Hen hydatid-like on wing, neck feathers not looking good

[renkin]

Good day,

I have two hardbody hens.
They are almost 2 years old.

Background
I got them when they were just over 1 year. They are named honey and peach (the names will make it easier to describe the situation). The issue that I am having is with Peach

When I got them, Peach was much healthier than Honey. But over the last few months, Honey has grown much bigger than Peach, and looks much healthier.
They lay eggs daily. They are NOT kept to be slaughtered.
Food - they receive kitchen scraps, with the occasional fowl feed if there are not enough kitchen scraps. All organic waste goes to them. They drink water and eat food normally. It does not seem any of their eating or drinking habits have changed

Coop - They sleep and eat in 4x3 m fenced area, and roam freely around during the day. I use hay for their bedding.
I live in the inner city (downtown) of Pretoria, South Africa

Exhibiting Symptoms
over the last few months, Honey has become almost double the size of Peach, although Peach was initially bigger and healthier.
Peach's neck feathers are broken off close to the skin. And it doesn't seem to be growing back.
On her right-wing, there is a hydatid-like swelling. It is a soft thing.
Honey does not exhibit the same symptoms. They both move together throughout the day, where the one goes, the other goes.

I thought that it might be Honey that is pulling out the feathers of Peach, but through observing it seems that this is not the situation, although I am not 100% sure.

If I need to give more information for some help or insight, I can do.

Any help or insight will be appreciated.

Regards
Wayne

 

[azygous]

We need to see a photo. Give us something for scale next to the lesion such as a coin or ruler.

 

[renkin]

Dear friends,

Here are some photos

IMG-6247 - This is the neck feathers' situation

IMG-6251 and IMG-6252 are where the initial swelling was.
This morning, the swelling was significantly reduced

IMG-6261 - This is were the swelling was.
But now it is red.

IMG-6253 - there is a white thing on both sides of the face, not sure if this is normal

 

[azygous]

Thanks for posting the photos. I believe what you may have here is a hen that could be having molt issues. This is to say, she may be in need of molt, but her body can't decide to get on with it, so the feathers continue to deteriorate. I have such a hen.

She's three years old and has had one molt in her life. Currently, she looks like a used feather duster that's been chewed by the dog. She may be trying to grow some feathers on her neck, but it's certainly not an effort I'd grade very high.

Where are you located? If you could at least tell is if you are in the northern hemisphere or southern, we could have an idea when she may be due to molt. You can give her some high grade protein to encourage new feather growth, but as long as she's eating well, pooping normally, and engaged in normal day to day behavior, I wouldn't worry about it. She has to molt at some point, as does my ragged little pile of broken feathers, and she will eventually replace the bedraggled look with a shiny new outfit.

Meanwhile, check her over for parasites, and you might consider dusting her with poultry permethrin powder just in case.

 

[renkin]

Thanks for the reply and advice.
I am located in Pretoria, South Africa - living in the inner city (downtown).

Parasites - when I was taking the photos, I did not see anything, but will check again.

She is eating and pooping normally, what I can see. And it seems that she is laying regularly eggs (because I have daily two different types of eggs that are laid, which I assume come from two different hens).
She is very interactive, and both of them get overly excited (to the point of almost aggression ) when I take their food out. She immediately eats, and pecks around during the day. During the day, she is very active, and also drinks water, especially when I clean the water bucket in the morning she immediately drinks

I have red wiggler worms, does this count as high protein?

Thanks for posting the photos. I believe what you may have here is a hen that could be having molt issues. This is to say, she may be in need of molt, but her body can't decide to get on with it, so the feathers continue to deteriorate. I have such a hen.

She's three years old and has had one molt in her life. Currently, she looks like a used feather duster that's been chewed by the dog. She may be trying to grow some feathers on her neck, but it's certainly not an effort I'd grade very high.

Where are you located? If you could at least tell is if you are in the northern hemisphere or southern, we could have an idea when she may be due to molt. You can give her some high grade protein to encourage new feather growth, but as long as she's eating well, pooping normally, and engaged in normal day to day behavior, I wouldn't worry about it. She has to molt at some point, as does my ragged little pile of broken feathers, and she will eventually replace the bedraggled look with a shiny new outfit.

Meanwhile, check her over for parasites, and you might consider dusting her with poultry permethrin powder just in case.

 

[azygous]

Worms are a good source of protein. I would give her a protein treat every other day, not in place of her regular feed, but a small additional bit of protein.

Do you recall either of your hens molting this past year? I'm going to guess that you may have noticed the larger hen molting right before you went into winter, but the smaller hen did not. Don't even ask why a hen would skip molt. No one can tell us why.

 

[coach723]

there is a white thing on both sides of the face, not sure if this is normal

I think you are looking at the earlobes, they look normal. Some birds will have some white coloring on earlobes.
Everything you ever wanted to know about ears and earlobes: