HELP! Red, hot inflamed breast and vent area on 1.5 yr old Australorp.

[tari]

I'd love some advice on what might be happening with my hen, Martha. My chickens are molting but Martha has a very large inflamed area around her vent, feathers missing and vent itself looks like it's oozing. Her breast area is also inflamed. I've palpated the crop and it seems ok, no foul smell or squishy feeling as in sour crop.
I've looked for mites/lice and I can't see any evidence on her or the other 9 hens. She is a favorite of Pierre, the Rooster, but it doesn't seem to be from his attentions. Any idea what this could be? Should I find a vet? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[HappyClucker7]

@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you get a photo of her standing up?

Vent looks fairly clean to me.
She may have someone plucking her vent feathers. You could apply a bit of Nu Stock cream on the tissue around the vent.

The breast area, I would watch her to see if she or another bird is picking at that area.
Check that crop to make sure it's emptying overnight too.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree with Wyorp Rock. It may be feather picking. The breast area is somewhere she can reach too, so make sure that her roosting area is clean dry and smooth. Look her over for any lice and mites or their eggs. Spend some time watching to see if she is being pecked, and sometimes they will do this on the roost.

 

[Left Spur]

Yea, it is a feather plucking, and thats not an inflamed skin, the skin coloration is just like that, usually the area of the head, breast, and the tip of the wings is more redder but thats also depending on the breed, like the featherless chicken, they have a very red skin all over.

 

[tari]

Thank you Wyorp Rock and Eggcessive! I've been watching and I've never seen the others go after her. She's one of the bosses in the flock. But, just now I examined her again and I am starting to see whitish clumps in crevices of skin below the vent. I consulted TeleVet and she suspects poultry lice. Some of the other hens have been pecking at their feathers lately and so I'll treat the whole flock. I hope this is going to solve the problem, I'll post an update.

 

[tari]

Yea, it is a feather plucking, and thats not an inflamed skin, the skin coloration is just like that, usually the area of the head, breast, and the tip of the wings is more redder but thats also depending on the breed, like the featherless chicken, they have a very red skin all over.

Thanks, I'll watch more closely!

 

[Left Spur]

Feather plucking is normal, but it is can also getting out of hand sometimes, you could lost most of the neck feather. small coop, stressful environment, or lack of nutrition can cause it sometimes they just do it out of nowhere, you can never figuring out the cause, thats why commercial chicken use a process called debeaking.
Just give them more food and space or separate them for now till you figuring out some solution.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a good article on lice and mite treatments and pictures:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[Left Spur]

I have a leghorn myself and they are pretty hard to understand, aggressive, and a lot of troublesome behaviour, at the end of the day i just put them in a different pen