Feather cyst possible in white pekin.

[danasducks]

Hello, I have 4 white pekin and 1 khaki campbell.
One of my pekin I noticed a "hole" on the side of her neck about 2 weeks ago. When I checked it out I saw a what I would describe as a white hard (looked to me like a bone spur) fragment. I have been giving her terramyacin ointment topically as well as oral antibiotic. I shaved the area around the site so air could get to it. It is still not getting any better. There is a large cyst like lump and then a scab, which today I noticed was being pushed out more. I pulled on it and about an inch long hard thing came out. I pulled that apart and indeed it was feathers. No puss drainage. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Unfortunately there are NO avian vets anywhere near me and every vetime I call does not no enough about ducks to see her. She is eating as normal, drinking and swimming. I'm new to this forum as well. Thanks in advanced!

 

[Orca5094]

Sounds like an ingrown feather. Do you think you got the entire feather shaft out? Did you see any other possible feather shafts or fragments in there? You'll want to make sure you get those fully pulled out, then the wound can heal and she'll be ok. If you can clean the area well and apply some antibacterial ointment/gel (the kind without pain reliever) a couple times a day, it should heal up quickly. Keep an eye on the area that it doesn't start to swell up or develop another cyst/scab. If that happens, you'll need to get in there and pull out any other feathers or shafts in the wound area so that it can heal up.

When I was a bird keeper, we had a duck with ingrown feathers on half of her wing. No idea why this happened as she didn't have this problem before. The wing was very swollen and we had to put her under and do minor surgery to remove all of the feather shafts in there. The vet had to cut open her skin and pull each one out, thoroughly cleaned inside there, then sewed up the incision along the wing. She was put on antibiotics for 7 days I think it was. She made a full recovery.

 

[Orca5094]

I would not suggest cleaning the wound with epsom salt. That should not be ingested or allowed to be absorbed into their body. It is purely for soaking swollen legs and joints, no open wounds. Not sure what is available in your area, but I use Chlorhexadine for cleaning and treating wounds on my ducks (the best thing available over the counter here) and then a little antibiotic gel after that. You can wrap it with vet wrap to keep it clean and keep flies out, but you can take it off to let her bathe each day and air out for a little while, then put on a new bandage. It's good to keep her on the oral antibiotic as well, just to be safe. If the swelling does not go down after a few days, there is likely more inside there to get out. I know how hard it is to treat birds by yourself, so do the best you can. If you end up needing to get more junk out of the wound later, try to find someone to hold the bird for you to make it easier on you and the bird. Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello, I have 4 white pekin and 1 khaki campbell.
One of my pekin I noticed a "hole" on the side of her neck about 2 weeks ago. When I checked it out I saw a what I would describe as a white hard (looked to me like a bone spur) fragment. I have been giving her terramyacin ointment topically as well as oral antibiotic. I shaved the area around the site so air could get to it. It is still not getting any better. There is a large cyst like lump and then a scab, which today I noticed was being pushed out more. I pulled on it and about an inch long hard thing came out. I pulled that apart and indeed it was feathers. No puss drainage. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Unfortunately there are NO avian vets anywhere near me and every vetime I call does not no enough about ducks to see her. She is eating as normal, drinking and swimming. I'm new to this forum as well. Thanks in advanced!

@danasducks Is there now an open wound in her neck if so I'd pack in some kind of antibiotic ointment with out pain meds,Terramycin ointment is good. after rinsing with a salt water solution to make sure no bacteria is in there. Keep her in a fairly clean area I know that is hard to do with ducks but I'd keep her from playing in mud and swimming till it heals. Do you think now that you got the feather hard thing out that it can heal now? I have not seen anything like this. So maybe someone else has delt with it.

 

[danasducks]

Sounds like an ingrown feather. Do you think you got the entire feather shaft out? Did you see any other possible feather shafts or fragments in there? You'll want to make sure you get those fully pulled out, then the wound can heal and she'll be ok. If you can clean the area well and apply some antibacterial ointment/gel (the kind without pain reliever) a couple times a day, it should heal up quickly. Keep an eye on the area that it doesn't start to swell up or develop another cyst/scab. If that happens, you'll need to get in there and pull out any other feathers or shafts in the wound area so that it can heal up. 

