Was looking to see if this problem was listed and did not see it so here goes...I have a Plymouth rock girl who has been brooding for a couple weeks now and today she was off the nest and her sister was on the eggs I found her by the fence kinda lethargic and picked her up. I then checked her underside and saw that she was raw and all her feathers were stuck together with poo and as I looked further a big chunk of her underside came off and left a 2in long hole.i then cleaned and clipped her feathers and applied hydrogen peroxide and a thin layer of antiseptic and separated her.what could have caused that?Is it from not leaving her eggs?and what else can I do to help her?i appreciate any input thanks
Hi Mamacita, and welcome to BYC. I don't know why you have not received any replies, except maybe the "emergency" thread would be a better place for it. I think you have done what you could do, so far. How is she doing? Is she back on her eggs? Is her sister setting? Make sure that the ointment you use is antibiotic and has no ingredients that end in -caine, they are harmful to chickens. Don't use peroxide again, but you can bathe her in a bucket or sink in warm water if needed. If she is not on the nest anymore, you may want to bring her in to make sure she is clean, eating and drinking, and healing. Feel free to PM me if you need to. Good luck!
She could have torn it. The other possibility is flies, but then you would see maggots. Good call separating her until she is healed.
Thanks for the response. She is doing much better today I've been cleaning her underside with warm water and applying medicated ointment on her.she is eating now and her sister has taken over the task of sitting on the clutch.after I stopped to breath I read some posts about brooding hens and what they do by not eating or getting off the nest to poop.thats why she had that big mass of poo on her.im now watching to make sure that her sister takes her food breaks and Perrier time.again thanks