I have 3 chickens and on Saturday when we were letting them have a run around the garden, I noticed that one of them (the black one) had two scabs on both sides (just sort of above her legs under her wing). We looked and it seemed as if she has been pecking holes in herself - and I had seen her previously having a peck or whatever it is they do around that area. I don't think it is the other chickens attacking her as she is the biggest and I can't see that they would peck her on exactly the same spot on both sides. Besides which, I have never seen them peck each other, they all seem to get on really well.

They've all been laying eggs but obviously with winter coming up and shorter days, I'm expecting them to slow down on the egg laying. We had an egg from each of them on Sunday, but only one egg yesterday (that was from my white chicken). Then when I went to let them out this morning, my black chicken was kind of blocking the door way and the other 2 squeezed past to get out. I did wonder if maybe my black chicken didn't want to come out yet because it was still slightly dark, although that hasn't stopped her before. Anyway, she did eventually come out but she didn't eat any of the food I'd put down (layer mash). She just went and sat by their water bowl drinking.

And just from looking at her, I can tell she's not right. She's a lot quieter and her cone thing on the top of her head has flopped right down and has lost a lot of it's redness.

In August, they did have a mite infestation and they all stopped laying but we took the cage apart, blowtorched it, put woodstain on it and basically just got rid of all of the mites. I haven't seen any for ages now and the chickens all started laying again shortly after so I don't think it could be that, as well as the fact that the other 2 seem completely fine.

Any idea what could be wrong with her? Do chickens get colds or viruses like we do that they just fight off?

The scabs sound like she may be either scalded from crouching on her hocks on bedding or pressure burns from the perch?

Sounds like a poorly chicken though and yes they do get all sorts of diseases, none very good and almost all lead to a drop or stop of laying.

How is she now?

Unfortunately she died about an hour after I posted that message. Really don't have any clue what could have caused it. When she came out that morning, she looked really poorly and I had a feeling that she wasn't going to make it. Poor little thing. Just wondering what could have caused that that would have made her die?

Sorry about your chook! The scabs you describe sound like injuries from a cockrels spurs - do you have a cockrel? And being the biggest hen doesn't always mean the top ranked, I had a little tiny bantam one year that was like a little hitler and bullied the others mercilessly, I ended up having to bump it off as it was so nasty, and the rest of my chooks at the time were mainly orpingtons and jersey giants!!
I doubt the scabs were the cause of her death, chooks are prone to alot of things - respiratory infections, coccidiosis and eggs rupturing inside them and then going rotten are the most common causes of death I've found in my chooks, and the odd heart attack!! Unfortunatly birds can go down hill quite quickly and they can have been ill for a while without being noticed as the symptoms can be gradual, birds are like sheep - they love to snuff it!!!

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