What happened to my hen’s butt/belly!?

[ChickyNicky05]

hello everyone! I had my girls out out of the run today to enjoy the nice weather. While I was hanging out with them and doing some repairs, I noticed my biggest girl has some strange wound on her butt/belly? I’m not really sure what part of her body it is considered. I noticed it as she bent over to peck the ground. The area around the wound has no feathers on it at all. The dark spot in the middle is dark red. they have not been out of the coop/run since our first animal attack not too long ago, so I’m wondering if maybe somehow it’s from the cold? The floor of the run is dirt/mud. At first maybe I thought she got frozen to the ground but honestly I don’t think it’s possible considering that when it’s been really cold they’re almost always in the coop where they roost and it’s completely covered and off of the ground. Please help! She hasn’t been acting strange at all, eats and drinks fine, hasn’t lost any weight. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if she didn’t bend over right in front of me at the right time. The other girls aren’t treating her differently so I don’t know if I need to separate her? Any thoughts? Should I bring her inside?

 

[Eggcessive]

Most likely she has been pecked by the other chickens. In warm weather, that is a place where many hens get wounds with flystrike or maggot infestation, so she is lucky. I would get some pine tar from TSC or some BluKote spray to use on her wound daily until it has healed. Either one should hide the wound, and the pine tar is sticky and smely, so they don’t like the taste. They probably did that while they were cooped up during bad weather.

I would compare her lower belly to the other hens to see if she has any enlargement there, which can be a sign of ascites or internal laying. Feel by cupping your hand between her legs.

 

[PattyNH]

I have no idea what it is but perhaps you are on the right track with the frostbite. Whatever it is it looks like it would be painful Poor girl! Watching to see what others think. Sorry you're having to deal with this

 

[rebrascora]

I think you need to bring her in and give her a soak in a warm Epsom Salts bath and get that cleaned up well and then take another photo so that we can clearly see the extent of the damage. Then blow dry her well and apply a topical treatment.... either an antiseptic ointment or BluKote or Tar spray or other wound treatment.

 

[rebrascora]

My concern is that there is some abdominal swelling there which may indicate something other than just an external wound. Can you cup your hand between her legs to feel for any bloat there or below her vent. Do the same with adjacent birds at roosting time so that you can make a direct comparison and get an idea of what is normal. Abdominal swelling can be caused by a variety of ailments and often results in a bird soiling herself because poop is no longer able to drop clear of the body. The poop can build up and irritate the bird which may then over preen and cause a sore and/or bald patch or other birds may target it.

It may also just be as suggested above, a simple case of vent pecking due to boredom or may be an injury if you recently had predator problems. best to check it out thoroughly though.

 

[aart]

Better pic needed...really hard to say what it is or what to do about it:

 

[ChickyNicky05]

This is what it looked like at first. I held her while my fiance cleaned her up and put some ointment on it. We have her in the house for now in a cage so we can keep an eye on it!

 

[aart]

Great pic!
Fairly shallow abrasion/wound...wonder how she did that?
Makes me think ....carpet burn.
Could be urate 'burn'.
Has she had runny poops?
Looks OK tho, no infection.
Her vent is not involved?

 

[Eggcessive]

Looks like vent pecking.

 

[rebrascora]

I agree the wound looks superficial but her abdomen looks pretty bloated to me and her legs look slightly wider apart than normal so I would be concerned that she has an internal problem going on. It is good that you have her separated so that you can monitor her for the time being, particularly her poop and whether or not she is laying eggs as well as keep that wound clean and medicated. What does her comb look like? Is her crop emptying fully overnight?... to check this remove food after dark, feel her crop and then check it again the next morning before you give her food. It should be flat/empty.
Masses or fluid in the abdomen can cause a constriction of the gut meaning that waste cannot pass easily and the digestive tract can become slow and get stopped back up to the crop. If her poop is mostly liquid/white urates, that would point in that direction and the skin damage may well be urates burn as @aart suggests.
If her comb is plump and bright red but she is not laying eggs then that would suggest there may be a reproductive ailment like internal laying or salpingitis going on. Do you have any idea when she last laid an egg? It might be a good idea to monitor her weight if you are able to, perhaps using a kitchen scale if you have one.