my rhode island red has something wrong

[countryinthecity]

i could use some help if possible. we purchased 2 rhode island red chicks about a year ago. they both seemed perfectly fine until we got home and was checking them and noticed the smaller of the 2 seemed to have poop stuck on her rear and her rear seemed to be swollen. we were told she probably wouldn't make it but as i said it was a year ago. well we named them so we could basically call them our pets. since they are chickens, we gave them names that fit. legs, who is the oldest by about 2 weeks, is pretty healthy. thighs, well she had the problem when she was little, she apparently didn't get over it. her underside and rear are swollen. she has been laying eggs so i pretty sure thats not her problem. she is eating and all. she seems fine other then the swelling and a limp. she has us worried because as i said they are our pets. please help.

 

[silkiechicken]

Welcome to the forum.

When you got them, the chick with poo on the rear probably had "pasty butt" which can just be soaked off and cleaned. So in the future, you can do that and the chick would be good as new. Probably had the poo on it pecked at by others so it was red. May also have been straining since pasty butt can be deadily.

As for now your adult hens with the red rear, that is probably a new issue unrelated to being a chick with pasty bum. Perhaps she has mites? Have you checked for that? If she is still laying, i doubt it is internal laying. By any chance is she in moult or the other one picking at her rear? Is her abdomen swollen and red? If so could be the start of ascities. I don't really know what else to suggest at this moment. Best of luck!