My hen, Lucky, is a 4 year 10 month old Road Island Red hen. In December of 2018, she started molting, revealing a strange bulge/growth under her vent. I made a thread about it but frankly, I didn't know what I was doing and wasn't very cooperative in trying to get better information about it for the experts here (thanks dumb 16 year old me). I watched it to see if it changed but nothing did. I stopped worrying about it, and eventually kind of forgot about it since it didn't seem like a problem really.
2018
In December of 2020, She went through a heavy molt and I once again noticed it. Going mostly off my memory since my 2018 pictures were rather poor (thanks again me), it seemed as though the bulge hadn't changed much, or at all. It still didn't seem concerning, and I wasn't worried, but I did want answers. I made another post and was able to get some suggestions. One in particular stood out to me; a hernia. While not completely confident in that answer, it made the most sense to me. Here's that thread.
2020
Today, December 2021, she is once again molting and the bulge was once again revealed. But this time it was very noticeably different, and I am now concerned. It has grown, and it looks like has gotten more red. The two pictures at the bottom of the two columns below are more like what the color is like. It's not hot. It's warm, but not much warmer than the rest of her body. The texture of it is a little weird. It sticks out so I can move it around a little bit. It's not stiff, and it feels kind of... rubbery? Like, if it is fluid filled it is quite full like a blister. It's just not exactly soft, it keeps it's shape. Doing some research on hernias I've found out that hernias frequently get bigger. Is this what could be going on here? It just looks a little weird, do hernias look like this, or are they more uniform?
2021
Looking back and comparing my 2018 and 2020 photos with fresh eyes, the part circled in red seems to be new, but I can't be sure. That part also seems to to be the part that has grown significantly. Almost seemingly overtaking the rest of the bulge. Like, that part has gotten bigger and the rest smaller. Or maybe the rest hasn't changed, it's just being enveloped?
Something that I would like to draw some attention to is this dot. For some reason the first thing that pops into my head is a squamous tumor. I don't know much about them at all, but I know they kind of... eat away at the flesh and look kind of like gross crusty open wounds. Could this be the beginning of that? Could it have grown, went dormant, and is now active. Or at least accelerating it's speed? Or is this not at all what a squamous tumor does or looks like? I don't think that's what it is, I'm just throwing out ideas. Seems more like blister-ish to me than tumor-ish. But I don't know.
Any help is appreciated!
2018
In December of 2020, She went through a heavy molt and I once again noticed it. Going mostly off my memory since my 2018 pictures were rather poor (thanks again me), it seemed as though the bulge hadn't changed much, or at all. It still didn't seem concerning, and I wasn't worried, but I did want answers. I made another post and was able to get some suggestions. One in particular stood out to me; a hernia. While not completely confident in that answer, it made the most sense to me. Here's that thread.
2020
Today, December 2021, she is once again molting and the bulge was once again revealed. But this time it was very noticeably different, and I am now concerned. It has grown, and it looks like has gotten more red. The two pictures at the bottom of the two columns below are more like what the color is like. It's not hot. It's warm, but not much warmer than the rest of her body. The texture of it is a little weird. It sticks out so I can move it around a little bit. It's not stiff, and it feels kind of... rubbery? Like, if it is fluid filled it is quite full like a blister. It's just not exactly soft, it keeps it's shape. Doing some research on hernias I've found out that hernias frequently get bigger. Is this what could be going on here? It just looks a little weird, do hernias look like this, or are they more uniform?
2021
Looking back and comparing my 2018 and 2020 photos with fresh eyes, the part circled in red seems to be new, but I can't be sure. That part also seems to to be the part that has grown significantly. Almost seemingly overtaking the rest of the bulge. Like, that part has gotten bigger and the rest smaller. Or maybe the rest hasn't changed, it's just being enveloped?
Something that I would like to draw some attention to is this dot. For some reason the first thing that pops into my head is a squamous tumor. I don't know much about them at all, but I know they kind of... eat away at the flesh and look kind of like gross crusty open wounds. Could this be the beginning of that? Could it have grown, went dormant, and is now active. Or at least accelerating it's speed? Or is this not at all what a squamous tumor does or looks like? I don't think that's what it is, I'm just throwing out ideas. Seems more like blister-ish to me than tumor-ish. But I don't know.
Any help is appreciated!