Abcess? Tumor? What the heck is this?

[prvrbs31gal]

We noticed this lump under the wing of our RIR. It is soft. She has been acting normally and eating fine, running around the yard with her flock sisters. She was a favorite of the rooster before we got her, so that explains the lack of feathers. She's a champion layer, so she's been slow growing them back. But they're coming.

I did sterilize a pin and get under the first layer of skin hoping it was an air bubble (only thing I could find when I googled.) But that wasn't it. You can see in the first and second pictures there was no pus coming out, just blood.

Please share your thoughts. If it is, indeed, and abcess, I would appreciate start to finish directions on how to lance it. (Or a link to good, trustworthy directions.)

Thanks.

 

[sweetmsmisty98]

Wish I could be of some help but it looks painful. Hope she gets better.

 

[Debs55]

I have some leghorn hens that my rooster has rubbed their back sides raw and two have spots like that where their feathers are gone but they aren't nearly that big

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm still wondering if that is air--the term is subcutaneous emphysema. You should not try to puncture this even though many people say on threads that they have done so without problems, because you could cause a collapsed lung. If it is air, it will slowly re-absorb into the body. This could have resulted in an injury to the neck or chest to cause air leakage from the lungs into the area under the skin. I would say watch it--if it is truly an abcess it will become red, hot, and I would do warm compresses 4 times a day if that happens. Sometimes they will open on their own, but they need to be drained carefully and completely, and antibiotics started. If it feels more like air than thick gunky liquid, don't open it.

 

[Eggcessive]

This is an old thread that I came across with an old post of mine. I wanted to say that I have successfully treated this in a 2 week old chick by inserting a needle just under the skin, and pressed out the air, then removed the needle, and held a finger on the needle site for a minute to help it close. If the chick is not having trouble breathing, and the leaking air sac is small, it may not be necessary to pull the air out. But it may save a life if the chick is in distress. Here is some reading about it:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/223/subcutaneous-emphysema/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/171121/deflating-subcutaneous-emphysema
http://www.ijasvm.com/ijasvmadmin/upload/IJASVM_5113cbc51d31b.pdf