??chicken hemorroids??

[delooper]

Greetings,

I got this red star hen from a 100-chicken operation two or three weeks ago. She acts like a healthy chicken, but she was in moult when acquired and has this variable-size red inflammation above her vent. It's a small part of the skin from above the vent that is inflamed and hanging-down over the vent.

Is this a problem? It could be a natural part of the moulting process for all I know. I've given her a few baths and fed her some olive oil. . . not really certain what the problem is, or if there really is a problem.

Sometimes the swelling is fairly small, sometimes it's almost golf-ball sized. So I've thought perhaps she gets occasional egg traffic-jams in her system. Pictures attached from one of the "less inflamed" days (today).

 

[Eggcessive]

It doesn't look like a prolapsed vent, but looks more like she is being pecked and feater-picked by the other chickens. She may well have a temporary prolapse or swelling from overly large eggs. I would look her over under her vent and lower belly for evidence of lice or mites, which will be tiny beige to tan bugs when parting the feathers. What are you feeding? During her molt, you may want to increase the protein in the diet to around 20-22% (layer feed has around 16-17%.) Some have good luck using BluKote a blue staining antibacterial/antifungal spray to hide red skin. Others use bad tasting products such as Nustock, anti-pick lotions, or menthol ointments such as BenGay, or even Bag Balm. Overcrowding or not getting out to free range can be other causes for pecking.

 

[delooper]

She has a mix of quite a few things to eat. In the coop there's an endless supply of layer feed. In the morning I put some chicken scratch (assorted grains as far as I can tell) in one part of the yard. The red stars particularly like that. Then they've got all kinds of greens to eat in the yard -- they primarily like the clover, though. They also eat lots of earthworms and bugs from around the yard. The red stars aren't as into the earth worms, as, say, the speckled Sussex we have. Once a week they eat crabs -- we live by the beach and crabs are essentially free (8 per day for a $20 annual license). . . so they get crabs when we go to the beach. That's their primary diet. There's also some smashed-up clam and mussel shells that they seem to peck at slowly, my wife says they get calcium from this.

I haven't seen any mites on her. We've inspected twice.

Thanks.