Hen with sore on her backside... Help please?

[Karrie13]

I am having an issue with one of my year old EE’s. I first noticed there was a problem on Sunday when the other chickens were chasing her around and pecking at her bottom. I caught her and looked to see what was up. She has a sore just below her vent that the others were pecking at. I brought her in the house and cleaned her up and put Neosporin on it. When I was cleaning her up I noticed her tail area was swollen and hard too. It did look scabbed over so I cleaned it up too and put her back out in the coop. I watched for a little while and all looked well so I went about my normal chores. I went back out to check on her and she was on the high roost standing there but anytime she came down they were after her backside again. At one point she just put her head in the corner like “if I can’t see them they can’t see me” which of course didn’t work. I had enough and brought her in the house. Cleaned her up again and displaced my four one month old silkies so that she would have a place to be in a large dog kennel. I just threw together something for the silkies. Everything is scabbed over again but the area by the tail is very hard and I saw a spot of what looked like black skin near it. The hard area is about an ¾ inch long and off to one side of the tail… tail feathers are growing from this location too.

Does this sound like an abscess? I did read up last night on how to take care of it and am willing to do it if that is what it is. I do not have any pictures right now but will try to get some tonight, if she cooperates. My arm has many scratches from her feet when I was catching her. None of the other chickens are having any problems and it looked like the two sores were not initially related. The hard one was first and the other one looks like the other chickens made it. I was really surprised at the ones I saw chasing her, they are my gold sex links and they are my friendliest chickens.

 

[adkchickmama]

Post pics so we can see what you are describing and better help with advice.

 

[dawg53]

I'd definitely keep her seperated like you've done. The black skin you saw,could that be mites? Could also be a mini molt. I had a RIR hen that only lost her tail feathers during a molt. The only reason she didnt get picked on was because she was at the top of the pecking order. Where is your EE in the pecking order? She could be getting pecked at that area because of molt. I think an abscess would have a liquid in it/pus. Can you soak it with warm water to soften it up,then gently squeeze it to see if anything comes out? If not, i would just put triple antibiotic on it,keep her seperated til it heals and grows some feathers. If something comes out of the abscess, go ahead with your procedure you talked about. Good luck.