# Sisters Chicken



## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

So my sister has been out of the country for a year and had renters at their house. They kept 4 of her chickens. She just got back on her hosue yesterday and just had time today to get in and take a good look at the coop and chickens. She found this one with a "bald lump on its chest."

I told he it looks like the crop....I don't know why it would be bald of feathers. Any ideas here????? These are the only 2 pictures she sent me. Hen is 2 years old.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

It looks like he may be starting to molt...


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

The lump to her is unusual...I would think she'd know what a normal crop feels like. But...she said it was "soft and smushy" and the lump felt warm.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

I asked her if there was an odor coming from the mouth....maybe sour crop....she hasn't gotten back to me.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Looks like her crop and maybe she's plucking to brood. Confused chicken. It's not weeping, right?


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

Not weeping, no.

Plucking to brood is an idea. She'll have to check in on her in the morning.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Tell her to pluck further down, LOL


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Instead of roosting at night, she might be sleeping on the floor or perhaps somehow rubbing her breast on the roost. I suspect sleeping on the floor or nest box. Have you seen her feathers laying around on the ground or inside the coop or nest box? If not, feather picking and eating them can be a cause as well, either by her or others.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

She may be. I know my sister said she keeps squeezing under the fence to get out and has slept out in the yard some nights, she might be sleeping under some bushes. Feather picking up to nutrition could be an issue. Her renter may or may not have cared for them the way she would have.


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## hildar (Oct 3, 2013)

Looks like swelling over one eye or is that normal for that chicken? Because it is much bigger and I don't see feathers on it there. Feathers are missing down it's breast bone as well.


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

I noticed that. I'll have to see the chicken in person.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Might want to check her over for mites too. Sometimes they pluck when they get too itchy. Other than that I would think it's combination of a bad molt and some off-kilter brooding behavior...


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## Cockadoodledoo (Jan 28, 2016)

She said they all seem healthy enough to eat and might just do that and start fresh. She has NO idea how they were cared for while she was away. She is taking a bunch from me, so she will have fresh new layers.


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