3.5 month old pullet with bump on her head

[dynosgirl]

I would appreciate any help....as stated i have a 3.5 month old pullet that is, i believe, a Plymouth Rock.

She has had a bump on the top of her head for two weeks. It is soft and movable. There are NO symptoms of disease.
No sneezing, no drainage. Her eyes are clear, she is eating well, she is alert.... I first noticed as a bump about the size of a walnut, then it shrunk down to the size of a filbert but now it is growing and is bigger than a walnut.

When i first saw it i assumed because there were no other symptoms of disease that she had bumped her head and maybe had a small hematoma and when it started to shrink i thought that her body was probably absorbing the blood and she would be fine but now when i went out to feed and water them this morning i see it has grown over night and is much larger than the original bump.

She is in a coop/yard with 15 other pullets. All purchased at the same time. None of the other pullets show any sign of disease or "bumps".

I have not been able to find a poultry vet near me. I have done research on the internet and the one thing i found on there has drainage/sneezing associated with it...i'm confused and I do not want to lose Betty and if she does have a disease i don't want her to infect the others....help!

Thanks!

 

[ruth]

Have you seen any sign of a scab? She could have gotten pecked at one time and it has abcessed. When chickens get an infected wound and it abcesses it is NOT a liquid pus, it turns into a rubbery substance that can't be absorbed by the body. I've had to lance open "lumps" on the backs of pullets heads before and pull out all the rubbery gunk, add a quick stitch or two and they were good as new. In all cases, they had a small hole or scab at the base of the head where the roo had done his "love bite" or maybe another hen had pecked them.

 

[dynosgirl]

Thank you for your post Ruth.

First of all I only have pullets but i looked it over good because i was trying to see if
there was blood under the skin, and there were no scabs, critters...nothing.
I'm so confused.

 

[ruth]

Personally, I would use a single-edge razor and make a small incision into the bump/lump - enough to open it up and see what's inside. Could be fluid/water or could be infection/abcess. Either way, clean it out with betadine or hydrogen peroxide, fill the wound with Neosporin, put a small stitch or two in place and put her somewhere where she can't be pecked till it heals. I'm betting she got pecked at some point and maybe the wound healed but there's infection under the skin.

 

[dynosgirl]

Ok...but let me ask you this. IF it is blood, i think i remember chickens have a hard time clotting when bleeding???
How should i treat it if it is full of blood?
Also, what kind of thread for these sutures?
Thanks again for your help.

 

[dynosgirl]

PS-
When should i do this? At night?

It seems to me she is going to scream her little head off and fight me?? Any advice?

 

[ruth]

You'd be surprised at the number of hens I've operated on. I've sewn up hens that were ripped up oneside and down the other and looked like Frankenstein by the time I finished sewing but everyone healed quickly and without further treatment. They have an amazing tolerance for pain and have virtually no bleeding - what does bleed stops quickly.

My trick is to lay them on their side and cover their head. They will then lay quietly and still and I can operate alone without assistance. Of course if you have to operate on the back of her head that will be a little tricky. Maybe someone could hold her head down and cover just her face.

There's nothing at the back of the head except skin and skull so whatever the lump is full of needs to be cleaned out since it initially went down and now has been getting larger.

As far as thread - I eventually got a box of prethreaded, cutting needle, dissolvable sutures from my vet because around here I'm sewing up chickens, ducks, peacocks, geese on an almost daily basis. Prior to that, I just used regular sewing thread. I never took the stitches out - they will eventually dissolve on their own.

Good luck. If you don't want to make an incision or have to stitch you could just make a small "puncture" and see if anything liquid drains out on its own. If so, drain it and you shouldn't have to stitch. You could make a very small incision/puncture with a single edge razor. If nothing drains out then you know it probably needs to be dug out and can enlarge the incision.

 

[ruth]

Here's a "for example" and your hen won't have a wound anywhere near this bad.

Too much loving from roo:

Crudely stitched together:

Apply Neosporin and spray with antibacterial Furall:

Moments later - scarfs down treats off kitchen floor:

A couple of weeks later - healed and new feather growth:

If I can do this - and this hen wasn't nearly as bad as some I've sewn up - you can make a little incision and put in a stitch if necessary. I know you can.

Best of luck.

 

[dynosgirl]

Update on this hen:
Her bump went down and almost totally away so I didn't operate but it has come back with a vengeance!
It's huge! So my husband assisted me this evening and i punctured it and it drained out a BUNCH of blood.
I didn't totally drain it because i remembered reading some where that chickens can die from a small amount of
blood loss so i thought i would go slow and do it again in a few days....Anyway, what is going on here?! Any ideas on
why she has this huge bump of blood on her head? The is no sign of injury in any form....nothing.
For an update she has had it since she was around 3 months old and she is now 6 months old.
Other than this ginormous lump on her head, she is healthy, she is eating okay, she's laying...??
Also, the size of this lump when i drained it tonight was about the size of a golf ball. Now it's the size of a small walnut.
Anyone seen this before?