Red swollen backs, help

[Farm life101]

Hello,
i have 15 hens and one rooster and the rooster and about five or six of the hens have something going on. Their back, next to the tail is red and puffy and when i touch it they freak out because it hurts. there are no feathers there either but nothing else is irritated and they keep itching/cleaning it. i noticed it about a week ago and thought molt but its red and puffy and they haven't lost any other feathers. laying and behavior is normal in all of them. i checked for lice and found nothing. i put DE in their coop regularly so it cant be blood mites. I also give them DE every other week in their food. The only thing that we haven't done is dewormed them but their poop is normal. Whats going on? What should i do?

 

[DobieLover]

Hello,
i have 15 hens and one rooster and the rooster and about five or six of the hens have something going on. Their back, next to the tail is red and puffy and when i touch it they freak out because it hurts. there are no feathers there either but nothing else is irritated and they keep itching/cleaning it. i noticed it about a week ago and thought molt but its red and puffy and they haven't lost any other feathers. laying and behavior is normal in all of them. i checked for lice and found nothing. i put DE in their coop regularly so it cant be blood mites. I also give them DE every other week in their food. The only thing that we haven't done is dewormed them but their poop is normal. Whats going on? What should i do?

DE will do nothing for mites or lice. You need to use permethrin if they have mites or lice.
The mites come out at night to feast on chickens then hide in the nooks and crannies of your coop during the day.
If their skin is exposed because of missing feathers and these areas are exposed to the sun, they may now also have sun burns.
Can you post some pictures of them?

 

[Farm life101]

yes will get pictures now

 

[Farm life101]

@DobieLover here are pictures of one of the hens.

 

[DobieLover]

Their skin doesn't look too bad. They are growing feathers back in so that would be uncomfortable for them when they are touched. The rooster could also be irritating the bare skin when he mounts them.
How much space do they have in square feet in both the coop and the run?
Do you free range them at all?
What exactly do you feed them?

 

[Farm life101]

Their skin doesn't look too bad. They are growing feathers back in so that would be uncomfortable for them when they are touched. The rooster could also be irritating the bare skin when he mounts them.
How much space do they have in square feet in both the coop and the run?
Do you free range them at all?
What exactly do you feed them?

They are in a 10ft wide by 20ft long coop (floor space) and then they have an upper level for laying and thats 10ftwide by 4ft long. they normally free range for 5 or six hours a day or when my dog can stay outside because we have a huge hawk problem. They are fed purina Layena pellets (https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...remium-poultry-feed-50-lb?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005) and its available to them at all times. when its not summer time i give them scratch with their food but havent in summer because of the heat i dont want to give them corn. I ocasinally put some oyster shell in their food but only about once a week or so. After free ranging i give them oats to get them back in coop.

 

[Farm life101]

i thought it was the rooster mounting them but he has it on him as well, which is what confused me.

 

[DobieLover]

They are in a 10ft wide by 20ft long coop (floor space) and then they have an upper level for laying and thats 10ftwide by 4ft long. they normally free range for 5 or six hours a day or when my dog can stay outside because we have a huge hawk problem. They are fed purina Layena pellets (https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...remium-poultry-feed-50-lb?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005) and its available to them at all times. when its not summer time i give them scratch with their food but havent in summer because of the heat i dont want to give them corn. I ocasinally put some oyster shell in their food but only about once a week or so. After free ranging i give them oats to get them back in coop.

Okay, thank you for the extra information. You have a nice sized run and coop! Do you have perches, material for them to scratch around in, etc. in the run? Lots of shade?
If these were my birds, I would switch the flock over to Flock Raiser. It has 20% protein which they need to regrow their feathers. If you can't find that, use chick crumbles. I would not be feeding layer feed to my rooster.
I would also keep a container full of oyster shell available to them at all times. For the time being, I would give them no other treats. If you must use some form of bribery to get them back in their run after free ranging, toss a handful of mealworms in the run. They need more protein.
For their irritated skin, I would spray with Vetericyn to sooth it and would dust all the birds with permethrin to rule out external parasites, even though you've not seen any. The coop would need to be completely cleaned out and sprayed down with permethrin as well. Repeat the permethrin treatment of all the birds and coop once a week for three weeks to ensure you've killed all hatching eggs you may have.

 

[Farm life101]

Okay, thank you for the extra information. You have a nice sized run and coop! Do you have perches, material for them to scratch around in, etc. in the run? Lots of shade?
If these were my birds, I would switch the flock over to Flock Raiser. It has 20% protein which they need to regrow their feathers. If you can't find that, use chick crumbles. I would not be feeding layer feed to my rooster.
I would also keep a container full of oyster shell available to them at all times. For the time being, I would give them no other treats. If you must use some form of bribery to get them back in their run after free ranging, toss a handful of mealworms in the run. They need more protein.
For their irritated skin, I would spray with Vetericyn to sooth it and would dust all the birds with permethrin to rule out external parasites, even though you've not seen any. The coop would need to be completely cleaned out and sprayed down with permethrin as well. Repeat the permethrin treatment of all the birds and coop once a week for three weeks to ensure you've killed all hatching eggs you may have.

Okay will do that! There are perches all over in the coop but no run. The coop has a dirt floor though. I have been thinking about building a run so maybe I will do it now. Thank you for your help!

 

[Farm life101]

So I just got the permethrin, directions aren't very clear on how much I should put in the coop or where I should put it. Do you know?