Raw tummy - goopy feathers - how to help??

[wendyrun]

My 3 girls were all molting several months back, and various stages of looking ratty while feathers came out and were growing in. One of them had a big goopy poopy spot under her vent. I grabbed her to check if there was anything else going on, and decided to clean her because her belly looked raw/red irritated.

I washed her in warm water to un-goop her feathers, and put some diaper rash cream on her belly. The problem of course is that they dig holes and roll in the dirt, so I almost didn't put anything on her at all but thought it might help clear it up - and she was immediately back in the dirt that afternoon with the other girls.

The other two hens seem to be picking at her - and her feathers up on her back at the base of the area where her wings are is a bit thin still. She had some spots on her head by her comb - like someone else pecked her. My husband is home during the day and he said the other two pick on her sometimes. We have had this group right about 1 year, and never any problems with how they behave toward one another overall - so I figured she would be fine once her feathers were all back - since the other two have already filled back in I thought that might be why they were picking on her (?).

We actually thought we had a predator stalking them - maybe a large hawk had tried to grab her but based on the fact neither of the others have shown any indication and that there have been bloody marks around her comb, I think they are just being mean girls.

Her belly is still red looking - not awful, not hot - but the feathers are gross. My first impulse was to wash her again - and maybe the feathers got goopy again because I put the cream on there for a rash, and everything stuck together when she laid in the dirt. Kept thinking if I left her alone, it would all clear up but it still hasn't. I don't know what I can put on her to soothe any irritation that won't get stuck in her feathers - but how the red/rawness can clear up when her feathers are dirty and gummed together and she sits to lay and sits with the others in the sand/dirt.

It seems like this shouldn't be that hard!! Her vent looks great - she's laying fine - she doesn't seem to have a thing wrong with her otherwise so I keep just not doing anything but it won't go away!!

any suggestions???

 

[TOP KNOT]

Have you tried blue kote? I have also heard putting pine tar on the picked spots will help. Murray McMurray has these products. Good luck

 

[wendyrun]

ooh no i have not - thank you!!
We are low on layer crumble and my husband was going to go to the feed store today - so will ask him to look there.

 

[Eggcessive]

A cell phone picture close-up would help. If it is goopy around her vent she might have vent gleet, a yeast infection. It responds well to a product called Nustock which contains sulfur and is anti-fungal. Mycostatin would also work. If the vent is clean and the goopy area is elsewhere she may just be pecked. Clean it off again, and apply neosporin, but Nustock really works best. It comes in a tube for about $12-14 at farm stores. You can make it with sulfur powder and some other ingredients. Just google how to make it. Blu-Kote does work well to mask redness, so they won't peck, and it is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial too.

 

[wendyrun]

Well, now I don't know what I've done, but I've made it worse.

Agggg!!

Yesterday I caught and inspected each of the 3 girls to make sure that everyone looks good. Check.
'Lucy' still had her feathers matted together behind/below her vent. The red area of rash was smaller but still didn't look great.






since it was nice and warm out, i figured this was perfect time to clean her up. I washed her tummy with warm water and soap.
I cleaned the area around her comb and spritzed her there with the Blue Kote, as well as her back. I put her in a crate to let everything dry. When her tummy was dry, I sprayed that with Blue Kote. Except she started wiggling around and fighting me and I heard pops.

I figured she was fine - so put her back in the crate to dry some more. Toward the end of the day I put her outside. She seemed fine. But her nice friend Ethel came over and IMMEDIATELY pecked her back and head where I'd sprayed the Blue Kote.
She tried to get away - and was limping. I swear her bad leg was the left, then the right. So again, I thought she was fine. No one trusts me now, so good there, they all think I'm going to kill them. So no one wanted to go into the coop. My husband had to lure them.

We hoped she would look better this morning but she's still limping like crazy. I gave her some treats while the other girls were in another part of the yard, but the harpies came over and pecked her until she left and gobbled it for themselves. It is funny that they want what they don't have - they will run from a nice huge pile of dried mealworms to steal three worms from Lucy. Because she has them.

We brought her inside and put her in the crate with some food and water. I hope it is just a sprain. Hey, when she was running from me in the yard just now, she was faster than I expected. I'm just feeling like the risk of leaving her outside between Ethel trying to peck her (the other one doesn't seem to care, and has always been a loner in this bunch) and the possibility of some large bird swooping down to get her when she's not at full strength mean she needs to be inside to rest for a bit. I hope with her being in a smaller space she will rest the leg and it will heal up. I felt her over - I really was worried she dislocated something - but I didn't feel anything strange and there's nothing visibly askew. Now I'm kicking myself, b/c she had a much smaller rash area. And in my zest to 'fix' her, I've given her a blue head that was immediately pecked and she can't walk normally.

PS her vent is great. At least all along, it seems however she got the problem in the first place, she just has a rash. I'm relieved there's nothing nasty looking there.