Fluid-filled lump under vent

[Honora]

I noticed a pink area below the vent on one of my hens. We had a fox attack recently so we thought she might have gotten some feathers pulled out, but when we caught her today to have a closer look, I realized there is a fluid filled lump there the size of my palm.

She is eating, drinking and behaving normally. I have not noticed whether or not she is laying eggs but I didn’t feel anything hard inside the lump. It just feels soft and squishy. I did not check very carefully to see if there was a wound somewhere but there wasn’t anything obvious. Any ideas what this might be?

Here is a photo (we are holding her upside down so the tail is on the bottom).

 

[Razzlefrazzle]

Is she currently laying? With the recent fox attack I would be concerned that the fright/commotion caused her to lay an egg yolk internally. I would keep an eye on her and hope she can reabsorb yolk/fluid and get back to normal. If it keeps getting bigger and vet care isn't an option I might try to drain it with a needle and syringe and put her on antibiotics.

It might also be the start of ascites/water belly, though in my experience that is usually more of a general swelling of the abdomen than a particular lump.

 

[Honora]

Thank you for your reply. I will keep an eye on it for a bit and see how it goes.

 

[Lillith37]

One of my hens has a lump beneath her vent. When I got her she had a range of health issues and the lump was the size of a cricket ball and visible as she walked around. Now she is in better health and the lump has shrunk to the size of a golf ball and you can’t see it unless you look/feel for it.

Do you regularly check over this hen? It could be a possibility that the lump has been there for awhile and has nothing to do with the fox attack. From my understanding, these lumps could be fatty tissue, a hernia, or ascites (but if it was ascites your hen would probably be acting much sicker).

I don’t think you need to do/worry about anything other than check for wounds from the fox attack and make sure your bird is otherwise healthy (parasite free, crop functioning well, acting normal etc).

 

[Honora]

One of my hens has a lump beneath her vent. When I got her she had a range of health issues and the lump was the size of a cricket ball and visible as she walked around. Now she is in better health and the lump has shrunk to the size of a golf ball and you can’t see it unless you look/feel for it.

Do you regularly check over this hen? It could be a possibility that the lump has been there for awhile and has nothing to do with the fox attack. From my understanding, these lumps could be fatty tissue, a hernia, or ascites (but if it was ascites your hen would probably be acting much sicker).

I don’t think you need to do/worry about anything other than check for wounds from the fox attack and make sure your bird is otherwise healthy (parasite free, crop functioning well, acting normal etc).

Thanks for the reply. I have not been able to check her much recently as I am recovering from an injury myself, but I will be getting my family to help me out and keep checking on the lump.

She is acting normal, eating and drinking and parasite free, but she is still with the flock so I haven’t been able to check if she is laying.

Glad to hear it was nothing serious with your hen, from what I have seen it seems like it could be many different things.

 

[Lillith37]

Yes so I would caution against trying to drain it with a needle unless you’re confident it’s EYP or ascites. There was a huge long thread on here about these lumps, over 20 pages, people had different experiences. It seems the lumps are not uncommon. I think they probably go unnoticed in a lot of cases until the lump is huge and pokes out the feathers.

 

[Bananabread]

Any update on what happened with your hen? I have a similar lump that developed under one of my hens that we noticed 1.5 weeks ago. Given the area is featherless now, I suspect it's maybe been there longer. She's behaving completely normally. Was concerned she could be egg bound but when we sequestered her in a dog house for a two days, she pooped and ate just fine. With the time of year, all of our hens have slowed egg production.

While egg bound was my inital thought, she's remained fine for so long that I no longer am convinced that's what's going on and your description seems to be the closest of anything I've read/seen

 

[Lillith37]

Any update on what happened with your hen? I have a similar lump that developed under one of my hens that we noticed 1.5 weeks ago. Given the area is featherless now, I suspect it's maybe been there longer. She's behaving completely normally. Was concerned she could be egg bound but when we sequestered her in a dog house for a two days, she pooped and ate just fine. With the time of year, all of our hens have slowed egg production.

While egg bound was my inital thought, she's remained fine for so long that I no longer am convinced that's what's going on and your description seems to be the closest of anything I've read/seen

How does the lump feel? Does it feel like it’s squishy/soft tissue or does it feel like it’s full of liquid?

Feather loss and reddening of the skin in the area is typical of ascites. How old is your hen? Is her comb normal colour and breathing normal?

 

[Bananabread]

She's 9 months old. It's not particularly red, more fleshy pink tone. She behaves completely normally, comb color is normal as is her breathing

 

[Lillith37]

She's 9 months old. It's not particularly red, more fleshy pink tone. She behaves completely normally, comb color is normal as is her breathing

Can you take a picture?