red sore chest

[johnnyt93]

hi there,

when i put the girls away last night I noticed that 2 of them had really sore red chests with no feathers on, is this something I should worry about and if so, what should I do to treat it?

thanks

[MaureenHall]

Some of my ex-batts have featherless chests and it's possible (I should think) that they could have got a bit sunburnt. What kind of chickens have you got? If any of mine look as if they're really sore, I'll be putting some Aloe Vera on, straight from the cut leaf of the plant. It's my cure-all for nearly everything.

[vicky]

Sometimes when they go broody they pluck the feathers from their breasts so the eggs can be warmed right next to the skin.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Several posibilities

1) are they broody, are they showing signs of this because broodies pluck to give better heat coverage to the eggs.

2) Irritation will cause a bird to self pluck, they may have lice, mites or ticks, if irritated enough the bird will pluck its feathers, peck itself and rub itself on things to ease the itch

3) Heat - a bird will sometimes pluck if they are getting too hot, but as its cooled down compared to what it was a couple of weeks ago i would suggest not this option.

4) Also an irritation but birds can get problems like this on their breasts from litter burns, lying in their own droppings on the floor, even good housekeeping will not prevent this as chickens are prone to sleeping where they poo, best way to irradicate this is to install a perch.

ok to solve the problem, first determine what has caused it, treat the bird if its mites etc, put perch in if needed etc. Once the root cause is sorted then use Aloe as suggested by Maureen or Sudacreme.

[Bramble-Poultry]

Maureen - Aloe vera, comfrey cream and tea tree - the essentials in any 1st aid kit