??
 
That is a location where maggot infestation or flystrike can land, usually from droppings and sometimes from an injury. I would soak her in some warm Epsom salts water or soapy water, and clean it well, looking for any maggot larvae. Then use Vetericyn or a similar product.
 
Hi there, I appreciate the help.
My Red Ranger 2 year old large hen had been roosting on this shelf, where the poop would collect and had been sitting in it getting poop all over her lower abdomen. After closing off the shelf, I noticed the poop didn't come off her feathers after a bit (i feel bad I waited too long to) so I cleaned them (having to cut some that were too crusty) this revealed to me the abscess. It looks infected and dark like crusted blood about 1.5 in diameter and round, with a crack in it and visible pus. It is located right below her vent, which itself looks healthy.( See picture attached)
I have not been able to notice how her poop looks, She still seems to be eating and drinking, and going about, looking otherwise healthy, with a full bright comb. I am not sure if she is laying or not, as I generally am at work and not around the coop when this happens. (out of my six hens, two are new moms and of the other 4 only two/3 are laying an egg a day )
There is one other Red Ranger that also had been sitting with her on the shelf that I also cleaned and cut away crusty feathers but has no abscess, although her comb has all of a sudden gone lopsided.
The hens live in a coop with attached open run The coop itself and the run have a natural living floor KNF style, With straw, woodchip and biochar mulch activated with indigenous microbes teas and cultured lactic acid bacteria. Poop generally doesnt build up as everything gets scratched up, and the poop decomposes. Outside in the run there is also some weeds and blackberries living which the hens peck and eat the leaves in addition to all our kitchen scraps, some excess garden harvests and are also fed a supplemental organic feed.

After rinsing off the abscess and clearing any poop from the feathers I sprayed it down with some lacto-ferment antiseptic at first and some applecider vinegar diluted into water. I also applied some polysporin gel.
While I would like to treat her, the truth is these two are also meat birds and eventually would be harvested. That being said I am not sure it would be good to eat such a bird with an injury or infection like this???
What can I do? What could this be? an infection caused by the poop? Something else? I tried calling vets but because of covid, the few around here that treat birds are either not taking new clients or are booked out even for emergencies for weeks.
How can I treat her?
Thanks! View attachment 2219557
Our black australorp has this! But it's even worse. It has a putrid odor. The large scab peeled of today but it's like a huge cavern of who knows what. She is still laying and eating and acting fine. I'm worried this infection with take her over. My thought is that it developed during our cold wet muddy winter. It's right on the spot where she roosts, the lower abdomen.
Do you have an update on your hen?
 

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