Help Please~ Mystery Sore Area

[Mother2Hens]

HELP PLEASE! When my one year old Barred Rock Hen “Tweedy” was on the perch ready for bed, I looked up and saw this red, sore area. It’s between her legs. We examined her carefully inside the house with a flashlight and saw no signs of mites or lice (although we aren’t experts). We looked under her wings and around her vent. I examined the coop with a flashlight because I read that tiny black, moving mites would be visible, but I didn’t see any. I spend around three hours a day with my hens while I’ve been working on landscaping. Tweedy has acted completely normal, so I was shocked to notice this area this evening. My other four hens seem to be fine. Luckily, I have not moved my pullets in with the hens yet. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thank you. In the photo below, the pink area "breathed" up and down. I have a video, but the file is too large for this site. I also explain the position I am holding her in.


Another clue maybe? My son Max who has an honors biology degree from Purdue helped me examine my BR as well as the coop. He worked in a breast cancer research lab with rats, so he is very meticulous although he is not a chicken expert. We did notice some signs of scaly leg mite feet. I’m mentioning this in case it has anything to do with the sore area between her legs (I really feel like a bad chicken mother for not noticing these health problems). We researched leg mites and realize that it’s going to be a lengthy issue including a thorough coop cleaning. Since it was dark and easier to perform a medical procedure, we gathered several plastic “Glad” leftover food containers, plastic gloves, and paper towels. I held my BR “Tweedy” while we soaked her feet in warm water with a little natural “free of dyes, etc.” dish soap. While her feet soaked, Max took a new toothbrush and gently scraped her feet to loosen scales (gross). We dipped her in fresh water where Max did a little more scraping. Then we dipped her feet in mineral oil for a few minutes. Then he applied vaseline to her feet. I carefully put her back on the perch. I soaked the containers and toothbrush in bleach spray and washed them with hot soapy water.

 

[Judy]

That's a very good start for the leg mites. They should resolve if you just keep Vaseline on her legs for a while. The bare spot could be several things. She could be plucking her own feathers in preparation for gong broody, if it's more on her belly than arond the vent. She could be eggbound. She could just be rubbing the feathers off her belly on something she perches or sits on. Unfortunately she could also be developing something more serious. I might try an eggbound approach -- give her a warm bath for maybe 15 minutes, try to get her to relax in the bath, put some Preparation H on the vent, put her in a darkened place for a day and night. You didn't mention whether she is laying. Confining her for a day or two will of course answer this if you aren't sure.

This link is about lice and mites, and has some pics to give you a better idea of what to look for, just to be sure.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thank you so much. I am going to give her a complete exam. She was one year old in March and lays every day. I only have five hens and one doesn't lay and one is an EE, so I know that the 3 brown eggs a day are from my BR, SLW, and RIR. I will follow up later today.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Just following up- I have had house guests for 5 days and I am exhausted!

Update on Tweedy, my one year old BR
The raw patch between her legs: I looked at the fowl mite and lice examples on the link that you posted and Tweedy's raw area doesn't look like the examples. I still don't know what it is from, but my guess is that she was trying to itch her feet, but pulled feathers in that area. It does look less red following the leg mite eradication procedure that my son and I did two days ago. The leg mite treatment helped immensely and I'm applying vaseline to her feet and legs every night as a follow-up. I need to sanitize the whole coop weekly for several weeks to get rid of the leg mites. After researching different ways to sanitize coops, I decided that I'm going to buy a hand held steam sanitizer. I'm going to research specific brands this evening. I have a steam mop, which is nice because it doesn't leave floors wet. If I washed the wooden coop, it would just add to the general dampness of our shady backyard. Luckily the coop doesn't get wet when it rains, but everything has been so damp that we have green algae and fungus growing on stone areas. (I prefer a drought over too much rain!)

I thoroughly examined my five hens and amazingly the other four don't have leg mites. I didn't see any signs of other types of mites or lice on all five. All of them including my BR have been active and have behaved normally. Today my EE layed a soft shelled egg, which is the first time she's done that. I am guessing it's from the stress of daily ridiculously loud fireworks and five days of house guests. She is a nervous type, so I have the "mother's instinct" that stress caused her soft shelled egg.

I have not applied anything to Tweedy's raw patch because I don't know what to use. I might just put some Vaseline on it when I do her leg/foot treatment later (I like to do it late at night when she can go back to sleep and forget about it --haha).

If you or anyone who stubbles upon this post has any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.