Feathers not breaking through the skin?!

[jodievaughan]

basically two of my three chickens have got this one feather that is not managing to break through the skin, and I’ve kept an eye on it thinking it’d manage by now but am getting worried because the skin above the feather has teached quite a height of about 1.5-2cm on one of them. What shall I do? Do I make a small cut in the top to allow the feather out more easily? Any help would be greatly appreciated as whenever I go near this bit of skin they’re clearly uncomfortable

 

[Sneebsey]

I'd make a small incision and then pull out the whole feather, then apply some antiseptic spray; I would remove the entire feather as it will quite likely be unhealthy and could go on to form an abscess.

 

[coach723]

If you could get some good, in focus pictures of the bumps in question it would be helpful, and a clear picture of where it is on the body.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, before you go cutting into anything, make sure you are not mistaking a feather follicle for the preen gland.
Apologies if my response seems overly simplistic. It is difficult to know a persons level of experience from a single post.... no offence intended, but people have made that mistake before.

 

[coach723]

Those were my thoughts exactly @rebrascora, hopefully we will see pictures!

 

[Sneebsey]

I didn't think of that, @rebrascora. It makes sense, particularly if more than one bird have it, that it could be the preen-gland.

 

[rebrascora]

Those were my thoughts exactly @rebrascora, hopefully we will see pictures

I guessed we were on the same wavelength.... as we so often are!

 

[jodievaughan]

I think you may be right. I’ve had chickens for a few years now, but haven’t been so up close and personal with them until recently when I thought (wrongly) that we had a red mite infestation, so I have been checking their bodies very closely. I’ve googled photos of the preen gland and it seems that’s what it is. One question however, one of the chickens has little tufts of feathers sticking out of it. Is that still the preen gland? I will make sure to get photos tomorrow. Thank you for all of the helpful advice!

 

[coach723]

Sometimes there will be tufts of feathers there, so sounds like no worries.

 

[jodievaughan]

I can’t get a photo of the one with the tufts of feathers sticking out (she’s always had an EXTREMELY fast reaction time so is near impossible to pick up unless it’s at night) but I’ll upload a photo of the other one. Do I need to do anything about the tufts of feathers sticking out or are they safe/healthy?