Young hen tucked tail, please help

[Mcpuffen]

I have a 5-7 month old hen with a large, infected looking bludge at her vent area. Her tail is tucked and she’s not as social as usual but seems okay otherwise. She is foraging fine but worn eat her feed. What is wrongand how can I help her. I’ll post pictures. Thank you in advance.

Edit: the bulge is larger than a golf ball, hard, hot and is above her vent.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

Is she pooping?

I would clean the wound really well with saline or diluted Chlorhexidine, then apply some triple antibiotic ointment. Trim some of the feathers away from the wound so you can see it better and it will keep feathers from sticking to the ointment.

Keep her on clean dry bedding. If she needs to stay outside, crate or kennel her while she's healing. Likely the wounds are from other birds picking at her vent.

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be that she has been vent pecked by other members of the flock. Sometimes that happens if there is a brief prolapse of red internal tissue that attracts pecking. Also this behavior can be cannibalism, due to several possible reasons. Those can include her showing signs of illness, overcrowding, too little protein in the diet, or boredom from not getting outside.

I would soak her in a shallow warm bath of Epsom salts or soapy water once a day for about 20 minutes. Then apply some plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment twice a day to the area to keep it moist.

What do you feed? Do they get outside to free range? How many chickens fo you have, and how large is their coop and run? Is she low in pecking order or has she been showing signs of illness, separating herself, or not eating?

Here is some reading about cannibalism:
https://poultry.extension.org/artic...ibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/

 

[Mcpuffen]

It could be that she has been vent pecked by other members of the flock. Sometimes that happens if there is a brief prolapse of red internal tissue that attracts pecking. Also this behavior can be cannibalism, due to several possible reasons. Those can include her showing signs of illness, overcrowding, too little protein in the diet, or boredom from not getting outside.

I would soak her in a shallow warm bath of Epsom salts or soapy water once a day for about 20 minutes. Then apply some plain Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment twice a day to the area to keep it moist.

What do you feed? Do they get outside to free range? How many chickens fo you have, and how large is their coop and run? Is she low in pecking order or has she been showing signs of illness, separating herself, or not eating?

Here is some reading about cannibalism:
https://poultry.extension.org/artic...ibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/

They are completely free range, we have about 30 hens and 2 roosters that are very sweet to the hens. We converted an old building in our yard to a coop so it’s very big and we feed them producers pride pellets. As for her level in the pecking order I’m not sure, I know our silkies and bantams are the lowest.

 

[Mcpuffen]

Welcome To BYC

Is she pooping?

I would clean the wound really well with saline or diluted Chlorhexidine, then apply some triple antibiotic ointment. Trim some of the feathers away from the wound so you can see it better and it will keep feathers from sticking to the ointment.

Keep her on clean dry bedding. If she needs to stay outside, crate or kennel her while she's healing. Likely the wounds are from other birds picking at her vent.

Thank you for the advice! I’m soaking her in a warm Epsom salt bath now and have a cozy crate set up for her.

 

[Mcpuffen]

Welcome To BYC

Is she pooping?

I would clean the wound really well with saline or diluted Chlorhexidine, then apply some triple antibiotic ointment. Trim some of the feathers away from the wound so you can see it better and it will keep feathers from sticking to the ointment.

Keep her on clean dry bedding. If she needs to stay outside, crate or kennel her while she's healing. Likely the wounds are from other birds picking at her vent.

She is pooping also, it looks completely normal.