Look At These Pictures - Tell Me What You Think Is Wrong

[Stewarts]

This Co-Op Hen has a red, crusty scab on her head. If she'd been picked on, with that amount of damage, I would have noticed it. Feathers can't seem to grow back. Was she picked on and it scabbed over or is this something else?


Closeup. Otherwise she is in good health, she eats, drinks and runs from the others because they pick on her. This 'cap' for lack of a better name, is hard just like a scab. Is there anything I can do to soften and remove it so her feathers can grow back?

Another hen, if you look closely at her back and wings its like she's molting because most of the feathers are scratched off. I wonder if it isn't because she's being jumped by my Roo and his claws are doing this damage.


Hard to see here but she is messed up like a bad molt and I don't know what the cause is. Could it be mites or lice and if so, why aren't the other affected? Only one other hen has this same thing but very slight. What do you do for mites and lice?


You can see it a little better here on the back of her right wing, the feathers are torn up and scraggy.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[PolkaDot77]

If it's not seeming to bother her, I would suggest just leaving it alone. It looks like she might have been pecked on although that is a big scab. Scabbing is the way your body protects and heals itself, so I'd say just leave it. How long has it been like that? Chances are it will indeed fall off eventually, though sometimes it can take weeks or months to heal completely. I would worry more of it wasn't scabbed and instead was just an open wound. Good luck!

 

[Stewarts]

It been that way for about three weeks now. Ya, I hadn't thought of that, it might just come off on its own. Its not bothering her although she shakes her head as if trying to toss it away. I do keep an eye on her when I sit in with them and she sits in my arms or on my lap and sleeps.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[Nambroth]

This is only my opinion, but both of these look like "rooster damage". I had a rooster that mated too aggressively, and too often (especially with his favorite hens) and this soon lead to bare backs and wing elbows, and a few girls got the tops of their heads and combs torn up. One was nearly as bad as the hen in your photos with the 'cap'. Unless you feel it is something else going on, and unless you see signs of infection, let her heal and don't try to remove the scab. It took my girls almost a year (until their next molt, which for my hens is in the fall/winter) to grow her feathers back on her head.

Roosters will have a few 'preferred' hens that, if they are very hormonal, they can over-mate and mate too aggressively with. It's even worse if the hen struggles, and to make it even more complicated, I have noticed if the rooster mates with a hen low on the pecking order, the "boss hens" will sometimes run over and peck the mated hen while she is stuck under the rooster. This can cause the hen to get even more roughed up.

Having experienced this with my hens, that's what I think is going on-- just based on your photos and descriptions.

 

[Stewarts]

That's what I surmised too. Its pretty tough to separate them if I had too, we have no where else to put them and its winter.

 

[Nambroth]

My situation was the same. I had no place to separate my rooster to and no way to make a separate enclosure. I ended up re-homing him.
Best wishes!

 

[Tmatthews]

I have a hen who had a nasty wound on the back of her neck. But hers was opened and bleeding. I treated it and it scabbed over and she now has feathers and you can't tell. I found out my rooster was beating her up pretty bad so I too re-homed my rooster. I hated to see him go but my poor innocent hens didnt need to be mutilated!

 

[PolkaDot77]

Keep us updated if you decide to separate the rooster or if the hen's condition changes. All the best!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The sex act of a rooster is called treading. Roosters with feathered feet have difficulty getting a purchase or standing on a hens' back. Therefor feather footed roos slip and slide around more, causing more damage to the feathers or skin on a hen's or pullet's back than roos without feathered feet. I don't know if this helps you but there it is.

 

[Stewarts]

I will keep everyone up-to-date on how she and the other one is doing. Can you clip a Roo`s claws?