Could my chicken have a tumor?

[photo chick]

A few days ago we noticed that one of our chickens (buff orp) has a mass like thing on her breast, just right of midline. My husband spotted it (he's in oncology) he thinks it's a tumor. Today we picked her up to figure it out. It's there and about the size of a tangerine orange. We also believe she stopped laying eggs a few days ago.

She's only 9 months old and has been very healthy up to now. Actually she still seems quite healthy in as far as she's walking around, getting up to her roost, eating, etc. My husband thinks her feathers are not as full as they used to be but I don't see it.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing on a chicken? I'm not quite sure what to do about it.

 

[Chew593]

A picture would be helpful, but I think what you're referring to her crop. This is the first place chicken food goes to get digested and all my hens have what you're discribing. It gets bigger as it fills with food. How is she pooping? Is she eating? She's also pretty young and going a few days without laying isn't any reason to be alarmed. I had a 6 month old Australorp that hadn't layed at all and then layed sporadically (every few days) and just a few weeks ago she went broody on me.
I'm pretty new to chickens myself, so here's a bump. Let us know if anything changes.

 

[Katy]

I agree, it sounds like her crop and it's perfectly normal.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Keep the food away over night and see how she is first thing in the morning (before she eats).. If the "mass" has gone down, then it is just her crop and she is completely fine.. If it does not go down, you may be looking at "Impacted Crop" which is a very serious problem if you let it go.. You can do a search for it and find out everything from massaging to surgery... But don't just to any conclusions until tomorrow morning...

Goddess