Growth by Chicken Vent

[jerbs]

My husband and I noticed that one of our chickens was acting lethargic so we gave her a mini examination only to find the above growth by her vent. She seems to be able to still poop, and walk around normally, but we are not sure what to do now. We gave her a warm water bath and let her butt soak for about 10 minutes to clean her up a bit. It also looks like she has pecked out the feathers around her vent area. Has anyone seen this before?

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcone to BYC!

That possibly is an in grown feather cyst. I have seen these a few times over the years, but I caught them before they got this big.

You might try to remove this, make sure everything you use is sterilized, wear thin disposable gloves too. You make need to dig out the ingrown feather or feathers. I have always found tiny wound up feathers under the skin. You can use neosporin on the wound area, making sure not to use the stuff with the pain killer in it. Triple Antibiotic stuff is fine too. Keep her clean until the wound heals.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[jerbs]

Thanks so much for your advice. We removed it, and it came off very easily. It was hanging by a thread (or feather... so to speak). We cleaned it all up and she seems much perkier and back to her usual self now.