Tumor and possible marek's

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hotmessJess

hotmessJess

Chirping
May 16, 2015
146
6
51
Western NC
So I have a 6 month old rooster (cornish x hen × production red roo), on whom I found a tumor (?) when I picked him up this evening.

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I don't recall anything feeling unusual when I picked him up about a month ago, but it seems pretty big. It's firm, but there's fluid build up around the edges.

His brother just went lame about a week ago, so I'm starting to worry we have marek's. But I have 20 chickens all together, and no one else seems to be having any trouble.

Any thoughts?
 
What part of his body is this on? Under his wing, breast, thigh?
Does he roost at night?
Is he active during the day or does he lay down quite a bit?
Do you have a full picture of him?
 
It's on his breast, center right. He does roost at night, and he's constantly active from sun up to sun down. He's got no health issues I can see, otherwise.

I don't have a recent picture of him, but I'll try to snap one today. He's big, but doesn't have that wide, obese waddle of a meat bird. He free ranges and he can fly about 4 feet off the ground.
 
It's below his crop. His crop was normal last night, full but not firm. This lump was on the lower side of his chest, just above his keel. It doesn't have any feathers on it.
 
Since it on the breast I'm thinking it could be breast blister. You may want to research it to see if that is what it is. I think I saw somewhere that you could possibly drain it, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Can you take him to a vet?
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/p...ns_of_poultry/breast_blisters_in_poultry.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/40/breast-blister/

Of course it could possibly be Marek's. There are several illnesses/conditions that mimic it, I have provided a link to that article, it has some great info.https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
 
Hmm, well he hasn't presented with any leg problems and there doesn't seem to be injury, just the lump. He's clean and dry on his underside, and I see him bathe regularly.

There are so many things on the list that have similar or identical signs to marek's, it makes my head spin! I really hope it isn't marek's because the only chickens mine came in contact with were those our neighbor had a few months back (I know it can be spread by wild birds, but I would imagine it's me likely to get it from direct dander contact). They were separated from mine by just a wire fence, and all but one died (either by their dog getting ahold of them or "disappearing"). They asked me to take her, I told them I didn't have the room, so they brought her to our neighbor around the corner who has hens. I'd hate to think she was a Trojan horse of disease! She didn't seem ill.

I just don't know what to think at this point, and I'm starting to worry about the rest of my flock, and when/if they'll get sick!
 
I'm hesitant to take him to the vet because he's not ill, otherwise, and were it one of the many viruses that cause tumors, our vets don't test for them. They basically are trained in bacterial/parasite management and small injury. It would be a lot of stress on him and great expense to us for not much resolution at this point.

I adore him, but if it happens to be something terminal like cancer, treatment wouldn't do him much good anyway. His life expectancy is only about 2-3 years, so I think it'd be in his interest to choose quality over quantity.
 

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