When I was a bird keeper, we had a duck with ingrown feathers on half of her wing. No idea why this happened as she didn't have this problem before. The wing was very swollen and we had to put her under and do minor surgery to remove all of the feather shafts in there. The vet had to cut open her skin and pull each one out, thoroughly cleaned inside there, then sewed up the incision along the wing. She was put on antibiotics for 7 days I think it was. She made a full recovery.

This is what I pulled out. The dark scab part was being pushed up out of her neck. I pulled this thing apart and it was definitely feathers tightly stuck together. There were a few drops of blood when I pulled it out but stopped right away. No puss came out either. I am not sure if this is the entire thing or if the actual cyst is still under there? The mass did not decrease in size when I took this out of her. She did not seem to be in pain, but boy is it difficult to fully access the situation with just my 2 hands! I'm thinking in there is more to it then just this one clump of feathers?

 

[danasducks]

@danasducks
   Is there now an open wound in her neck if so I'd pack in some kind of antibiotic ointment with out pain meds,Terramycin ointment is good.  after rinsing with a salt water solution to make sure no bacteria is in there. Keep her in a fairly clean area I know that is hard to do with ducks but I'd keep her from playing in mud and swimming till it heals. Do you think now that you got the feather hard thing out that it can heal now? I have not seen anything like this. So maybe someone else has delt with it.

Do you suggest Epsom salts to clean it out with? What about loosely wrapping the area with self adhesive wrap like horses use?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you suggest Epsom salts to clean it out with? What about loosely wrapping the area with self adhesive wrap like horses use?

How large is the wound? Epsom salt is good for swelling and inflammation Not sure if it is good for open wounds might want to research that first. As for wrapping if you have a fly problem which most of us do in summer you might wrap just to keep flies from getting into the wound and causing maggots which would not be good at all.

 

[danasducks]

I would not suggest cleaning the wound with epsom salt. That should not be ingested or allowed to be absorbed into their body. It is purely for soaking swollen legs and joints, no open wounds. Not sure what is available in your area, but I use Chlorhexadine for cleaning and treating wounds on my ducks (the best thing available over the counter here) and then a little antibiotic gel after that. You can wrap it with vet wrap to keep it clean and keep flies out, but you can take it off to let her bathe each day and air out for a little while, then put on a new bandage. It's good to keep her on the oral antibiotic as well, just to be safe. If the swelling does not go down after a few days, there is likely more inside there to get out. I know how hard it is to treat birds by yourself, so do the best you can. If you end up needing to get more junk out of the wound later, try to find someone to hold the bird for you to make it easier on you and the bird. Good luck and keep us updated! 

Thank you!!!
I used hydrogen peroxide, shaved more around the wound, boy does the down grown fast! I tried to pull some more junk out, squeezed and nothing came out at all this time. Not even blood. Applied more terramycin topically and more oral antibiotic. Cyst did look like it wasn't as large today so that is a good sign. This is what it looks like. This picture I took before I started messing with it again.

 

[danasducks]

How large is the wound? Epsom salt is good for swelling and inflammation  Not sure if it is good for open wounds might want to research that first. As for wrapping if you have a fly problem which most of us do in summer you might wrap just to keep flies from getting into the wound and causing maggots which would not be good at all.

I used hydrogen peroxide. I left unwrapped as it is super muggy and hot again today I'm afraid of a new bacteria developing. The flies are not bad where I am. Thank god. This is what it looked like today before I started some more treatment.

Again, I squeezed. Nothing came out of that hole. Not puss nor blood. The cyst to me does look less large today.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I used hydrogen peroxide. I left unwrapped as it is super muggy and hot again today I'm afraid of a new bacteria developing. The flies are not bad where I am. Thank god. This is what it looked like today before I started some more treatment.
Again, I squeezed. Nothing came out of that hole. Not puss nor blood. The cyst to me does look less large today.

Looks nice and clean. All I've heard about Hydrogen peroxide is only use once to clean a wound after that use something else because HP will hurt new skin from healing [I know there is a better way of explaining that] properly. Veterycin spray for wounds and infections is a good one.