Chicken has red featherless patch between her legs-ideas? Pic attached

[vwbug]

Hi,

I have two barred rocks with plenty of room to stretch their legs and wings.

I just noticed one of them has a red featherless patch between her legs while the other chicken is well feathered in that location. They sleep on fresh hay and they have a big yard.

ETA I removed the snow out of their yard and put straw down (that you see in the picture) hoping that would encourage them outside. It worked, they love to scratch in it.

 

[LynneP]

Any behavior changes? She my be going broody- check her weight.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-sick-hen

See Incident 01.

 

[Terri O]

I would watch her, especially if she starts hanging away from the others, not roosting etc. I just brought back a hen from "waterbelly" and she was bare on the back end because she was so stretched from the swelling. It does look like she is slightly swollen so watch for that. Also could be egg bound, has she been laying? She also looks like she has some new pin feathers in the area..if there is no change in any behavior perhaps she is just growing the feathers and is a bit thin in that area because of molt?
I guess we all need more info! TErri O

 

[vwbug]

Thanks for the insights.

There's just the two chickens and we get one or two eggs a day so she's still laying. And I can discern no change in her behavior - she's a pretty cheerful chicken. She gets along well with the other, they're usually together whether it's napping or messing about in their yard. She's always been the smaller of the two but I'll look closely tonight to see if she's lost weight. The area doesn't seem to be bothering her, but it is unslightly and looks like it should be painful even though she doesn't act like it is.

 

[MistyValley]

Watching this thread just had a BR that looked the same way this weekend. She's eating fine and acting like normal. Any other ideas?