Duckling with swollen neck

[Cyber]

We have a lot of chickens, mostly Silkies, and recently our neighbour gave us some duck eggs.

The oldest duckling, Quip, is about 2-3 months old, and we've brought them inside with their adopted mother to keep them safe after they received an injury (which has been healing nicely), but for 4 days, we've noticed a lump on their neck. We've been applying some Betadine and it got better for a day, but it's been getting a bit worse recently.

We're new to raising ducklings, and we haven't found anything online that closely matches their injury. Here's some images that might help identify it.

 

[Pyxis]

Oh goodness, that doesn't look good Can you palpate the lump gently and see if it feels firm or squishy? Does it seem to be causing the duckling any pain? I am concerned that it might be a tumor. Although if it recently had a wound, maybe it is a bad infection with pus and swelling? Was the wound near where the lump is now?

I also think you might have the age wrong, because a 2 to 3 month old duckling should be nearly fully grown.

@casportpony @WVduckchick @Miss Lydia do you guys have any ideas?

 

[WVduckchick]

Sorry, I’m at a loss. Never seen anything like that.

Can the duckling still eat and drink?

 

[DuckyDonna]

You said that it received an injury. Tell us more! It looks very vascular to me! Also, you said "they" and "their" a couple of times which make me wonder are we talking about more than one duck having the same issue?

 

[Cyber]

The lump is firm, and it doesn’t seem to be causing them pain or making it hard for them to eat and drink.

The original wound goes from the top of their head down their neck and onto their back, and we think it was caused by either a fight with a more protective mother, or they scraped themselves on something in our backyard.

I’m using they/them because we don’t know their gender.

Also, we only saw it appear 3-4 days after we brought them inside.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Is a vet an option? When did the feather fall out?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Is it just the one duckling that looks like this? If so, I suspect that that lump could be infection. Let us know if it's just the one duckling and we can tell you how to proceed.

 

[Cyber]

The feathers are out due to their original physical injury.

They’re the only duckling with this, but they’ve been isolated for their safety after said injury, a few days before this appeared.

 

[casportpony]

The feathers are out due to their original physical injury.

They’re the only duckling with this, but they’ve been isolated for their safety after said injury, a few days before this appeared.

How would you feel about making a small incision in the skin to check for infection? If this is something you think you can do let me know and I will mark up one of your pictures showing you where to cut.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

The feathers are out due to their original physical injury.

They’re the only duckling with this, but they’ve been isolated for their safety after said injury, a few days before this appeared.

What did the injury look like prior to it looking like this? I mean, what made you believe it had an injury to start with?
Not trying to sound rude or anything, I'm just curious if you are positive it was an injury that resulted in this. It might be important in figuring out how you would treat something like that. Or if it is even treatable.
It sure looks like I'll would be painful.