My chicken looks deforned . . . help

[Beggins]

Hi!
I'm fairly new at raising chickens (actually, this is my first post

) and so I am not sure what's going on with my RIR. She's about a year old, and she has always been rather misshapen in the front; the breast area has always been enlarged like this. It is loose and can be moved around with your hand. The feathers were always thin there, but in the last few weeks she has lost more feathers and there is a good-sized bare spot there (from lying on it?) She doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all, but I am wondering what is going on and what I should do. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Sylvestor12]

Has she been broody or sleeping in the nestboxes at night? She also might be moulting, what's the weather near you like temperature wise?

 

[Buffygirl]

Stay out and watch her for a while. Is she drinking a whole ton of water or eating a whole ton of food? If she is then that might be her crop, the first step of a chicken's digestive system. Its job is to grind up the food since the chicken has no teeth. If she is eating and drinking a whole ton, this would cause her crop to become enlarged and bulge. The feather loss(if this IS the problem) is probably from the over sized breast rubbing on things more than usual, most likely when she is roosting.


How do you treat this?
IF this IS the problem, keep her separate and only allow her a normal amount of food(not too little!!!), not the amount she is eating already. The size of her crop should go down.

I hope this works for you!

 

[Beggins]

She doesn't eat or drink any more than normal, and does sleep on the roost. I'm in Missouri, where we have had drought and lots of 100-degree temps this summer, although now we are down into the low 90s and getting a lot of rain. Her feathers don't look that great in some other spots, if you can see in the pic, she has some loose ones below her wing. Could that be moulting? As I said, she is acting normal and doesn't seem to be bothered by it. It just looks so abnormal.

 

[Sylvestor12]

if it's cooling into fall it's likely it's moulting. if she starts to isolate herself but still eating/drinking well I wouldn't worry much either caus they need solitaryness to grow new feathers in