6 Week old Chick with Mass/Abcess on chest - UPDATE!

[GrandmaChickie]

I hate to give up on any of my chickens. If she seems to be in pain, it's time to put her out of her suffering. If she's still fighting to make it, however, I always let them try. My experience has been that once an animal has given up, it doesn't matter if they SHOULD get well, they just DON'T get well. Whereas, an animal that has no business living, but keeps fighting, can overcome impossible odds.

 

[chloezoebob101]

I hate to give up on any of my chickens. If she seems to be in pain, it's time to put her out of her suffering. If she's still fighting to make it, however, I always let them try. My experience has been that once an animal has given up, it doesn't matter if they SHOULD get well, they just DON'T get well. Whereas, an animal that has no business living, but keeps fighting, can overcome impossible odds.

true, like my grandpa, he was supposed to die within two months, and he kept fighting and he made it two more years and counting!! =D

 

[SmallFarmChick]

You can do what is mentioned above or hold on. Do whatever you'd like. It's really up to you. I'd love to help you but I really don't know what is the matter with her.

Sorry

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Well thank you all for the advice. I was intending to dispatch the little chick friday night, but shortly beforehand I was called by my employer and asked to come in to cover a sick girls shift. I happen to work at a Vet Clinic. I figured Id take her in there, have her looked at, and if they decided she wasnt savable with meds or something then they could humanely euthanize her with some Euthanol. We are hobby farmers, and our chickens are considered pets, so we had never planned on "culling" any of them. So this would have been ideal, leaving me with no blood on my hands.

However, that morning as I rose to go to work, I found the little chick dead in the bottom of the brooder, under the roosting bar. So maybe she died while perching? Working in the vet industry over the years I have become a little.......over paranoid about the health of our animals (I see so much horribleness that could have been prevented by more diligent/attentive pet owners) so when this little girlie got ill I thought I was just panicking and she would recover from it smoothly, but that is clearly not the case, and I was right to worry. Anyhow, I decided to take her in anyways, and have a Necropsy since I can get that service for free from my co workers.
The Dr who did the Necropsy was not super experienced in dealing with chickens, but we had access to many medical texts, google searches, and even the input of an exotics vet who sometimes treats chickens. I had never witnessed an avian necropsy, so it was interesting and educational!

The chest "mass" was superficial, and unrelated to her death, but probably related to her inadequate immune system. Her insides were very "wet" which the doctor says is often the case in heart Failure victims. Upon further inspection of her lungs, kidney, liver, air sacks, etc it seems the tissue in her heart was dying from the outside inward, and was white and hard like scar tissue along the outter walls. This is a sign of some sort of heart failure, and the doctor feels it would have been non congenital, and probably a developmental abnormality rather than a contagious disease. Her lungs were also discoloured, which could be attributed to the heart failure. I felt relieved that it was nothing my other chickens could contract, but sad that she was probably suffering from a weak heart all along, without showing outward symptoms until it became too difficult to live. Either way, she is no longer in pain, and will be cremated with the pidgeons and stray animals of the clinic. Poor Goldie I am unsure if her symptoms and necropsy results are tell tale signs of a common chicken ailment, never got that far.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I'm sorry to read about Goldie. I just brought home a Buff Orpington, along with two others, last night. Mine looks like Goldie, of course.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Well hopefully yours fairs better than mine. My other Orp is doing Great! She is the best adjusted chicken so far......picks up on new things easily without fear, eats whatever I give her, and some things I dont give her, LOL and she is the easiest to catch, LOL Good Luck!