Chicken’s scabs not healing—it’s been more than half a year

[Laylashens]

Around august of last year, one of our BOs who’s about 7 years old now got a big wound on her chest. We don’t know how it happened and it was already covered by a big bulky scab by the time we found it. It smelled infected and we gave her antibiotic injections for awhile, and she seemed to be improving a little. Compared to before though, she is much slower, but is still mentally sharp, and happily eats and drinks and walks around outside, albeit at a very slow pace. She’s been having some trouble getting down from the coop in the mornings lately, and is doing this funny walk where she brings her right leg up to rub it against where the scab is. She stands around a lot and doesn’t move. Her comb and wattle have also shrunk, and have gotten a lot more pale. I picked her up and examined her underside the other day, and I found that the scabs from last August were still there and just as large. No skin healing has taken place. I’m afraid to remove them, as they’re quite large and I don’t know just how deep they go, but if it can help her out and initiate a proper healing process, then it would be worth it. Any advice on how to go about this? I have included a photo of the scabs as well.

 

[dawg53]

It's possible she might be rubbing her breast/underside on the roost at night. If that's the case you can wrap pipe foam insulation on the roosts.
Additionally, it looks like she might have scaly leg mites. Purchase Nu-Stock at a feed store in the equine section and apply it to her legs and feet. You can also apply it to the the scabs on her breast and it will heal in time. Wear disposable gloves when applying the Nu-Stock.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is the scab in the midline over her breast bone, or is it to the left or lower that the breast bone? They can get breast blisters over the breast bone if they have a rough roost, or if they spend a lot of time lying on a damp floor or having problems walking. They also can develop abscesses or tumors. It would be good to get a better picture and maybe wet feathers around it, so you can pull them back out of the way. Then I would use some Dawn soap, water and a little Betadine or chlorhexidene and try rubbing on the scab. Rinse, and then apply some antibiotic ointment to it twice a day.

The hen also has pretty severe scaly leg mites that should be treated. Soaking the legs in warm soapy water and then after rinsing, apply a thick coat of vaseline and rub it into the legs and feet twice a week.

Edited to say, I was in the middle of my post, and got interrupted, and Dawg53 posted before me.

 

[Laylashens]

She does not sit on the roost in the coop, but rather in the nesting boxes at night. We make sure to keep the bedding pretty clean and dry in there. The wound is to the left of the breastbone and the biggest scab is several inches below it.

She got those scaly leg mites several years ago, and I treated them with warm water and petroleum jelly on multiple occasions, yet the scales are still raised. This has actually been the case with several of our older birds, but they don’t seem to be bothered at all by it. After I treated them, they stopped walking like they were bothered by it, but their scales still look damaged. I’m curious if Nu Stock will help with that so I’ll definitely try that!

I will definitely get some better pics tomorrow and also go to the store. Thank you for your replies!

 

[Eggcessive]

Nustock will help, but so will vaseline if used consistently for weeks. The sulfur in the Nustock should kill on contact.

 

[dawg53]

When you purchase the Nu-Stock, make sure you shake the tube well, dont forget to wear disposable gloves and read the instructions. Once you've opened the tube and used some of it, it would be best to seal it in a ziplock bag due to the smell.

 

[Laylashens]

Yesterday I turned her over to flush out her scabs with betadine and apply the Nu Stock. Well, it turns out that there are more scabs that are a lot bigger than I initially thought. There is a third one between her legs that is the size of two lemons that somehow I didn’t originally see. It seems they’ve actually grown since the summer. The poor thing was also covered with poultry lice and nits. I treated her, but these scabs look really awful and quite embedded into her skin. I assume since Nu Stock kills mites, that it will also kill lice as well?

 

[Laylashens]

Like, I genuinely don’t understand what the hell had to happen for scabs to form like this. They almost make me worry that they’re tumors, but they appeared suddenly one day last summer, so that doesn’t make sense. However, like a tumor, they’ve definitely grown.

 

[Laylashens]

@azygous
@Wyorp Rock
If you don’t mind me asking, what do you think about this? I was looking over some other threads that discussed chickens with bulky scabs, and ingrown feathers and squamous cell carcinomas were suggested. However, I could not find a photo of either of these things where the bird had scabs this huge. Really, I couldn’t find a single image in general where the scabs were this large. Again, I want to mention that my hen is eating and drinking still, but she is slow and walks a bit funny. The first photo I posted was from last summer, and my most recent photos are current. In the old photo, it looks as if the huge scab between her legs wasn’t even there at first, or was small enough to be hidden by her feathers.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I see a lot of lice nits in the scabs, so hopefully the NuStock cream will help take care of some of those.

Have you dusted her with a Permethrin based poultry dust?

As for the scabs. I'm not sure what's causing those, if it's severe infection from the lice coupled with skin irritation and feather cysts, breast blister or if she has some type of cancer.

With such a build up of scabs, I'm not sure if they can safely be removed all at once. Perhaps, a little at a time to soften them up.

I'm going to tag in @azygous for her thoughts, but I'd definitely treat for lice to help her feel more comfortable.