Abscess or injury on hen!!

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mlrod1914

mlrod1914

Chirping
5 Years
May 13, 2014
229
18
88
Berkley, MA
Our hen has been favoring one side a little more than the other. At first I though she might have had coccidiosis which as run through our flock more than once since we live in a wet area. But my wife noticed that she has what looks like a abscess of some kind near her should by her wing. I have added pictures. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I treated her with Corid for a week and that did not help. Now she lets her wing droop and she doesn't stand unless approached.



 
This is not to alarm you, and may not even be what the problem is, but Mareks disease can cause lameness and tumors all over the body. Some signs are one-sided weakness of a leg or wing, that can progress to paralysis, Later tumors can show up inside or outside the body. Some, but not all, may have an eye that turns gray. Hopefully, as Sourland said, it may just be an injury. Abscesses are usually soft and squishy, where tumors may feel more firm. Here are a couple of links to read about Mareks just for your information:
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
 
Our Roosters are too small. They are silkies and only 3 months old. They are not capable of that kind of damage. I have two roosters. Do you think it is a puncture wound? I have a roof in the coop with nails facing the inside. The roosting pole is not close to the ceiling, but it is possible that she could have jumped up and hit one. it is in the right place for it. I didn't even think of that.
 
Oh no. I read the article on Marek's disease. It sounds like this is the likely cause. Great. So what should I do? Do I need to cull her? What about the other chicks? I have two more hens and 6 chicks.
 
I wouldn't panic because it may not be the problem. It is spread through dust, dander, and droppings, so the others would already be exposed, and it may have already been in your environment. I would not cull her especially not knowing what is wrong yet. Can you clean off the lesion with betadine, and feel of it to see if it is soft like an abscess or firm like a tumor. If you think it is an abscess, you may be able to lance it, to see if it contains puss. A nail certainly could cause an abscess.
 
I read the entire article on Marek's. Quite the read!

The spot is hard like a tumor. Well, from what was said there would be no point in culling since the rest of the flock has been exposed already. I will treat her with kindness and try to keep her comfortable. She is our favorite and would hate to see her go. Still we lost 7 birds this year. Some to a predator one night and others to disease. They might be all taking their turn with the disease. Looks all we can do is hope.
 
Having talked to several who have Mareks in their flocks they say that are lot of the illnesses their chickens suffer that they think are due to Mareks affecting their immunity. Tumors can happen even without Mareks, so we can at lest be hopeful that that is not what your hen has.
 
Unfortunately our hen died. So my question is this: does cleanliness in the coop greatly affect chicken health? I have been trying the deep liter method and am concerned that maybe this is contributing to our chickens health.
 

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